Celtic Knot Conference 2020/Submissions/Translating in the Time of COVID-19

Submission no.

Slides are forthcoming.

Title of the submission: Translating in the Time of COVID-19

Type of submission: pre-recorded presentation (20-30 min.)

Author of the submission: Kimberli Mäkäräinen (Wikimedia Finland, Wikimedia Norway)

Language of presentation: English, will try to get it subtitled before Celtic Knot

E-mail address: Kimberli Mäkäräinen

Country of origin: Finland

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.): Wikimedia Finland, Wikimedia Norway

Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal): The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded speakers of minority languages once again that they are often an afterthought in the countries they live in. Some countries translated material into these languages later on, but for many they still have no information in their mother tongue. On various Wikimedia projects, groups of people got together and formed COVID-19 WikiProjects to ensure that as many language communities as possible had access to information about the pandemic and how to prevent it from spreading. In this presentation, I will discuss the translation and terminological processes, the issues we ran into, and any possible solutions. This information is vital so that when the next pandemic hits, we get this critical information out there faster and more efficiently.

What will attendees take away from this session?: Attendees will gain insight into how the wiki communities banded together to ensure that as many people had access to information in their own mother tongue about the pandemic as possible and what we need to do as a community in the future to speed up this process and make it more efficient. I hope that they will also take away from this session the need to make contact with government agencies before the next pandemic or crisis hits.

Theme of session

Empowering wiki communities
Other: collaboration with language communities and government agencies

Slides or further information (optional)

Is this Submission a Draft or Final?

This is a draft.

Interested attendees

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