This is the latest in a series charting the development of the embryonic Pro Bono Project, which matches volunteer translators with worthy non-profit causes. Our first “clients” have been environmental agencies, and few could be more urgent and important than the cause of Professor Bill Ripple and his film, the Scientist’s Warning.
When Professor Ripple, a mild-mannered academic in the state of Oregon, decided to launch a one-man campaign to raise awareness of climate change, little did he know his project would snowball, gaining attention first nationwide and then worldwide, and become the subject of a documentary in its own right.
The film tells that story, and is rapidly picking up views by the thousand. Based on a tip-off from translator Kate Stansfield that the professor was looking for voluntary translators to boost his campaign, the ProZ.com Pro Bono Project stepped up. As you can see from the credits beneath the film, it has already been translated into multiple languages, and there are Yoruba, Swahili, Bengali, Farsi, Hungarian, Greek, Tagalog and Marathi all on the way.
It’s been a great project for us to learn the ropes, about working with multiple languages, with collaborative set-ups (some languages have as many as four translators) and with a brand-new platform which we’re rolling out to make project management easier.
So a dream start so far! For more information, visit the project landing page or write directly to me at andrewmorris@proz.com