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A group of people smile at the camera.

Lingua participants at the Global Voices citizen media summit in Colombo, Sri Lanka. 2017. Photo by Jer Clarke.

“We seek to build bridges across the gulfs that divide people, so as to understand each other more fully. […] We believe conversation across boundaries is essential to a future that is free, fair, prosperous and sustainable for all citizens of this planet.” —From the Global Voices manifesto

Global Voices is an international, volunteer-driven community that has leveraged the power of the internet since 2005 to report stories about people whose voices and experiences are rarely seen in mainstream media.

For nearly as many years, the Lingua translation project has worked to make Global Voices stories accessible in dozens of languages. In 2006, a group of Francophone contributors raised the idea of launching a Global Voices site in French, partly inspired by a Taiwanese contributor who had begun to translate Global Voices stories into Chinese for his own blog. Other language communities expressed interest in translating Global Voices stories, and thus Lingua was born.

A group of people smile at the camera.

Participants at the Global Voices summit in Delhi, India. 2006. Photo by Kiran Jonnalagadda. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Since then, Lingua volunteers have translated Global Voices stories into many dozens of languages, from the world’s most spoken languages like Arabic, Bangla, French, Russian and Spanish to other languages big and small like Aymara, Albanian, Malagasy, Odia, Swahili, and Yorùbá. Language sites are led by Translation Managers who are mostly volunteers, as well.

Why become a volunteer translator? “Because it's a truly multicultural experience. Inspiring people write news stories from all around the world. I want to help to make their voice sound loud!” —Kasia Odrozek, who has translated for Global Voices in Polish

In the 2010s, Global Voices expanded to offer professional translation services to partners and like-minded organizations. Most of the translators who are contracted to work on these opportunities come from within the Lingua community.

The members of our community live all over the globe and come from diverse backgrounds. They include professional translators, students, journalists, subject matter experts, activists, language enthusiasts, technologists and more.

Regardless of their previous experience, volunteer translators find that participating in the Lingua project helps them to develop skills in translation, critical thinking and more. It also allows them to expand their knowledge about the world, make important professional connections, and strike up friendships with people who they might otherwise never meet. Learn more about the reasons to get involved.

Why become a volunteer translator? “Because you can help the message reach the people.” —Aygun Janmammadova, who has translated for Global Voices in Russian

A group of people jump for joy with balloons.

Participants in the Global Voices summit in Santiago, Chile, in 2010. Photo by David Sasaki. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Whether translating an individual story or managing an entire language site, these acts of service from volunteers are what keep the Lingua project alive. Because translators choose what they want to translate based on their own personal interests and schedules, each language site at Global Voices will follow a different publishing rhythm and showcase a unique selection of Global Voices stories. The following languages actively publish translations:

Volunteers at Global Voices may come and go, but their impact remains long after they’ve moved on. While some Lingua sites that were once active have gone quiet, they nevertheless offer an enduring snapshot of stories from around the world through the lens of a particular language and period of recent history. We are grateful to past volunteers who, for a time, breathed life into the following language sites:

If you would like to volunteer as a translator for an active language site or you are interested in helping to revive a dormant language site, please send us your application. 

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