New English/Arabic Translation Site Hopes To Promote Citizen Diplomacy

Wired has mention of a new site that hopes to encourage a grassroots "citizen diplomacy" movement by combining English/Arabic translation software with a Facebook-style meeting place. "Meedan, which officially launches Monday, lets users post stories and comments in English and have them automatically translated into Arabic, or the opposite. People who don’t share a common language can have an online discussion in near real time. The name, appropriately, means 'gathering place' or 'town hall'; in Arabic. Think of it as a social network filled with people you don't know, but want to understand."

Comments

Babelfish?

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently they haven't read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" on the side effects of the Babelfish.

Good luck, though.

Re:This won't end well

[PopeRatzo]

Now we can have new opportunities to start flame wars with previously inaccessible opponents...

Maybe if they're busy with flamewars, they won't be so anxious to start the real, shooting kind.

Also, now that you've been registered here at Slashdot for a whole month, has your user name and sig brought a lot of new members to your "third position" political party, or have most slashdotters already realized that "third position" are really just nazis without the cool uniforms?

Re:This won't end well

[EdIII]

Also, now that you've been registered here at Slashdot for a whole month, has your user name and sig brought a lot of new members to your "third position" political party, or have most slashdotters already realized that "third position" are really just nazis without the cool uniforms?

Before anybody gets too trigger happy with the flamebait moderation on the poster I am replying to, you want might want to actually read some of the positions of the American3p.org:

If current demographic trends persist, European-Americans will become a minority in America in only a few decades time. The American Third Position will not allow this to happen.

Parents have a right to choose where and with whom their children are schooled, and neighborhoods have a right to make the decisions that will impact them.

Recognizing our people's right to safety, and respecting the sanctity of the rule of law, we will immediately deport all criminal and illegal aliens. We believe, too, that American citizenship should be exclusive and meaningful. As such, the American Third Position will end the practice of automatic birthright-citizenship for children of illegal aliens. To restore, with civility, the identity and culture of our homeland, we will provide incentives for recent, legal immigrants to return to their respective lands.

On the surface, the ideals and goals of the American3p.org seem quite attractive and reasonable. Read a little bit more and you can see that is just pretty wrapping around a core of Racial Purity and Supremacy.

It was the Nazi comment that made me want to click the link and read it, and it is a well deserved comment.

Keep that in mind when you moderate. I think the Nazi comment should be +5 informative in this case.

Re:I'm not sure the language barrier is the main o

[Chicken_Kickers]

Sure. But how many native English speakers speak Arabic? You are making the assumption that the translation site is for the benefit of the Arabs but have you considered that it is actually more for you Westerners. We non-Westerners (I'm a Malaysian Muslim) have had a lot of exposure to your Western culture, values and language. In Malaysia, English is a compulsory subject at school but we certainly did not learn it for your benefit. After more than 30 years of life, I have not found much to be gained from your Western values, culture and your vapid mindless "entertainment" that my people are so fond of aping. Maybe it is you Westerners who should take the effort to learn about other cultures to avoid being so easily mind controlled by your politician's xenophobic propaganda. P.s. to those of you who are making anti-Iran jokes: the Iranians speak Farsi, not Arabic, you dolt!