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

And the first translation?

[Chas]

First post!

All I can think is...

[MaskedSlacker]

...what could possibly go wrong?

Re:All I can think is...

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.

How many different ways do you suppose there are to say "infidel"?

Re:All I can think is...

[flaming error]

My first reaction was that this was a great idea, to let disparate peoples meet and try to understand each other.

But now I see you're right - after meeting our teabaggers and treehuggers all they'll walk away with is that americans are generally barbaric assholes and ignorant wimps.

My hovercraft is full of eels

[spun]

Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?

Re:My hovercraft is full of eels

[spun]

Drop your panties, Sir William, I can not wait until lunchtime!

This won't end well

[jandrese]

So we have a service designed from the start to attract internet trolls from one end and propaganda ministries from the other. What could possibly go wrong?

I like the concept, but the real world is going to interfere with the execution.

Re:This won't end well

[skelly33]

Agreed - it's idealism turned unrealism if you think you can take diametrically opposing views and plop them in front of a translation system to breed collaboration, open dialog, compassion, and understanding. I opened a political debate forum years ago with a similar hope: that opposing sides would find common ground through irrefutable factual analysis. While there are a handful of open-minded individuals out there who enjoy this concept, the majority are highly slanted, bull-headed, and offensive and want only to start a fight. I've maintained since then that the people most in need of revolutionary thinking are the ones who are completely unreachable thus making it a wasted effort. Good luck, but don't hold your breath.

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.

What's next?

[Yvan256]

Arabic numerals?

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.

I'm not sure the language barrier is the main one

[Trepidity]

Among Arabic speakers who have access to the internet in the first place, the proportion who know at least basic English is quite high. There are plenty of barriers to understanding and agreement, but I'm not sure I would rate a literal inability to communicate as the main one.

Something similar to autotranslate in FFXI?

[Nadaka]

I used to play FFXI and found their system of guided translation to work reasonably well. Several times I was in Japanese parties, or had a Japanese in my party and we were capable of communicating about 80% of what we wanted to. It generally produced less garbled messages than I have seen from sites like babel fish, though that may have been affected by the limited topics of discussion in an MMO.

You have new followers!

[LostCluster]

Thanks for joining our site... you're now being followed by:

@CIA
@FBI
@DARPA
@OsamaBL

Ecological Ramifications

[flyneye]

It could be considered a "Green" site. The flames from the forum could heat several countries, thus saving the need for petrochemical or electric heating.

Good, if it's accurate

[Anonymous Coward]

Great, so maybe now Arabs will see what their leaders say in English to the Western press, which is completely different from what they say to their own people.

Arab leader in Arabic: "Kill all non-believers, destroy the Great Satan (USA) and the Little Satan (Israel)"

Arab leaders in English to the press: "We just want to live in peace and harmony"

Western press: "Arab leaders: just want to live in peace and harmony"

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!

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

[Trepidity]

Ah, but you put forth a good counterexample as to why familiarity will not necessarily breed understanding. Despite many years of contact with foreign cultures, you still have a xenophobic, nationalist view of them, in which you see the foreign values as degenerate and unworthy, in contrast to your own culture's quality values.

Re:Just curious how does one say "Towel Head" in a

[Snarf You]

Towel is not a correct depiction of what they wear on ther heads, its more like a 'little sheet' wrapped around there heads.

Somehow I don't think they would enjoy being referred to as "little sheet heads" either.