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.

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.

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.

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.