I recently attended a pretty exciting event here in Cagayan de Oro. I took part in a Google Translate-a-thon, where volunteers like myself translated phrases and sentences from English to Tagalog, Tagalog to English and English to Cebuano.
Together with 7 other volunteers, I had fun translating phrases like “mamahalin kita nang walang hanggan,” (IKR, #WhoGoat hehe) “asa man ang balay nilang Tasyo” and even interesting, challenging lines like, “ang kapal ng mukha mo!” I found that challenging because if I translated it quite literally, I felt that the “essence” of the phrase would diminish! How would you translate that, though? 🙂
We also came across a lot of “hugot lines” so that was pretty fun. We did the translations for Google Translate, Google’s free online language translation service which instantly translates text and web pages. Now available in 90 languages.
That local Google Translate-a-thon was organized by the Google Business Group (GBG) – CDO community. I’m the GBG Women Techmakers lead organizer but that’s not the only reason why I participated. The mere idea that my translations (when verified) will be part of the Google Translate service is already enough to get me stoked! Plus the fact that the translations were made here in CDO – cool, right?
Can you imagine this scenario – someone from Russia came across a Tagalog phrase, logged on to www.translate.google.com and the translation that she found was the one I crafted! Awesome.
Meet the other managers of GBG CDO. This photo was taken during our most recent gathering (where we were all gifted with our very own 3D viewers – Google Cardboards!)
L-R: Chelle, Mindanaoan, Drey, Paul, Alma, Jon and Mae
Congratulations to GBG CDO, GBG CDO Women and to all other volunteer-translators! 🙂
NOTE: I also wrote about the Google Translate-a-thon CDO leg in the August 28, 2015 edition of my Gold Star Daily newspaper column, “Mindanaoan Meets World.” Gold Star is Mindanao’s largest newspaper. My column appears every Friday.
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Mindanaoan is a multi-awarded blogger, content creator, seasoned social media strategist and publicist with undeniably successful track record. 2012 International Visitor Leadership Program (for global leaders) alumnus and O visa grantee (for people with extraordinary skills and who have risen to the top of their field). Avid traveler and a proud relief operations volunteer. Regular resource person for social media, blogging and content creation. Available for work and travel – [email protected]