Translation Project FAQ

• Who are the target audience for the text book?
  I think there are two levels for the elephant curriculum, one is for kids like Upper Kindergarten (UKG) through 6th grade, and the other is 6th grade through 10th or 12th grade. (US grades).
• What languages are we looking at now ?
  Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi as of now. But, other languages like Marathi and Bengali can be added if there is sufficient volunteer strength.
• The PDF file seems to contain technical details like methane gas and 'Eocene era' etc. Do these materials need to be skipped since it may be hard for the kids to understand ?
  You can go on and include the technical bits - the teachers will explain it all. Part of the way this is all going to work is that the students are going to break out into groups, study the curriculum and help each other understand, with the teacher there to provide assistance as necessary. So, you can just go with the flow of the book unless you want to add a few lines yourself to make it read better.
• What flexibility am I given in translating the texts ?
  You can change names of elephants from Barbara, Michael, Harry to 'choti', 'moti', 'prasadh' etc. There may also be words that cannot be translated like 'elephus' 'maximus' etc.. They may be retained as it is and just be transliterated in a regional languages. You can make minor modifications to the original document to make it read clearly or make it neat and simple. But the end result of the sub topic should be the same.
• What flexibility am I *NOT* given while translating the texts ?
  Do not make "material" changes to the text. Retain the complete meaning conveyed by the paragraphs and sections. Do not add any extra information to the document without the coordinator's consent.
• It is possible that some of my folks and friends back home can do a better job of this than me ? Can I seek their help ?
  Go ahead and seek their expertise if you have to. If you know of relatives or friends who have done literature in regional languages or otherwise but still willing to help, and if they have time to spare, take their help. Often, they may be able to do the translation work much faster and much more accurate. So, if you decide to "outsource" some of the work to India, one possibility is to have your friend/family translate out the entire stuff in paper and have it posted to you. You could have it transliterated using a software like 'Bahara'. If your folks/friends are already comfortable with software, they could go ahead and type it in as well. If you feel confident about handling the entire material, you could go ahead and start. It is up to you to decide which way you want to do it.
• Are these two the only documents that need to be translated ?
  No. There are tons of more materials but you could start with these two PDF files. If things work out smooth, we can have a more continuous translation work charted out. Whether you do this work yourself, or have it outsourced to India, it does not make a difference.
• Is the timeline tight ?
  Basically, to stream line the process, there will be some timelines. There are two PDF files one of which has text running for 20 pages and the other has text for 50 pages approx. The whole project needs to be completed by June '05. Soon, the articles will be split into sections and assigned to you based on your comfort level with the translation of the sample document provided to you earlier. On a periodic basis, there will be some "client deliverables" to be displayed by each group. The timeline, in general, will be flexible and considerate of the exam schedules and research loads ;-)
• How does the entire process work ? What is my role ?
  Basically, the process is expected to work in three stages. The first one is the actual translation, the second one is the syntactic and semantic review and the third and final one is the software transliteration and desktop processing. You may be assigned one or many of the roles mentioned here based on your interest.
• What do I expect to gain from Translation Project ?
  
  • You get to translate text books used by kids in India and hence have a direct impact on their day-to-day lives.
  • You get to improve your literary skills.
  • The financial compensation is used for sponsoring Sankalp's developmental projects. The compensation amount is subjective, undecided as of now and is likely to be based on the amount of work involved, current market rates, quality of work and the professionalism showed in delivering within deadlines ;-)
• So, what's the next thing that I should do ?
  
  • Translate the sample one-page document sent to you earlier, estimate how long it takes, how hard it is and provide a ball park estimate on the work you can handle within the semester loads.
  • Inform Translation Project coordinator about friends/folks back home who can do this and who are interested in taking part in these activities.
  • Come to the Sankalp group meeting this Friday or provide your inputs to vatsan_at_iastate_dot_edu through email if you cannot make it to the meeting.
  • Decide on one or many of the three roles - translator, reviewer and translitrator.
  • Once you have assumed a role, specific sections may be provided to you and a realistic and flexible time line is set.
  • Watch out for PDF files to be uploaded on Sankalp website. There may be a link created on Sankalp web page for all information pertaining to Translation Project.
  • Then, you start translating away to glory.
• Who do I interact with during my project ?
  Teams are formed, one for each language. A team can possibly have a coordinator who is typically "drafted", as is usually done in Sankalp ;-) The coordinator of each team takes care of the timeline. The group members may get together and do the translation. The access point to the client (Dr. Pallavi Raina) for clarifications and project progress report updates may be done through Srivatsan.

Files currently available for download: Sample file to be translated.
File 1
File 2