Monday, September 07, 2009

Labor Appreciation Day

John BarleycornAt the suggestion of our regular reader and commenter Zenster, I’m using the occasion of Labor Day to express my gratitude to the translators and subtitlers who make so much of the foreign-language news available to Gates of Vienna readers.

So here’s to the Babel Corps, who add so much value to this blog!

First, a tribute to our Subtitler-in-Chief, Vlad Tepes, whom I have rechristened “Vlad the Subtitler”. Whenever I point Vlad to a video and hand him a text with time-stamps, he generates a subtitled version in short order. All of the subtitled videos used here in the last six months or so have been Vlad’s doing.

The Tower of BabelAnd now for the translators. Collecting their names proved to be somewhat more difficult than I had thought, since there are so many of them. In compiling the list below, I almost certainly left some people out, so send me an email if your name doesn’t appear where it should be.

First, I’d like to recognize four people who not only translate huge amounts of material in record time and on short notice, but also write extensive analyses and essays in a language that is not their own.

Our Flemish correspondent VH, as all our regular readers know, is a tireless internet investigator who compiles information from diverse sources, translates from Dutch, German, French, and Indonesian, and stitches all the material together into a coherent format. His translations and Vlad’s subtitling have contributed greatly to this site in the last few months.

SwordfishOur Danish correspondent TB thought up the original idea for the International Cultural Enrichment News, and subsequently contributed a large volume of material for it, as well as tracking the Danish Hells Angels news. He translates Swedish and Norwegian when necessary in addition to Danish, and contributes essays and analyses as well.

Our Austrian correspondent ESW is totally fluent in English, so she gets called on a lot for bulk translations from the German. Thanks to her we have kept up with the Austrian news, and a lot of German stories as well. She also contributes essays and first-hand reports from Viennastan.

Our Swedish correspondent CB reports extensively on Islamization issues drawn from Swedish television, print media, and internet stories. He also combines and elaborates on this material in his own introductory essays and explanatory notes.

Other translators who labor diligently to translate lengthy texts at short notice include:
- - - - - - - - -
Danish: Kepiblanc, Zonka, Henrik Ræder Clausen, and Signe
Dutch: H. Numan and Y_not
Finnish: KGS
French: Robert Marchenoir and François
German: Piggy Infidel and Thorin
Italian: Gaia
Norwegian: Zylark and The Observer
Portuguese: Afonso Henriques, Rocha, and MJF
Spanish: AMDG
Swedish: Henrik W. and LN

It’s also important to remember the dedicated translators who contributed to the “Rosetta Stone” projects for Lionheart and Fitna, and then later to the follow-up effort on behalf of Ehsan Jami.

For the full list of the Rosetta Stone translators, see the translations that were used to make the subtitled versions.

As I have said before, this blog is a group effort, and numerous volunteers toil every day behind the scenes to make it possible. Labor Day affords an appropriate opportunity to give them the recognition they deserve for their contributions to Gates of Vienna.

8 comments:

Fjordman said...

Well yes, GoV is a group effort in the sense that you receive substantial aid from many other individuals, all of whom deserve gratitude and praise. But it is your blog, and it would have been useless without your guidance and hard work. So thank you, Baron and Dymphna.

Zonka said...

I second Fjordman's observations, without your work, patience and tying up the loose ends, this whole platform wouldn't be possible.

And a platform it is, a platform where ideas and motivation can land and take off from.

El said...

big thank you from me to the translators. how many sites are there where you can a broad overview of what is happening across virtually the whole of europe vis-a-vis the subjects we are interested in? not many, if any.

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness for the translators... imagine how much we'd be missing if there were no one to translate from those languages. A big thank you to each and every one.

There's no Russian translator listed, which is unfortunate. Someday I will fill that position, Baron :)

Unknown said...

Thank you Baron and Dymphna, for Gates of Vienna!
For it indeed is you, and your outstanding (and tireless) work, that make this cross border platform as Zonka says, so unique, informing and inspiring.

And also a thank you to writers, commenters and other translators for contributing to this.

Zenster said...

I'm so glad to see this post go up. Many thanks to Dymphna and the Baron for all of their hard work here at Gates of Vienna. That now said, having access to so much other reporting that normally would never reach American soil is an invaluable tool for better estimating the actual state of world affairs.

Little to none of this would be the case were it not for the tireless contributions of so many translators at this site. I hope that every one of you will please accept my deep personal thanks for all of your hard work. It makes this place a valuable source of international perspective and current events that remain almost totally unavailable elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

You and your wife are an inspiration to all of us. So we are the ones to be grateful. Where you find the energy to keep up the pace is a mystery? I can only agree with what the other commenters writes here. Thanks to both of you. And everybody else contributing to this outstanding website.

PatriotUSA said...

A tip of the hat and cold one for Baron and Dymphna for without the them there would be no G of V. A thanks is in order for all of translators who gives these great posts from all across Europe and beyond. G o V is a very sepcial, unique site and I am here everyday. I am not commenting much right now due to severe pain from a totally shot right shoulder joint and it just hurts like hell to type. So I do some. Thanks again and G of V is top deck all the way.

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