RE: [wg-e] [owner-wg-e@dnso.org: BOUNCE wg-e@dnso.org: Non-member submission from [Bill Washburn <bill@realnames.com>] Message too long (>40000 chars)]

[R.Gaetano@iaea.org]

>  
> #1 In what languages do you feel the ICANN web site, election 
> ballots, and
> other materials should be translated?  Please order your list 
> of languages
> in priority.  Also, I will assume that if you list only one 
> language then
> you feel that is all ICANN needs to do.  If, on the other 
> hand, you list
> five or 10 or 15 languages, then I will take it that you feel 
> that is the
> number of languages which ICANN must cover.
>  

I believe that the basis should be the UN official languages (with the
caveat that different UN Organizations have different official languages),
therefore at least English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian.
For a reference, see http://www.un.org/.

I also think that we should include other widely used languages, in
particular if they are important at a regional level.


> #2 How do you believe that translation of the web site and 
> other materials
> should occur?  If you believe it must be done by a commercial 
> translation
> company, please provide any details on a company you know or 
> feel would be
> productive.  If youbelieve it can be done fast enough and 
> with sufficient
> quality by volunteers, please give specifics about how such a 
> volunteer
> system could work over say the next 12 months.  If you 
> believe there are
> non-profit or even government organizations that would be the 
> best resources
> to utilize, please give details what organizations, what 
> officers, what
> locations and so forth you have in mind.  
>  

I believe that we have two separate problems: the "official" documents, and
the "less official" documentation material (see also comment to #3 below).
For official documents, that may have even legal relevance, there is no
other way than go to professional translators, but for general documentation
we can easily rely on local structures.

Please allow me to open a parenthesis.
We need to define a "model" for DNSO/ICANN membership and organization
before being able to answer this question.
If the model is ICANN-Staff-at-headquarter-centric, i.e. if everything is
managed centrally from Marina del Rey, well, the only possibility is to
collect enough money to have it done professionally (volounteering may be
scarce).
If, OTOH, the model will be more decentralized, with regional offices and
"chapters", that are coordinated from LA but with large authonomy on local
(or regional) initiatives, these local chapters will be incentivated to
publish material in their own local languages, and will find themselves the
best way to do it in a most cost-effective way. Also, volounteering effort
will be incentivated in this latter case.
The advantage of the second model from the strict "outreach" POV, is that
local structures can address the type of material (not only the languages)
that are more adapted to the local culture. The "cultural barreer" is not
just the language: you can sometimes provide the best translation possible
of a document that is foreign to the local cultures, and still make it
incomprehensible.

I am not sure that to discuss about the structure of DNSO/ICANN (centralized
vs. decentralised) is in the charter of wg-e, but sure it is a key question
that changes the approach of outreach.


> #3 I understand that ICANN feels a legal concern/obligation 
> to ensure that
> translations are certifiably correct.  By what means do you 
> suggest this
> kind of "verification of accuracy" occur?  Do you have or do 
> you know others
> who have experience in this matter?  (On this particular 
> point I am going to
> ask a colleague, Francis Gurry at  WIPO if he has any suggestions.)
>  

As noted above, the problem with documents that imply legal obligations will
be separated from the mass of documents for information. Legal documents
will be a tiny minority (at least I hope) of the material that will be
produced.
For legal material, I believe that ICANN will never accept to engage in
obligations to have more than a handful of languages (like, for instance,
the UN official languages).

As for the experience on this subject, the reference should be the
International Organizations, with the UN System in first place. They all
have professional translators in the official languages, that have to be
accredited (pretty much as you have "official" translators accredited to
every Embassy or Consulate). BTW, the translation is one major item of cost
in the UN budget, so be aware of the economical constraints if we go the
path of professional services.

Please let me know if you want more details on the translation. I can
provide the IAEA data (I assume they are public, I will check), and assume
also that the UN Secretariat in NY will have a documentation service that
has data about the translation (how it is done, how much does it cost, ...).


>     The reason I am asking these questions is because I 
> believe that Working
> Group E can contribute very effectively to the Global 
> Outreach and Awareness
> mandate of the DNSO and to the ICANN Membership at Large 
> Implementation Task
> Force work by answering or recommending answers, at least.  
> Also, I believe
> this will help us immensely to begin to formulate some 
> estimates of costs to
> be shouldered during the next 12 months in the translation of 
> materials, web
> site translation, maintenance, and so on.  Of course I am 
> only aiming to
> help in the larger effort of our group and I sincerely 
> apologize if I have
> made a mistake in missing a question or if I have spoken out of turn.
> Thanks you all very much for bearing with me in this long 
> message and I hope
> that you can find time to answer these questions.
>  
> Respectfully, bill washburn
>  
> Bill Washburn 
> Chief Policy Officer 
> RealNames Corp. 
> bill@realnames.com 
> voice: +1 650 298 5520
> [snip]
>