Translators without Borders

In 1993 Eurotexte created the not-for-profit association Translators Without Borders to provide free translations to humanitarian organizations. Today this pro bono work assists organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, winners of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize, Aides Organization, which are then able to use the funds they saved to extend their humanitarian works. Many Eurotexte/Lexcelera translators and staff volunteer their time for these important translation jobs so that translations can be provided free to humanitarian NGOs.

Check out our site: www.tsf-twb.org/

Volunteers needed!

If you have ever wondered how to combine your translating skills with lending a hand to a worthy cause, then perhaps you'd like to volunteer for Translators Without Borders. Translators Without Borders has urgent needs for French to English and English to French translators and editors to take on short documents pro bono for humanitarian organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, Aides and Handicap International. We also have pressing needs for medical translators.

You could find yourself translating a witness report from Afghanistan or Chechnya, or describing the latest research into preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. (Though the subject matter may be tough going, the work is always meaningful.) Documents usually range from one to ten pages (though educational institutions occasionally take on lengthy documents as group projects). Even a couple of pages per year is helpful! According to TWB volunteer Karen Tucker:

"You're getting the word out on some important issues that a lot of people don't know about, and you feel you're contributing to an extremely important organization in some small way.

"I like doing this because it is interesting. I believe in what they're doing, and I feel good that I'm volunteering in some way. It's also standard language—there's not a lot of jargon. They write very natural language, so it's easier to translate than a lot of business translations.

"The most interesting assignment was when I had to do witness testimony. It was a very harrowing report about several families escaping from Chechnya over the mountains into Georgia. It was breathtaking. Like reading a novel—I was the edge of my seat and very sad. The report went into great detail about how they got through the mountains."