By TICIANE MARTINS

I believe that translation cooperates with the dialog between cultures, enabling a connection between humanity through language. Currently, this rapprochement of peoples is also possible with the new communications media. In the new scenario imposed by social networks, the citizen is someone who has voice, which is connected to a network of people and who are interested in expressing himself. With the citizen journalism, the expression is strengthened by the need of inform people about important situations occurring in the environment where this citizen belongs, and this involvement with the subject causes a greater approximation with the news and a feeling of empathy in those who receive the news. However, to broaden the field of action of this journalist citizen, who uses language as a crucial factor of communication, knowledge of other languages is essential if the intent is to reach a larger audience for the news. As a translator, I collaborate with a project of citizen journalism, called Global Voices, a worldwide network of collaborators made by translators, journalists, editors and reviewers.

I absolutely believe in this way of thinking the translation, in other words, I consider the translation as a profession that promotes dialog between cultures. In this way, I believe that the quest for understanding the nuances of the cultural identity of a country is fundamental for a translator who seeks to practice this profession with responsibility. As I have an interest in strengthening the translation as a process that promote the meeting of peoples, to establish a relationship between my work as a translator and the possibility of acting in the area of citizen journalism, I would like to maintain a network of contacts with people from all over the world, focusing on the cultural aspects that can facilitate the understanding of the language of other countries and which serve as information for both other translators and curious to know the cultural identity of other countries. As a journalist citizen, specifically, I would like to write about my city, mainly extolling its cultural aspects, such as customs, slang, aspects characteristics of language, and also translating news from other countries to the Portuguese, making people aware of the culture of other countries. It would be interesting if we could, through Modlingua, establish a connection between the countries, creating this database for translators, where it would be possible to know the cultural identity of the countries, ask questions about possible variations of language with natives and where each translator could become involved with their local culture deeply, being a journalist citizen and at the same time, translator.

Writer Ticiane Martins is Brazilian Language and Translation Intern at Modlingua, India's No1. certified translation and Language service providers based in New Delhi

Video Links on Citizen Journalism http://www.modlingua.com/videos.html