By Pratibha
Whether I can make an impact on the society as a citizen journalist in a more effective way, due to my multilingual skills?
Yes, I feel that I can make a difference to the society as a multilinguist in this digital/social era. It goes without saying that currently, the representation of English speaking citizens is more on the digital media, to the extent that sometimes politicians brush aside whatever Twitter is indicating, as an urban or elite phenomenon. Hence, in order to change this perception and to make it more participative and to make sure that more and representation is there from the non-English speaking community as well, my multilingual skills coupled with the current digital platforms or tools available in the market, can act as a potent combination to make a lasting impact on the society.
As a multilinguist, there are two scenarios possible. One is the breadth of languages that I have a hold upon(i.e., the number of languages that I know) and the other one is the depth(the quality of linguistic skills in a particular language). It is very clear that the more the number of languages that I can communicate with, the more the number of people that I can reach to. Hence, in addition to my inherent language skills, I can use the existing digital platforms and technologies such as Google translate etc., thereby increasing the reach. Though the quality of Google Translate is improving by the day due to more and more Artificial Intelligence being built into such engines and processes, there is still a long way to go till we reach the level of humans. However, even with the current quality levels of such tools, as a multilinguist, I can utilize such tools as enhancers to what I do, by using them in a discriminate and controlled manner.
Even in the case of languages where my depth is not more, I can use more pictures or videos by reducing the running text to a certain extent, to drive home my point to the prospective audience. The current digital tools and platforms enable this. Another way of handling this can be to use more and more keywords and less of running text, which is very apt for digital mediums like Twitter, for example. Most translation tools are good at translating the keywords when compared to the running text. Moreover, the fact that our vernacular languages are getting mixed up with a few English words as well, instead of being a pure language as such, will only help me in concentrating more on breadth, rather than the depth, thereby allowing us to reach our goal of reaching more and more people.
Profile link: http://modlingua.com/interns/449-prathibha-japanese-trainer-translator.html
Writer Pratibha is Japanese and English 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
