- Babels
Babels is an international network of volunteer interpreters and
translators that was born out of theEuropean Social Forum (ESF) process and whose main objective is to cover the interpreting needs of the variousSocial Forums . It is a horizontal, non-hierarchical network, with no permanent structures of any kind.tower.
After the first ESF the organisers of the translation formed Babels groups in
France andItaly and groups also sprang up inGermany , the UK, andSpain .These groups went on to participate in counterG8 conferences inEvian andAnnemasse .For the second ESF in Paris organisers gave Babels £200,000 funding, offices facilities and a longer preparation period. Over 1000 Babelistas (Babels translation volunteers) took part in the translation.
The Babels organisation went on to provide translation for the ESF's global partner the
World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai and the first Social Forum of the Americas in Ecuador and the third ESF in London.Babels describes itself as "not a provider of linguistic services" but rather "a political actor" [http://www.babels.org/a4.html] and will not work on any project unless it has been involved in contributing to the definition of the project with its ideas and demands.
External links
* [http://www.babels.org/ Official website]
* [http://www.ukwatch.net/article/179 Babels] Julie Boéri and Stuart Hodkinson,UK Watch , Feb2005
* [http://www.translationdirectory.com/article366.htm Article on Translation and Interpreting volunteer networks] "Social Commitment in Translation and Interpreting", by De Manuel, López and Brander (2004) published in Puentes 4 Hacia Nuevas Investigaciones en la Mediación Intercultural (article on other volunteer translation and Interpreting Networks, translated into English)
* [http://www.radicalactivist.net/comment/article.php?id=0501babels The Politics of Language] ,Radical Activist Network , Julie Boéri and Stuart Hodkinson, January2005 (a slightly different version of the above article)
* [http://cicode-gcubo.ugr.es/ecos/ ECOS, Translators and Interpreters for Solidarity] Official website
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