Startup Hopes To Crowd-Source the Developing World

GalaticGrub writes "Technology Review has an article about a startup that wants to build a business out of crowd-sourcing the developing world. The company, called txteagle, seems to be interested mainly in using local knowledge to translate information into less common languages. The Finnish cell-phone company Nokia is a partner in the project, and CEO Nathan Eagle says that it provides a good example of a Western company that could benefit from txteagle workers. Eagle explains that Nokia is interested in 'software localization,' or translating its software for specific regions of a country. 'In Kenya, there are over 60 unique, fundamentally different languages,' he says. 'You're lucky to get a phone with a Swahili interface, but even that might be somebody's third language. Nokia would love to have phones for everyone's mother tongues, but it has no idea how to translate words like "address book" into all of these languages.'"

Learn English

[RoCKeTKaT]

Learn English, you're gonna have to one day anyway, so start now. Problem solved.

This will hit the Wikipedia problem immediately.

[Anonymous Coward]

It will fill up with vandalism and bullshit. However, it won't have the OCD-inflicted monkeys on Wikipedia who get to the vandalism within a month or two. The vandalism will be there forever, on your company's cell phone. I can see the startup menu now:

WELCOME TO NOKIA
1) Send Call
2) Check Email
3) Fuck Your Mother

A sign of the unfortunate fact...

[Xeth]

...that we all speak different languages. These people are welcome to try and make a profit off these inefficiencies. But the fact that this market exists (or, perhaps, the fact that these txteagle people might be able to convince some VCs it does) says to me that we should be trying to teach these people a more global language, so they can participate on equal footing rather than being marginalized.

Utterly Ridiculous

[rjstanford]

'In Kenya, there are over 60 unique, fundamentally different languages,' he says. 'You're lucky to get a phone with a Swahili interface, but even that might be somebody's third language. Nokia would love to have phones for everyone's mother tongues, but it has no idea how to translate words like "address book" into all of these languages.'"

Nokia is exactly the sort of company who could, very easily, hire 60 different people (full time no less), who all had English (or whatever) as a second language and also had writing skills, each of whom could be in charge of the localization for their particular "first language". The additional manpower cost would be truly insignificant to their bottom line, and they'd end up with well-translated manuals, support documentation, et cetera.

This has a far greater relevance for someone with a low- or un-funded project than a major multinational corporation.

Re:A sign of the unfortunate fact...

[zappepcs]

I have no mod points so let me just comment that this is a well spoken post. Globalism is on the rise, and we need someone to help assume some of this debt. Once they speak English we can begin sending them "you have been specially selected... " credit card applications and such. Not to mention how the illegal pharmaceutical market will blossom.

Re:Utterly Ridiculous

[John Hasler]

Nokia is exactly the sort of company who could, very easily, hire 60 different people (full time no less), who all had English (or whatever) as a second language and also had writing skills, each of whom could be in charge of the localization for their particular "first language". The additional manpower cost would be truly insignificant to their bottom line, and they'd end up with well-translated manuals, support documentation, et cetera.

It might be "insignificant to their bottom line" but it could still exceed their profits in these very small markets.