Linguistic Team International Forum

This film series explores many aspects of our society. Visions of global unity & fellowship have long inspired humanity, yet the social arrangements up to the present have largely failed to produce a peaceful and productive world. The Choice Is Ours includes interviews with notable scientists, media professionals, authors, and other thinkers exploring the difficulties we face. ( 1:37:20 )
Note: this project began as a Translate-a-thon (details preserved below the standard info)










Hi Everyone!
Linguistic Team International (LTI) is extremely excited to present the launch of the big "The Choice Is Ours [FULL]" (TCIO) Documentary Translate-a-thon! (this is the second half of the FULL four-part documentary, which is an extension of the first half that we completed back in March). The English transcript is now fully transcribed, proofread, refined, re-proofread and finalized, so we're ready to rock on the translations.

IMPORTANT: Due to this being an extension to the first half of the documentary, this project can only include the languages that fully completed the first half Translate-a-thon. The qualifying languages are listed below, and all other Language Teams will be able to focus on translating the video as soon as it is publicly released on January 20.


This will again be a pure "text to text" translation handled within Google spreadsheets, just as we handled the first half. This project includes a non-disclosure agreement to ensure that the content stays out of the 'public eye' until its official public release, and all translations completed by the deadline will be included to the public release of the documentary.

The first step is for us to populate the project's language groups and then, once we begin translating, we'll have about 3 weeks to complete all related tasks (collaborative translation, proofreading & final review). Once registered, all Language Coordinators/Project Managers should connect with me as soon as possible for a quick 'reacclimation' of the automated project management system that we're now using. There are also some minor tasks that need handling within the already existing first half translation.

If you have strong multi-lingual skills in one of the included languages and you would like to join in on the 'fast-paced' phun on this important globally collaborative translation marathon, fill out the "The Choice Is Ours" Translation Marathon - NDA" form (linked below), using whatever email account you normally use with Google Documents. As soon as I receive your confirmation, you will be added to the list of qualified translators and will be made aware as soon as the project is ready to rock (about 3 - 5 days from today).

If you have any initial questions, concerns, etc., please post them below in this thread.


To join the project (if you haven't already), follow the directions on the "The Choice Is Ours" NDA form.
You can also update your info here (change the email account you use for the project, for example):
http://goo.gl/4Skc5H


Here is the list of all languages that have completed the first half of TCIO within this system:
I will also occasionally update the general progress of each languages

As of January 20, 2016 (the deadline has been removed)

Languages that are struggling to finish on time:

Teams hopefully doing ok:
Albanian (2)
Portuguese (status unclear - stalled?)

Teams almost finished:
Arabic
French
Swedish
Turkish

Teams ready for the Final Review:
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Italian
Lithuanian
Norwegian
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovenian
Spanish

First update:
A good number of the languages that completed the first half of TCIO are now rockin' in "Translation mode", but only a relatively small percentage of first half's volunteers have responded so far.

Of course, the more people we have for each language, the faster (and more accurately) the translation & proofreading will be completed, and with a Dec 31st deadline for getting this done ahead of the big public release of the documentary, each team needs all the help it can get.

Second Update:
With only two weeks left until the deadline, there are several languages that are absolutely tearing it up (that's a good thing), and they should have plenty of time to refine their efforts during the final review (with the video).

There are also several languages that are not likely to finish the project on time unless more volunteers join to help them. Check the list in the first post to see if your language is one of them and, if so, consider joining the fun to help ensure that your language is included with the big public release.

We interrupt this interruption to interrupt you with this exciting update!

The deadline (originally Dec 31) for text translations part of this important Translate-a-thon project has just been extended to January 10, with an addition 4 - 5 days beyond that for each completed team to handle their final review within dotSUB with the (not yet) finalized video (which is looking mighty good).


I hope you are all enjoying the collaboration of the project.

Given the extended deadline, I just brought the team progress assessment in the first post up to date.

I was somewhat surprised to find a few larger teams have nearly stalled, but am assuming that it's a result of the silly "consume more than you can afford" traditions that the current system blankets the world with around this time of year.

Harpy Hellidays, Everyone!

As many of the TCIO volunteers already know, Google is having a problem with syncing a large percentage of sheets with the master, which led to us having to handle little things like punctuation issues within the Proofreading Issues sheet for the teams that are affected by this problem.

Aldi (Albanian Team) suggested a possible workaround to me that is actually working (yay!), so I am now systematically moving through all affected team folders to sync all of the sheets. This means that once I'm done (it may take a couple of intense days to complete), I will be able to clear out all of the "already fixed" simple grammar/punctuation issues that have been reported in the Proofreading Issues sheet, which will make it much easier for everyone to find and learn from the questions that apply to contextual understanding.

Thanks in advance for your patience, kids!

The language teams lists in the top post have again been brought up to date,
and I'm happy to report that two of the teams (German and Italian) have completed all of the GSheet tasks and are now awaiting the Final Review with the video.

I will begin setting up that video location as soon as Rox & Joel complete their efforts to get it as perfect as they can.

I've just added the new The Choice Is Ours Trailer to the end of the first post for everyone viewing pleasure.

Crank up the volume and watch it once, twice, three times - Tell all your friends!

With only 5 days left before the deadline for completing all 'sheet work' (leading to the final review with the video),
the top post has again been brought up-to-date on how the teams are faring.

If anyone working on this is having any trouble, issues, concerns, etc., please connect with me sooner than later so we can get it resolved.

Hungarian and Russian have joined the list of teams that have completed all of their translation sheets and are now ready for the final review!
Congratulations to all of them.

Teams ready for the Final Review:
Bulgarian
Danish
German
Hungarian
Italian
Norwegian
Romanian
Russian
Serbian