Morningside, the fastest growing major language service provider in North America and one of the largest IP service companies in the world, is proud to continue its third year of Gold-level sponsorship of Translators Without Borders (TWB).
TWB is a non-profit that works to “close the language gaps that hinder humanitarian efforts worldwide.” Since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, TWB has translated 1.2 million words of COVID-19 related content into 89 languages for vulnerable populations around the world. Morningside renewed its annual sponsorship in time to support the charity’s latest global effort – the TWB COVID-19 Community Translation Program, which launched last month.
“Providing accurate and trustworthy safety information to every community is the only way for countries around the world to reduce the spread of this virus,” said Tom Klein, Co-CEO of Morningside. “We are proud to partner with an organization that is actively working to make such a tangible difference to marginalized language speakers around the globe.”
The goal of the new COVID-19 Community Translation Program is to tackle the current “infodemic,” a term coined back in February by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, referring to the fact that non-English speakers are especially vulnerable to a lack of basic information on how to keep safe right now. The program allows local organizations to connect directly with TWB’s extensive network of 30,000 global translators in order to disseminate accurate coronavirus safety information to hard-to-reach communities.
“If you speak a minority language, rumors may be the only information available in your mother tongue,” shared TWB Executive Director Aimee Ansari. “We hope that providing access to our community and translation platform helps people get the information they need in a language they understand.”
As you read this, TWB is working with government programs and local charities around the world to provide much-needed health information in a number of different ways. For example, the organization created a multilingual, plain-language COVID-19 glossary to assist field workers and interpreters engaging in public awareness efforts and they’ve developed a language map to help local organizers better prepare for multilingual communication strategies in affected countries.
TWB has also partnered with Internews to monitor social media channels in five Asian languages (Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Indonesian and Urdu) in an effort to understand public concerns and stop false information from circulating. For example, they have combatted many rumors online about ways to avoid catching the virus, such as eating garlic, taking Vitamin D or gargling with salt water. They have also responded to many posts expressing fear of people who have contracted COVID-19.
TWB continues to work with local health officials to counter any online misinformation and provide access to trustworthy sources.
About Morningside:
Morningside equips the world’s leading organizations with a full suite of end-to-end intellectual property and language solutions. With over 4,000 clients in 55 countries, Morningside is globally recognized for its subject matter expertise and technology innovation in regulated markets such as IP, legal services, life sciences, and corporate compliance. Our IP management solutions and translation services ensure your ideas seamlessly reach new markets and audiences while allowing you to do more with your budget. Global 500 companies, international law firms, and regulatory bodies all rely on Morningside as a trusted partner to make intelligent choices for their most valuable assets.