On 11 April 2017, the Department of Translation Studies FA CPU in Nitra hosted a lecture by Mr. Matúš Jožio, an alumnus of translation and interpreting at the University of Presov, who is currently working for the international translation and localization company Moravia. In his lecture, he discussed the possibilities for using crowdsourcing in localization. Even though both concepts may still sound a bit unfamiliar, to say the least, as internet and technology users we stumble across them every day.

Localization is the translation and technical adaptation of software into particular language versions for the use on national markets. Crowdsourcing entails the collaboration of a large group of people, or an internet community, to complete a major task (e.g. pool money into projects, help with optical character recognition, or even translate). These days the two phenomena are becoming more and more commonplace. This is because the demand for them is growing not only from huge international corporations, the non-profit sector (as is the case with open-source software) but also from the public at large (on social networks). The advent of localization and crowdsourcing will no doubt change the translation profession as well.

The aim of Mr. Jožio’s lecture was to introduce Translation Studies students to crowdsourcing and localization and to present a unique project. The company he represents, Moravia, plans to launch a crowdsourcing community of Slovak university students.

As the organizer of the event, I would like to thank the administration of Constantine the Philosopher University, the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Arts and the administration of the Department of Translation Studies FA CPU for taking care of some pressing technological matters and thus allowing this initiative to take place.

Text & photos: Igor Tyšš, PhD.