To help the world combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Alison launched the course Coronavirus – What you need to know. In order to make sure that no one was excluded from accessing possibly life-saving information, Alison committed to translating the course into as many languages as possible. To achieve this ambitious goal, Alison reached out to its community of Learners, seeking volunteers willing to use their language skills to help translate the course and spread important information on coronavirus. Perica Stojkovski translated the course into Macedonian and played his part in spreading free learning that has helped save lives.

Perica, tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Perica Stojkovski and I am from Skopje, North Macedonia. I’m 54 years old. I’m the  father of two daughters, Tea, 17 years old, and Mila, 19 years old. I have a BSc in Chemical Technology and a Licence in Waste Management. I also have a Licence as a court translator in English.

How did you learn that Alison was looking for translators for its coronavirus course?

After earning my Alison Diploma in Work Place Health & Safety, Alison was in contact with me and they have offered me a volunteer job translating the coronavirus course into Macedonian.

What was your experience of Alison before volunteering to translate? Had you studied with Alison before?

I was searching the web for a suitable online course, and I chose Alison. Alison’s online courses have an outstanding user-friendly platform, so I was happy to learn with them. I warmly recommend people who want to learn skills online to try Alison.

Why did you offer to translate our coronavirus course? 

Alison has got a professional and warm approach to their students, so I could not skip this offer. In the hard times of coronavirus, I had a lot of time and wanted to make a small contribution for people to learn more about coronavirus, so they could be aware and protect themselves and their communities.  

Why is it important that everyone has access to important information on coronavirus?

Coronavirus is highly virulent and mortal. Everyone should learn more and be aware of it. Educated people can easily protect themselves from coronavirus.

Tell us a little about your method when translating.

Working with internationals between 2002 and 2007, providing both written and oral translations, helped me to gain huge experience in this job. At the time, web translations were not available so I was mostly using my knowledge of English, and dictionaries for words in specific areas of expertise. Today, the internet offers a variety of translating apps but afterwards, the text must be cross-checked again. 

Why is free learning so important and why is it important to translate it into many languages?

Free learning is easy to find, there are a vast amount of topics and it’s free of charge. We are around 200 nations on Earth. The more you translate, the more people can learn.

Have you been learning through Alison during the pandemic? How has the lockdown been for you?

I did the coronavirus translation for Alison during the lockdown. Here in my country, the lockdown started in February, with many days of total police curfew. In the beginning it seemed to be easy and promising but later it became more depressing for many of us. 

What would you say to people who might be interested in translating for Alison?  

It is an outstanding feeling when you know that your translation will reach many people all around the world. And it can also be a nice freelance job for many people.

If you’d like to play your part in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic by helping Alison give people access to the information necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, please get in touch.

To help the world combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Alison launched the course Coronavirus – What you need to know. In order to make sure that no one was excluded from accessing possibly life-saving information, Alison committed to translating the course into as many languages as possible. To achieve this ambitious goal, Alison reached out to its community of Learners, seeking volunteers willing to use their language skills to help translate the course and spread important information on coronavirus. Andy Ho translated the course into Chinese and played his part in spreading free learning that has helped save lives.

Andy, tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Andy Ho and I am from Singapore. I have been working in the Information Technology sector since 1998, and have had the privilege of working in various IT sectors both locally and overseas, including healthcare, media, higher education and most recently, the government sector. I am happily married to my beautiful wife Zoe Michele, and have been blessed with two wonderful kids, Michaela and Alexander.

How did you learn that Alison was looking for translators for its coronavirus course?

I have been an Alison user since 2017 and am subscribed to all newsletters. On 4 February 2020, the CEO & Founder, Mike Feerick, personally sent a newsletter to loyal Alison subscribers, with the subject title, “BREAKING – Coronavirus: Causes, Latest Known Symptoms, and Prevention”. This was in response to the international health threat of the coronavirus. Alison stepped up to the challenge of creating a short certificate course for users to study for free. The very next day, the Alison Team followed up with an email titled “Coronavirus: We need your help to make people aware, Andy!”. My parents, the late Mr Ho Sook Niou and Madam Helen, always taught me the values of being selfless and doing things for the greater good. I contacted the Alison team and offered my full assistance. 

What was your experience of Alison before volunteering to translate? Had you studied with Alison before?

I have been a registered user of Alison since 2017. To date I have completed courses ranging from food safety to six sigma, from music theory to the current coronavirus course. When I joined the higher education sector, I was looking for opportunities to enrich myself in all areas. I realized the importance of lifelong learning, and with a rapidly changing world, it’s extremely important that we keep up to date with current trends.

Why did you offer to translate our coronavirus course?

I saw the early struggles faced by Chinese-speaking countries where the citizens were struggling to access information, as much information was available in English only. Citizens were dying rapidly because of the lack of critical information in their own native language. The experience of working in multinational companies made me realise that even though the world’s countries have progressed significantly in terms of technology, critical life-saving information with regards to healthcare is still severely lacking, especially in many citizens’ native languages. I believed that I could make a significant difference by saving lives.

Why is it important that everyone has access to important information on coronavirus?

The more information citizens have with regards to the coronavirus, the better equipped they will be to protect themselves and their love ones. In Singapore, it was evident: foreign workers were really experiencing the impact of COVID-19 as a huge number of them had no access to information in their native language.

Tell us a little about your method when translating.

I used the Excel master template provided by Alison, that split up the course into various sections. A Google Translation was also provided for our reference. Having a deep understanding of the Chinese language, I was well aware that not all Google translations would be accurate (including the characters being used). For each section that required translation, I copied the text onto Word, checked the Google translation and read it out loud to see how it sounded. I downloaded a Chinese software called NJStar, which allowed me to input Chinese characters via pinyin. After making my edits, I checked the full structure to ensure minimal loss in translation.

Why is free learning so important and why is it important to translate it into many languages?

Free learning is important because there are millions of citizens in the world who are struggling to make ends meet, and can’t afford to pay to learn a skill or a life-saving course. Similarly there are millions of citizens who, because of a lack of education opportunities, continue to only speak their native language and hence are unable to obtain valuable life-saving information that is not available in their own language. 

Have you been learning through Alison during the pandemic? How has the lockdown been for you?

I have benefited greatly from learning through Alison pre-pandemic, as well as during the pandemic. COVID-19 is the challenge of our generation, however, it provided accelerated opportunities for home-based learning and reskilling. What was previously unavailable, now became available through online learning.

What would you say to people who might be interested in translating for Alison?

You can make a difference! What may seem insignificant to some, becomes extremely beneficial (and in many ways a life saver) to others. Always be open to differences in opinions, and take that leap of faith!

If you’d like to play your part in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic by helping Alison give people access to the information necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, please get in touch.

To help the world combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Alison launched the course Coronavirus – What you need to know. In order to make sure that no one was excluded from accessing possibly life-saving information, Alison committed to translating the course into as many languages as possible. To achieve this ambitious goal, Alison reached out to its community of Learners, seeking volunteers willing to use their language skills to help translate the course and spread important information on coronavirus. Tariqur Rehman translated the course into Pashto and played his part in spreading free learning that has helped save lives.

Tariqur, tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Tariqur Rehman and I’m from Pakistan. I did my master’s in Microbiology and Immunology with a Project on Virology. My primary language is Pashto.

How did you learn that Alison was looking for translators for its coronavirus course?

When the coronavirus epidemic began in Wuhan, China, I realised that it would spread to the whole world. So I decided to learn more about this new virus by searching online. I found that Alison was already providing education to people about this virus for free in one language, English, and that they wanted to translate this course into many languages around the globe. I offered my services for free translation and took part in translating this course into our language, Pashto.

What was your experience of Alison before volunteering to translate? Had you studied with Alison before?

I created an account on Alison 5 or 6 years ago as I saw that Alison provides an opportunity to learn any subject in any field. I have previously taken a course on the ebola virus.

Why did you offer to translate our coronavirus course?

Everyone has the right to get information about the coronavirus in order to be able to understand it and to protect themselves from infection. I wanted to help educate local people.

Tell us a little about your method when translating.

I used Google Translate to translate the course but Google is not 100% correct so I used my own skills to correct the translation, as I have studied my language. 

Why is free learning so important and why is it important to translate it into many languages?

Nowadays almost everyone has access to the internet. Everyone wants to learn and to gain knowledge, and free learning will provide this opportunity. Translating knowledge into many languages will be the best way to spread understanding. Even if you learn many languages, you will think and better understand in your own language.

Have you been learning through Alison during the pandemic? How has the lockdown been for you?

I have learned about the coronavirus on Alison during the lockdown, but it has been a hard time for me.

What would you say to people who might be interested in translating for Alison?

I have had a good experience translating this course for Alison. I would like to say that translating a topic provides you with the best opportunity of understanding it. 

If you’d like to play your part in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic by helping Alison give people access to the information necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, please get in touch.

To help the world combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Alison launched the course Coronavirus – What you need to know. In order to make sure that no one was excluded from accessing possibly life-saving information, Alison committed to translating the course into as many languages as possible. To achieve this ambitious goal, Alison reached out to its community of Learners, seeking volunteers willing to use their language skills to help translate the course and spread important information on coronavirus. Bryar Ghafoor translated the course into Kurdish and played his part in spreading free learning that has helped save lives.

Bryar, tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

I’m Bryar Ghafoor. I’m 21 year old and I’m from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. I’m studying at the College of Nursing in the University of Sulaymaniyah. Alongside being a nurse, I spend my time developing my knowledge in different areas of IT like programming and website and application development. 

How did you learn that Alison was looking for translators for its coronavirus course?

I was actually searching for free online courses and I found Alison through Google. I took the Physical Examination course because it related to my profession and then when the coronavirus course came up, I joined and completed the course. I realised it needed volunteers for translating so I volunteered for the coronavirus course translation into Kurdish with a group in college. 

Why did you offer to translate our coronavirus course?

One of the motivations behind my volunteering is my Islamic background. Allah motivates us to do good work in His cause and He will reward us. “But whatever thing you spend [in His cause] – He will compensate it; and He is the best of providers.” (Quran 34:39) What does good work look like? Must many people read what you have translated? The course may protect many people but “whoever saves one – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.” (Quran 5:32) Another motivation is protecting my family, friends and all human beings – it’s a big achievement.

Why is it important that everyone has access to important information on coronavirus?

This information is very important as it’s related to human lives. We always need new developments to make human life better. We are sharing information with the public to give them an idea about protection methods and how the virus is transferred from one person to another. This will decrease the virus infection rate and mortality rate. Basically it’s saving a lot of lives. 

Tell us a little about your method when translating.

Our team of nine students from college decided to translate this course and we worked as a team to translate it into Kurdish. 

Why is free learning so important and why is it important to translate it into many languages?

Not everyone can access paid courses. Especially for something like coronavirus, which is related to human lives, information should be public and free. Translating into many languages gives access to the many people who don’t speak English. 

Have you been learning through Alison during the pandemic? How has the lockdown been for you?

I spent my time learning new skills and Alison has been a good source to start. The coronavirus course itself gave me more knowledge about this virus and also increased my translating skills.

What would you say to people who might be interested in translating for Alison?

If you think your translation will be useful then why not start now? Go ahead.

If you’d like to play your part in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic by helping Alison give people access to the information necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, please get in touch.

To help the world combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Alison launched the course Coronavirus – What you need to know. In order to make sure that no one was excluded from accessing possibly life-saving information, Alison committed to translating the course into as many languages as possible. To achieve this ambitious goal, Alison reached out to its community of Learners, seeking volunteers willing to use their language skills to help translate the course and spread important information on coronavirus. Ahmad Mohammad translated the course into Hausa and played his part in spreading free learning that has helped save lives.

Ahmad, tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Ahmad Mohammad. I live in Nigeria in a state called Borno State, where we currently have a crisis of Boko Haram. I came from a poor family and I used to hustle before I could pay my school fees to study. I finished secondary school and I have also gained a National Diploma. I am now doing my studies in university.

What was your experience of Alison before volunteering to translate? Had you studied with Alison before?

This is a time of crisis here in Borno State, Nigeria and as a result I have nothing to do. I searched online and found Alison. I took a diploma course online and graduated. So I started following Alison online. When I saw the call for translators, I wanted to engage because I’m interested in it and I have nothing to do for now.

Tell us a little about your method when translating.

For me it wasn’t difficult because, in primary school, I studied the Hausa language. I’ve also succeeded in many exams and competitions on the language so I didn’t face any difficulties when translating it. I also did English in school.

Why is free learning so important and why is it important to translate it into many languages?

Free learning is very important for times like now. There is no school for now because of this coronavirus and so we have nothing to do. We are sitting at home, no job, doing nothing. And so having our studies helps us. People here often don’t learn English in school and so they can’t read it. Hausa is the main language here in our country. Everybody knows the language so it will be simple for them to understand and know what the course is about.

Have you been learning through Alison during the pandemic? How has the lockdown been for you?

Yes I am so happy because I always rather being engaged in study than to sit, empty, doing nothing at home. I have learned many things on coronavirus and also other courses.

What would you say to people who might be interested in translating for Alison?

I have many people asking me about Alison. For example, last time, when you sent me my certificate, many people asked me how did I get the certificate? I told them about how I got it – how I found the website and engaged myself on it. I also told them that I even participated as a volunteer, and now many people have joined. This morning, I’ve told so many people that I have an interview with Alison and they have all asked me for the website. Many people have now engaged themselves online with diploma courses with Alison.

How has the lockdown been for you?

They’re now saying that the coronavirus rate has gotten lower but, due to this virus, we haven’t been going to school for months. We are just sitting at home with no work. We have many crises in our country and many of the governmental organisations are not helping us. I have a National Diploma but, right now, we have no jobs to engage ourselves, not even as volunteers. So I feel so happy to be a volunteer with Alison and to help needy people. It’s important everyone has access to the information and I shared the course through email. I’m happy that Alison chose me as a participant so I could gain some experience and also do something to help in this crisis.

If you’d like to play your part in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic by helping Alison give people access to the information necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, please get in touch.

To help the world combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Alison launched the course Coronavirus – What you need to know. In order to make sure that no one was excluded from accessing possibly life-saving information, Alison committed to translating the course into as many languages as possible. To achieve this ambitious goal, Alison reached out to its community of Learners, seeking volunteers willing to use their language skills to help translate the course and spread important information on coronavirus. Eglė Šerutytė translated the course into Lithuanian and played her part in spreading free learning that has helped save lives.

Eglė, tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Eglė Šerutytė and I am from Lithuania. I have lived both in Ireland and in Iceland. I graduated in Public Administration from Klaipėda University and then I went to Turkey to do my internship. When countries were about to close their borders, I decided to stay in Turkey, so I’ve spent 5 months (instead of 3) in this amazing country. I just came back this week, so I am trying to find a job and a place to volunteer here in Lithuania. I really love traveling and interacting with people from all around the world. It’s one of the reasons why I enjoy participating in projects like this one. 

How did you learn that Alison was looking for translators for its coronavirus course?

I found out that Alison was looking for translators when I was searching for free online courses.

What was your experience of Alison before volunteering to translate? Had you studied with Alison before?

Actually I hadn’t a lot of experience with Alison before translating this course. I had an account but I hadn’t yet found the will to start some courses, even though I wanted to.

Why did you offer to translate our coronavirus course?

I really wanted to help people during this crisis but it was really hard because I don’t speak Turkish and in the city where I was staying people didn’t speak English. I couldn’t help people in Lithuania either because I was in Turkey, so translating courses was an attempt to help Lithuanians remotely.

Why is it important that everyone has access to important information on coronavirus?

Knowledge is powerful tool. I guess we should get used to the fact that coronavirus is going to be around for a while. Even though there is no cure for coronavirus yet, reliable and accessible information sources are extremely important. It is important because it helps to decrease the impact of the virus by making people aware. The more knowledge people have, the more people know how to protect themselves and others from coronavirus.

Tell us a little about your method when translating.

I am not professional translator so I was using literal translation as much as possible. There were some English expressions that I couldn’t translate into Lithuanian (because we don’t have them in our language), so I had to use the Lithuanian expressions without changing the meaning of the sentences I was translating.

Why is free learning so important and why is it important to translate it into many languages?

Not everybody is able to pay for learning. There are a lot of gifted people in the world but education is not accessible to them because they don’t have the money. And so because people are unable to get education, they can be trapped without any chance of reaching their life goals. As I already mentioned, knowledge is powerful tool. Not everyone is a polyglot and no one should be restricted in their ability to learn simply because they do not speak certain languages. There’s a lot of useful information sources which could help people but those sources are not always accessible because they are in different language. So translating those useful sources into different languages is the only way to let the majority of people benefit from them.

Have you been learning through Alison during the pandemic? How has the lockdown been for you?

I haven’t been learning with Alison yet but I am sure I am going to do it in the future. Even though I was far away from my relatives during the lockdown, I had a really useful and productive time in Turkey. I read a lot of books, learned some Turkish language basics, met a lot of people, gained a lot of knowledge about another culture and, most importantly, I stayed healthy.

What would you say to people who might be interested in translating for Alison?

I would say go ahead. It won’t take a lot of time for you to translate it but it’ll be of huge value to your fellow native speakers.

If you’d like to play your part in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic by helping Alison give people access to the information necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, please get in touch.

To help the world combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Alison launched the course Coronavirus – What you need to know. In order to make sure that no one was excluded from accessing possibly life-saving information, Alison committed to translating the course into as many languages as possible. To achieve this ambitious goal, Alison reached out to its community of Learners, seeking volunteers willing to use their language skills to help translate the course and spread important information on coronavirus. Dldar Adil Muhammad translated the course into Kurdish and played his part in spreading free learning that has helped save lives.

Dldar, tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Dldar Adil Muhammad. I’m 20 years old. I’m from Southern Kurdistan and I live in Erbil. I have a diploma in nursing. My native language is Kurdish.

How did you learn that Alison was looking for translators for its coronavirus course?

When I was searching for a coronavirus course, I came across the Alison coronavirus course. I enrolled and completed the course. When I had finished it, I saw that Alison was looking for volunteers to translate the course into many different languages.

What was your experience of Alison before volunteering to translate? Had you studied with Alison before?

This was my first experience of studying with Alison and it’s been a very useful experience for me. It’s also been my first experience translating a course.

Why did you offer to translate our coronavirus course?

First of all, not all Kurdish people know English, so translating this course into Kurdish is very useful for these people. It allows them to all be able to utilise Alison’s coronavirus course. Also, I see so much fake information about coronavirus on social media that I wanted to be able to present them with correct information through this course.

Why is it important that everyone has access to important information on coronavirus?

Because this disease is a pandemic and can affect anyone, it’s important people learn how to protect themselves. The more we learn about coronavirus the quicker we’ll be able to recognise if we have it and it’s better to treat it earlier rather than later.

Tell us a little about your method when translating.

I translated the course as part of a group. I used my English language skills and sometimes I used a dictionary.

Why is free learning so important and why is it important to translate it into many languages?

Free learning is so important because many people are not able to pay money for online courses. If courses are made available in many languages then more people will be able to benefit.

Have you been learning through Alison during the pandemic? How has the lockdown been for you?

Lockdown has been a hard time for me, like for so many people. But I have taken some courses on nursing and it’s been useful. 

What would you say to people who might be interested in translating for Alison?

It’s been a good experience for me. If you like to translate then Alison gives you the opportunity.

If you’d like to play your part in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic by helping Alison give people access to the information necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, please get in touch.

To help the world combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Alison launched the course Coronavirus – What you need to know. In order to make sure that no one was excluded from accessing possibly life-saving information, Alison committed to translating the course into as many languages as possible. To achieve this ambitious goal, Alison reached out to its community of Learners, seeking volunteers willing to use their language skills to help translate the course and spread important information on coronavirus. Ko Nyi Nyi translated the course into Myanmar and played his part in spreading free learning that has helped save lives.

Nyi, tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

I am a 29 year old man from Myanmar. I graduated from university with a Bachelor of Law and also have an Engineering Vocational Diploma. I’m a civil engineer working in project management and am currently involved in a government project sponsored by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

How did you learn that Alison was looking for translators for its coronavirus course?

Translation is my favourite hobby since my intermediate school days and I regularly get in touch with online learning websites. I was contacted by Alison to translate the coronavirus course from English to my native language, Myanmar. 

What was your experience of Alison before volunteering to translate? Had you studied with Alison before?

I had studied with Alison before. Alison is great, with thousands of online courses for free. All the courses are really effective and they are easy to understand. If you have sufficient time to study with Alison, then I trust you will be very qualified in no time. 

Why did you offer to translate our coronavirus course?

I took part in this translation project in February, when the spread of coronavirus was increasing but had not yet infected our country, or most parts of Asia. I’m very interested in translation work and also the coronavirus seemed to become more and more of a threat to people’s lives. That’s why I joined the project.

Why is it important that everyone has access to important information on coronavirus?

We have never experienced such a situation before and it is horrible. Due to the development of the internet and social media, misinformation has become a great threat to all of us. Therefore it is vitally important for everyone to have easy access to important information about coronavirus and related matters to avoid and defend against the impact of misinformation.

Tell us a little about your method when translating.

When translating, I use Google Translate for an approximate translation. But Google Translate has many limitations when it comes to my native language, Myanmar, because Myanmar is one of the most difficult languages in the world. But I get a raw translation from it and then I perfect it with my knowledge and by using dictionaries.

Why is free learning so important and why is it important to translate it into many languages?

In recent years, network development has massively increased in many countries but there are still many things that are yet to be accommodated, such as online billing systems. This means that we cannot pay for, and so cannot access, paid courses from where we are. But with free courses, it’s easy for everyone to take part and participate as long as there’s a network connection. Free learning is so important because it covers almost everyone. It’s also very important to translate courses into many languages. English is a global language but courses will be more effective, and more capable of reaching people around the globe, if they are translated into their native languages. Here in Myanmar, we are mostly poor in English and so to be more effective, translating courses into Myanmar is necessary, so that everyone globally can participate in learning.

Have you been learning through Alison during the pandemic? How has the lockdown been for you?

Yes, I’ve learned about coronavirus by participating in the translation project. During the lockdown, I was at work as our project is still running under the guidance of the government. So lockdown hasn’t meant anything to me, just regularity.

What would you say to people who might be interested in translating for Alison?

For those who are interested in translation, my opinion is that there are thousands of quality free learning courses out there and translating them into our native languages is very important, not only to allow others to be able to learn, but also for ourselves to promote our knowledge and abilities as translators.

If you’d like to play your part in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic by helping Alison give people access to the information necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, please get in touch.

To help the world combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Alison launched the course Coronavirus – What you need to know. In order to make sure that no one was excluded from accessing possibly life-saving information, Alison committed to translating the course into as many languages as possible. To achieve this ambitious goal, Alison reached out to its community of Learners, seeking volunteers willing to use their language skills to help translate the course and spread important information on coronavirus. Lerato Matsoso translated the course into Southern Sotho and played her part in spreading free learning that has helped save lives.

Lerato, tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Lerato Matsoso, a 34 year old woman from Rustenburg, North West Province in South Africa. I studied Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Legal Regime under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

How did you learn that Alison was looking for translators for its corona-virus course?

I learned after I received an email from Alison in which we were invited to participate.

What was your experience of Alison before volunteering to translate? Had you studied with Alison before?

Yes, I had studied courses with Alison before volunteering. I had an invaluable experience studying with Alison.

Why did you offer to translate our coronavirus course?

It’s my UN Human Rights obligation to extend my help to people who can’t afford to learn the English language, especially people in deep rural parts of my native language geographical area. It was going to be easier for them to learn in their indigenous language.

Why is it important that everyone has access to important information on coronavirus?

It’s an Obligation under the UN Human Rights Declaration, Articles 26, and the WHO International Health Protocol, Article 2005, that people have this information at their disposal. 

Tell us a little about your method when translating.

This was my first time translating. Certain English words were easy to translate into my language but some other English words I found difficult. I used an extensive collaborative mechanism to resolve the translation of challenging English phrases to Southern Sotho.

Why is free learning so important and why is it important to translate it into many languages?

In terms of the UN Human Rights Declaration, Article 26, everyone has the right of access to free learning. Translating the course will also promote a language’s dignity.

Have you been learning through Alison during the pandemic? How has the lockdown been for you?

No, I haven’t been learning with Alison through the pandemic period. The lockdown measures resulted in not an easy situation. It’s the first time we have experienced national disaster measures like this.

What would you say to people who might be interested in translating for Alison?

I would encourage them to translate for Alison because they will get the chance to work with a cohort of educators and a supporting team.

If you’d like to play your part in overcoming the coronavirus pandemic by helping Alison give people access to the information necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, please get in touch.