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.

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. Hazhan Nuri translated the course into Kurdish and played her part in spreading free learning that has helped save lives.

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

My name is Hazhan. I was born in Sulaymaniyah and I am 21 years old. I’m currently a student in the College of Nursing, stage 3. I’m also working as a volunteer with the Kurdistan Medical Science Organisation and the Rema Group. I have also got certificates in several different scientific courses related to nursing, in order to improve my knowledge about my future job.

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

My friend Bryar Ghafoor (another Alison translator) told me about this project. 

Why did you offer to translate our coronavirus course?

I decided to translate this course for two reasons. First of all, to help Kurdish people to gain some specific information about coronavirus. Secondly, Islam, my religion, teaches me to work as a volunteer at any time and in any situation.

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

Everyone must know about coronavirus and its signs and symptoms so they will be able to recognise it if they are infected. Access to information also allows them to protect themselves and to promote healthy attitudes. Hopefully, this information will allow them to continue to live healthily.

Tell us a little about your method when translating.

I translated the course using my own 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 important to everyone because if learning is going to cost money then there will be some people who have a love of learning but won’t be able to attain it because they lack the money. 

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

Yes, I have learned much about coronavirus that I didn’t know before. Also with the Alison translation my translation skills have improved.

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

I think any translation you do is going to be useful, so 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.