So there I was, doing my own thing browsing around the internet, when BOOM 💥 — an email lands in my inbox: “Ready to Make a Difference? Czech translators needed for WHO project.”
Wait, what? I had completely forgotten I’d signed up to volunteer with Translators without Borders a couple months earlier. And now the World Health Organization (WHO) needed me?
I raced to the website, terrified all the texts would already be claimed by translators faster on the draw than me. (They weren’t. Whew. 😅)
Post-Retirement Goals: Use My Powers for Good
One of the things I’m really enjoying about retirement is discovering all the ways I can use my language skills to give back to a world in desperate need of support. After decades of government service, I wanted to find meaningful ways to continue using English, Czech, and Russian — for causes that matter on a human level.
That’s how I found Translators without Borders.
TWB is a nonprofit that provides language services — translation, interpretation, subtitling, plain-language editing — to humanitarian groups and communities in crisis. Their mission is beautifully simple: ensure that people everywhere can access the information they need, in a language and format they understand.
Think about that for a second. Imagine you’re fleeing conflict with your family. You arrive exhausted at a refugee camp. Aid workers hand you a pamphlet about accessing medical care, or protecting your children from disease, or registering for assistance.
But it’s in a language you can’t read.
What do you do? Who do you trust? How do you keep your family safe?
In emergencies, clear communication literally saves lives. Language inclusion isn’t just nice to have — it’s about dignity, trust, and survival. When aid reaches people in their native language, it works. People can act on the information. They can protect themselves. They can make informed decisions.
And here’s the thing: TWB’s global network of professional and volunteer linguists makes it possible to reach millions of people across hundreds of languages — many of them completely overlooked by the commercial translation industry. Languages that don’t have “market value” but have human value beyond measure.
My First Assignment: Website Localization for WHO
The project: translate elements of a WHO learning platform from English into Czech. The entire project had been divided into chunks of 1000-1500 words each, for selection by volunteer translators.
Despite my natural inclination to do ALL THE THINGS, I showed admirable restraint and signed up for just one translation task out of the ~15 available. Let’s see how this goes first, I told myself. I can always do more later. (Look at me! Moderation! ⭐)
First panic: THIS IS FOR WHO. WHAT IF THIS IS DETAILED MEDICAL INFORMATION I DON’T UNDERSTAND. 😱
I clicked to preview the content, heart racing slightly.
Turns out? They mostly needed standard website operations language rendered into Czech: “Your passwords don’t match,” “Reset your password,” “Click on the link in the email we just sent you.”
OK I GOT THIS!
Is it art? No. Is it good localization practice? You bet.
The Technical Side (Or: My Ongoing Relationship with Panic and Doubt)
TWB provides a Translation Memory tool called Phrase (formerly Memsource), and all translation work happens in that platform.
Next panic: OH NO WHAT IF I CAN’T FIGURE OUT PHRASE. 😰
Spoiler alert: it was fine. It’s very similar to other TM tools I’ve worked with (MemoQ, CafeTran Espresso). Some features were turned off but it was easy to use and effective.
Which brought me to my NEXT panic (note recurring theme): What if the way I’m translating things that COULD be stated multiple ways (imperative vs. infinitive, formal vs. friendlier/more conversational) isn’t consistent with how the translators of the OTHER FOURTEEN SECTIONS are doing it? How would I know??
That’s a main reason for TMs — standardized language so different translators are on the same page for the totality of the project. Turns out what we actually had in Phrase were MACHINE TRANSLATIONS to start with, so this became more of a Machine Translation Post-Editing exercise. That’s a fine starting point for translating, but it doesn’t offer the standards or guidelines I was hoping for.
I started wondering: how do project managers efficiently reconcile all those variations when they compile the final 15 parts? That type of workflow wasn’t something I experienced in my government work. (75-page document? It’s all on you, start to finish.) How do you scale that kind of work efficiently? More research needed on this! 🤔
Fighting Perfection (Spoiler: Good Enough Won)
While I was busy overthinking everything, I was confident that nothing I translated was WRONG. I took extensive notes justifying word choices and documenting the changes I made. (Probably all unnecessary. Probably nobody but me cares.)
I wrote and asked for feedback. They assured me that if there were problems, I’d hear from them.
I haven’t heard from them. 🤷♀️
I guess no feedback is good feedback?
Why This Matters (To Me, Personally)
Here’s the thing: I was genuinely thrilled to help WHO put their learning platform into Czech. Not because it was glamorous work (it wasn’t), but because somewhere out there, a Czech speaker might need to access health education. And because I volunteered a few hours of my time, they’ll be able to understand it.
That’s the power of language work in humanitarian contexts. It’s not about me. It’s about ensuring that language is never a barrier to safety, dignity, or opportunity.
My guess is the need for Czech is probably less urgent than the need for languages like Ukrainian, or especially Indigenous and tribal languages where there truly are no resources available. But every language matters. Every person deserves access to information that could save their life.
The Bigger Picture: Clear Global
Quick note: In 2021, TWB created a new organization called CLEAR GLOBAL to further build on and expand their work. In addition to TWB’s translation and interpretation services, Clear Global focuses on language technology, research and data, and broader language and communications services. Definitely worth checking out their website!
Want to Help? Here’s How
If you have language skills — in ANY language — please consider volunteering with Translators without Borders.
Here’s what I love about it:
- Participation is voluntary — there’s no pressure to do more or less than you want
- Clear deadlines — each project has one, but if you can’t meet it, just don’t sign up for that work
- Great way to help people while expanding your exposure to language technology and techniques
- Training opportunities — TWB offers training for volunteers on language technology, translation theory, and various language-related issues
It’s meaningful work. It’s flexible. And it genuinely makes a difference.
You can use your professional skills — the ones you’ve spent years developing — to help people in crisis understand information that could save their lives.
How often do we get to do that?
Ready to volunteer? Visit translatorswithoutborders.org to sign up. And if you do, let me know! I’d love to hear about your experience.
PS You can see my personal TWB page here (assuming you have access). Even small contributions add up to something meaningful. 💙
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