New English/Arabic Translation Site Hopes To Promote Citizen Diplomacy

Wired has mention of a new site that hopes to encourage a grassroots "citizen diplomacy" movement by combining English/Arabic translation software with a Facebook-style meeting place. "Meedan, which officially launches Monday, lets users post stories and comments in English and have them automatically translated into Arabic, or the opposite. People who don’t share a common language can have an online discussion in near real time. The name, appropriately, means 'gathering place' or 'town hall'; in Arabic. Think of it as a social network filled with people you don't know, but want to understand."

This won't end well

[jandrese]

So we have a service designed from the start to attract internet trolls from one end and propaganda ministries from the other. What could possibly go wrong?

I like the concept, but the real world is going to interfere with the execution.

Re:All I can think is...

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.

How many different ways do you suppose there are to say "infidel"?

Re:This won't end well

[skelly33]

Agreed - it's idealism turned unrealism if you think you can take diametrically opposing views and plop them in front of a translation system to breed collaboration, open dialog, compassion, and understanding. I opened a political debate forum years ago with a similar hope: that opposing sides would find common ground through irrefutable factual analysis. While there are a handful of open-minded individuals out there who enjoy this concept, the majority are highly slanted, bull-headed, and offensive and want only to start a fight. I've maintained since then that the people most in need of revolutionary thinking are the ones who are completely unreachable thus making it a wasted effort. Good luck, but don't hold your breath.

Re:All I can think is...

[flaming error]

My first reaction was that this was a great idea, to let disparate peoples meet and try to understand each other.

But now I see you're right - after meeting our teabaggers and treehuggers all they'll walk away with is that americans are generally barbaric assholes and ignorant wimps.

Good, if it's accurate

[Anonymous Coward]

Great, so maybe now Arabs will see what their leaders say in English to the Western press, which is completely different from what they say to their own people.

Arab leader in Arabic: "Kill all non-believers, destroy the Great Satan (USA) and the Little Satan (Israel)"

Arab leaders in English to the press: "We just want to live in peace and harmony"

Western press: "Arab leaders: just want to live in peace and harmony"

Re:This won't end well

[vxice]

You could always just get to know an arab. They are all over the place. There is also lots of information on why there are cross cultural problems, its a thing called research.

"all your base are belong to us"

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see that phrase coming up a lot.

Quoting something about not quoting something?

[spun]

Randall can tell people off for overquoting Python, but you don't get to quote Randall telling people off for overquoting Python without looking like the exact kind of person Randall is making fun of.

Re:Good, if it's accurate

[InEnacWeTrust]

Great, so maybe now Arabs will see what their leaders say in English to the Western press, which is completely different from what they say to their own people.

And maybe now westerners will see what their leaders say in Arab to the arab press, (blah blah blah ...)

English leader in english: They must surrender to our way of life and forget all about their culture ! CRUSAAAAADE !

English leader in Arab: please keep bombing our cities so that we can keep our people in control through fear. Oh and don't forget to set the price of oil high enough so that they stay too poor to be educated.

Arab press : "English leaders use double speech" (-- yeah, THEY make the effort to learn foreign languages).

Re:This won't end well

[NeoSkandranon]

The funny part about your statement is that it doesn't matter which way is which.

Re:Quoting something about not quoting something?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, see, at no point in its history did Monty Python suck. It's just been run in to the ground. XKCD has sucked *hard* for vast tracts of its history.

Re:Good, if it's accurate

[Brannon]

Completely absurd. In what ways have Americans told Arabs to surrender to their way of life?

Re:Thank the Teachers!

[Anonymous Coward]

Which bits of their culture do you find particularly beautiful? Is it the beheading, the chopping off of hands and feet for minor crimes, or the stoning of women? Or perhaps it's just the endemic racism.

Re:I'm not sure the language barrier is the main o

[Trepidity]

Ah, but you put forth a good counterexample as to why familiarity will not necessarily breed understanding. Despite many years of contact with foreign cultures, you still have a xenophobic, nationalist view of them, in which you see the foreign values as degenerate and unworthy, in contrast to your own culture's quality values.

Re:I'm not sure the language barrier is the main o

[abuelos84]

The problem is that our (western) values ARE ACTUALLY pretty fucked up... I have to agree with the malayan on this one