Dive Brief:
- Google has launched Translate Community, an initiative that will use crowdsourcing to improve its Google Translate feature.
- According to Edukwest.com, Translate Community echoes the established crowdsourcing method used by the language learning community to translate educational web content.
- Two examples: Livemocha, which was among the first to do so, had users translate its free online courses into different languages, and Duolingo, which has based its business model on its users translating web content while learning a new language.
Dive Insight:
Kristen Walker, Edukwest’s editor, writes that she expects Google will eventually acquire Duolingo, which is described as the juggernaut of the space. Duolingo founder Luis von Ahn has a close relationship with the tech giant. Viki is another crowdsourcing translation community, built to help translate and make subtitles for movies and TV shows. Google plans to eventually launch new language options with help from the crowdsourced users and, in time, allow members to see how their work affects the global community.