Posted on 1 January 2014 by BaerbelW

Are you a bi-, tri- or even multilingual Skeptical Science reader and would you like to help increase our website’s global reach? If your answer is ‘Yes’, then here is your chance to make a difference!

What this is all about

We already have translations in 20 different languages as indicated by the flag-icons on Skeptical Science’s homepage:

But the number of translations published for each language varies greatly. Just click on some of the flags in the banner to see for yourself! For 2014 we have the goal to make more content available in more languages and in order to do this we need your help.

Translating texts can be a time consuming effort, but please don’t let this stop you from raising your virtual hand or stepping forward as we have different translation tasks waiting to be tackled. At least some of them shouldn’t be too much of a timehog (or so we hope)!

Translation tasks waiting for You to be tackled

Here are some items on the to-be-translated-list and what’s already out there:

• One Liners for each rebuttal (almost none, which is a pity as these are ideal for Twitter)
• SkS Graphics (just a few translated versions)
• Rebuttal translations (750 translations in 20 languages)
• Blog Post translations (120 translations in 14 languages)
• The Debunking Handbook (7 translations)
• The Scientific Guide (18 translations, but the original guide is already in need of an updated version. Once that gets done, there'll be the need for a big translation effort)

There are two general types of tasks: create new translations from scratch and keep already existing translations in sync with the English originals. The second one is especially important for the rebuttal translations where almost half have not seen any updates even though the original texts have been updated since the translations were created. We have plans to add a notification tool so that translators get an email whenever one of the rebuttals saw major updates. Before we go down that route, we however need to know if there are any recipients for those emails (hint, hint!).

Translation teams

Our goal is to eventually set up a small team per language so that you won’t be toiling away on your own. Ideally, each team should have three or more people who can then take turns creating and proofreading translations. Furthermore, for some languages we already have seasoned translators at hand who’ll provide valuable input and lend a helping hand whenever necessary.

Still interested?

Is this something up your alley you’d like to help with? If your answer is still 'Yes', then please let us know by filling out this short form. As soon as we have an idea how popular this is, we’ll get in touch with you to let you know about the next steps.