Kumarika Mohanty is an Electrical Engineer and an Infosys staffer. She loves writing about causes that are close to her heart. She is very passionate about her mother tongue Odia and believes in making good use of  Social Media channels to do her bit in propagating the use of Odia by the people who speak the language. 

Here, she writes about Indic language software and tools, and how they have helped her work as a translator. You can read this post in Odia, here. 

The first time I saw Odia fonts typed on a computer screen was in the late 90's. My dad had ordered Shree Lipi Oriya software. Though he got accustomed to the English key equivalents for Odia letters, a key issue that he faced with this software was its portability. The entire typed text (at times the entire volume of a book) was printed and then sent to type setters who used to retype the entire content, if the same software was not available with them. Though, tedious in this aspect, he still uses this software and has gotten it upgraded over the years.

Kumarika's Reccomendations

Few years back, I came across Indic fonts in Unicode. A boon, I must add, for people who want to write in Indian languages. I instantly installed 'Type Oriya' app on my Windows Phone. I am sure, it is available for iOS & Android too. This app lets me tweet in Unicode Odia and I have been able to connect to numerous Odias across the globe, like @nidhi_budha, @wearebbsr, @BBSRBuzz, @akala_kushmanda to name a few. I have also come across these blogs in Odia/ about Odia that I thoroughly enjoy - https://akalakushmaanda.wordpress.com/ , http://www.ameodia.com/ and http://www.bhubaneswarbuzz.com/ 

                                              

When I got associated with Pratham Books last year, I came across couple of more online editors for Odia. I am comfortable with two online editors- Branah  and Tamilcube. I have to use two editors as one overcomes the shortcomings of the other. One striking issue is, due to a major use of 'juktakhyaras' (letters made from various combinations of vowels and consonants). While Branah allows 'juktakhyaras' that are not valid/used in Odia, Tamilcube does not let me create a couple of valid 'juktakhyaras'! 

While I was interacting with Team StoryWeaver, regarding this blog, they mentioned Google Input Tools. I gave it a try and I find it to be very helpful. The interface is quite user friendly, in case of Google and it also eliminates the possibility of making spelling mistakes. I would like to thank StoryWeaver for introducing this to me.

Last month, I was involved in translation of a particular Wikipedia document. Here, I got to know of an online translation tool - MediaWiki. Though I am yet to use it, I am aware that it can translate smaller chunks of texts from a source language to target language. Such a tool would be very useful to translators, I am sure.

This webpage has a good collection of online editors and softwares available -http://odia.odisha.gov.in/it-tool-for-viewing-odia-in-browser.html

You can read some of Kumarika's translations to Odia on StoryWeaver here and you can follow her on Twitter @kumariika

Do you have a favourite software on online tool for translation? Tweet us @pbstoryweaver or write to us [email protected] and tell us what it is! 

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A Serbian language teacher by profession, Ana Jovic loves to translate books. One of our language champions, Ana has played an important role in our #FreedomtoRead 2019 campaign and has just reached her goal of translating 50 stories into Serbian. In an email interview, she tells us how she hopes to build a repository of stories, by being a part of this campaign, for children from the Serbian diaspora and how much she enjoys the process of translation.

Tell us something about yourself and you connection with Serbian?

I am an English and Serbian teacher. Serbian is my native language. I studied the English language and literature, and teaching Serbian as a foreign language, so I hold two Master’s degrees. I’ve been teaching for 18 years now both online and in brick-and-mortar schools. Teaching is both my passion and profession. I love teaching and I hope to never stop doing it. I live in the countryside with one husband, two sons, four dogs and ten cats. In my free time, I enjoy a good book, a cup of black coffee, and furry company in the form of my cute cats in my lovely backyard.

What are the benefits of creating a hyperlocal library in your mother tongue?

As a Serbian teacher, I realised there are very few online books in Serbian for children. Besides, these resources don’t cater to different levels, ages or interests. Creating a hyperlocal library at Storyweaver will tremendously help children of Serbian diaspora to preserve Serbian as their heritage language. It would also help them develop their language skills and enjoy fiction in their mother tongue. This would enrich their personal experiences and allow for wider use in their heritage language schools. Such a library would also provide material for family reading time when parents and children share the language while reading and discussing stories.

You have now translated 50 stories to Serbian. How was the experience?

I loved it. I easily lose myself in translation, so the time stops for me then. I enjoyed each and every book both as a reader and translator.

Of the 50 stories that you translated, which story would be your favourite and why?

This is hard to answer. All of them are special. But if I had to choose one, let it be Counting Cats. It’s about a boy who rescues cats and brings them all home. He ends up with a bunch of cats. I can relate to this story since I’m like the boy – I have ten cats. I couldn’t resist their cuteness and helplessness so I rescued them all. Now, I have ten cats and still counting. Just like the boy from the story.

Did you face any challenges while translating a particular text and how did you overcome the same? 

I have to admit that translation is an enjoyable and easy process for me. However, I find it hard to translate rhymes. You have to find rhyming words in Serbian that can keep the meaning of the original rhyme. That’s the hardest part which takes most time and energy. The way to deal with it is to think hard, play with words and try as many combinations as possible to find the one that works. However, once I find a solution that sounds good and means the same as the original, I feel immense satisfaction. 

Do you plan to share the stories you have translated?

I would like to present the platform and the stories to a Serbian audience. I do hope that the stories will soon reach all children of the Serbian diaspora who would like to read but can’t get hold of books in Serbian easily. I hope that this Serbian library will become the families’ favorite resource of Serbian storybooks.

You can read the Serbian stories translated by Ana Jovic here. 

 

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CONTEST DEADLINE EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 30TH, 2017

September 30th is celebrated around the world as International Translation Day. At Pratham Books StoryWeaver we take translations very seriously! After all, it’s thanks to them that we’re able to take books to so many children across India, in a language they understand.

While children love to read stories and be read to, they also love to hear and see stories enacted! Which is why this year, for International Translation Day, we thought it was time to find and share more engaging, multilingual video resources with our community. That’s where you come in!

The StoryWeaver StoryCorner contest

It’s simple, we’re sharing a list of some of our original language and translated books which we think lend themselves beautifully to reading aloud. We want you to send us a video of yourself enacting the story or reading it out loud in the most engaging way possible. The best entry will win a book hamper from Pratham Books and a signed illustration by celebrated children’s book illustrator Rajiv Eipe.

Contest Guidelines and Rules

1. Contest is open from September 30 - October 30th, 2017

2. All entries must be uploaded to YouTube and the YouTube link shared with us along with a small note about yourself and the title of the story you chose via email to [email protected]

3. Entries must not be longer than 7 mins

4. Entries of the stories shared on this page alone will be considered for the competition.

5. Contestants must be 18 years and above to participate.

6. Participants can submit more than one entry.

7. Prizes can only be couriered to an address in India.

Tips and Tricks 

1. Make sure you practice before filming. In front of the mirror or use your cats and kids as an audience.

2. Set your camera in landscape mode (horizontal)

3. Find a quiet space to film. Avoid filming near windows or in common shared spaces.

4. To reduce ambient noise, switch off fans, air conditioners and mixer grinders!

5. Remember your story could be used by our outreach partners in the classrooms they teach in. So while you might be telling the story to your camera, imagine there’s a bunch of kids listening! Really TELL the story.

Here are the books you can choose from

Pehelwanji learns a slippery lesson Available in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Urdu and Telugu.

Not now, Not now in Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Odia, Telugu

Ting, Tong Telugu, Marathi, Eng-Kannada, Eng-Tamil, Eng-Hindi

I Want That One Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Urdu

Satya, Watch Out! Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil

Doong, Doong, Dum, Dum Hindi, Marathi, English-Hindi, English-Marathi, Juanga-Odia

Gulli’s Box of Things Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali, Odia, Telugu, Gujarati

Mouse in the House Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada

Angry Akku Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil

Aunty Jui’s Baby Marathi, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Urdu

Smart Sona Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil

Ghum Ghum Gharial’s Amazing Adventure Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil

Tok Tok Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu

Asila Basila Uthila Jaucha Kui-Odia, Hindi, Marathi

What Happened to the Old Shawl? Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi

Translations of these stories in other languages do exist, however these are by community members. Do try and choose a story from the above list that has a ‘Recommended’ tag. If you can’t find the story you’d like to narrate in a language you’re fluent in, then do go ahead and translate the story on StoryWeaver and then use it!

You can download and print the story (or stories) you will be reading aloud, or read them from a mobile phone or tablet.

Here’s a fantastic read aloud by Pratham Books editor and author extraordinaire Mala Kumar for inspiration.

If you have any questions do write to us at [email protected]

 

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