I am a TED Volunteer Translator: Anwar F.A. Dafa-Alla at TEDxSeoul

Anwar F.A. Dafa-Alla translated more than 400 TED talks, while also finishing his Ph.D studies in computer science and working as CEO of Afro-Arab Trading. Dafa-Alla has been doing much in developing the Sudanese intellectual community and reporting on the current situation in Sudan throughout the world. He talks about how he became involved as a volunteer translator in TED's Open Translation Project and what it has meant for him.

Thank you. Thank you. Love you.

(Korean) Annyeong hashimnikka?

(Korean) Jeo-neun Anwar Dafa-Alla imnida.

(Arabic) Assalamu'alaikum.

(Arabic) Ismi Anwar Dafa-Alla.
Ana min Al Sudan.

Hello, everyone.
My name is Anwar Dafa-Alla.

I am from Sudan, as you can see.

(Cheering)

OK.

I am a CEO of Afro Arab trading.

It's a trading company.

And a Ph.D. candidate of Chungbuk National
University in Cheongju.

But in the last one and half year,

this title has been attached to me.

I am a TED volunteer translator,
and I loved it. I love it. I do.

Translation is about sharing, right?
And sharing is caring.

Here is my daughter, my son.
They care for each other, right?

And sharing is beautiful, so...

(Laughter)

Sharing is humanness.

What you want to do for yourself,
do it for your neighbor also, right?

So, translating TED talks is humane.

It's beautiful. It's for love.

I love you all. That's it.

(Applause)

Thank you.

So, TED's Open Translation Project
was launched in May 2009,

gives the opportunity for English speaking
volunteers like me

to subtitle into their local languages.

Maybe in the talk, you see the subtitles.

So this is what we do in the
Open Translation Project.

It's one volunteer translator,
and one volunteer reviser.

I am obsessed with two things.

One, is spreading ideas, ok?

The other is documentation.

I need to document any moment in my life.

I want to document this right now.

(Taking a photo) (Laughter)

It's going to be on Facebook.

(Laughter, cheering)

So I blogged the first talk
that I published.

The reviser was Yasser Bahjatt.

And then, I had more than 4,500 views.

That was amazing for me,

because people usually don't interact
with this vibration.

So I made a roadmap policy for myself

to continue
in the Open Translation Project

that has, you know,
this responsibility, commitment

and showing gratitude to your partner
in the translation, and not arguing.

And express your willingness
to continue on.

So I sum this in one email message
that's always in my draft.

I send it to the guy I work with.

So how do we connect as volunteer
translators together?

We form a Facebook group and in that group
we used to communicate with each other.

The most active translators,
that one was fascinating.

This guy, Yasser Bahjatt,
he was the most active translator.

And we in Sudan, our neighbor countries
or part of them,

stereotyped the Sudanese as lazy.

So, "most active"?

It looks attractive for me.

I want to join there, so I went there.

And then, I became [one].

(Laughter)

When I hit 120 talks in November 2009...

(Applause)

Thank you.

I had this interview on the TED blog.

and then someone from TEDxSeoul,
Mr. Han, contacted me.

"You live in South Korea.

Let's contact and attend our afterparty."

I met with them on December 21st.

After that this was the biggest surprise
in 2009 for me.

At that year, I received the best paper
award in a scientific conference.

But it wasn't as nice as receiving
this message.

We need you in California, at TEDActive.

Audience: Wow.

So, I went to get the US visa.

You know, Sudan, is a blacklisted country
in American rules.

So, I get frustrated.

Maybe someone forgot to do his homework.

Am I right?

So, we get there.

After the second try, I got the visa.

And I went to TEDActive with
some people who are here.

We get to the Translators Summit,
the Volunteers' Summit, I call it.

It was really great. We shared ideas.

This very picture, I love it,

because embodies the connectedness

between different people
who are passionate about spreading ideas.

So, I came back in February.

Continue [switching the slides], move on.

And this is the state of today.

(Applause)

So, am I Superman?

Audience: Yes.

No!

That wouldn't be happening without
the help of the other collaborators.

So we have humanity here,
human connectedness here in this one.

So I really want to give the credit
for those volunteer translators

from everywhere.

And here is Khalid, he's attending here.

So, from different areas
in the Arabic world,

we share the translators,

and we share advice,
and we help each other.

So, we formed the TED4Arab.com,

and this is also an initiative
to spread TEDTalks

in the area of the Middle East and so on,

because the internet speed
is not that fast.

So, I have done something.

Am I super smart?

(Laughter)

We have this in common, right?

(Applause)

We have dotSub technology for
the translation and Google translate.

Everyone here can do it, right?

(Laughter, cheering)

We need passion, right?

We need to share.

So, that's it.

The family support to us
is a very important factor.

Because, if you have a wife or a partner
that doesn't help you on this,

you can never get away from this.

And my wife's favorite TEDTalk is
Jamie Oliver's TEDPrize wish

to teach every child about food.

They care about us. My wife will care
about me and about my children, right?

Sometimes we are selfish, as men.

(Laughter)

So, we need to translate
for our children, right?

To reveal the possibility,
the opportunity, etc.

When your child, your daughter,
goes to a computer,

finds something in her language, right?

To be understandable for her.

So, in TED 2010,

my favorite quote was:

"Whatever you are doing,
failure is an option, fear is not."

We are going to organize
the first TEDx in Sudan.

That is TEDxKhartoum.

Please cheer up for us.

(Cheering)

Thank you. Thank you.

(Applause)