WEBVTT 00:00:03.491 --> 00:00:05.337 [K. Sargsyan] I started to translate TEDTalks 00:00:05.337 --> 00:00:09.066 after seeing William Kamkwamba's talk about how to fulfill your dreams. 00:00:09.066 --> 00:00:11.438 And I told [about] this talk to my son. 00:00:11.438 --> 00:00:14.056 He wouldn't believe me. He said, "But he dropped out of school." 00:00:14.056 --> 00:00:16.365 "He wouldn't know English. How would he do this?" 00:00:16.365 --> 00:00:18.229 So I said, "I will translate this." 00:00:18.229 --> 00:00:22.133 "I want him to read every single word." 00:00:22.133 --> 00:00:24.793 [W. Davis] Language is not just a body of vocabulary 00:00:24.793 --> 00:00:26.757 or set of grammatical rules. 00:00:26.757 --> 00:00:29.274 A language is a flash of the human spirit. 00:00:29.274 --> 00:00:32.211 It's a vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture 00:00:32.211 --> 00:00:33.627 comes into the material world. 00:00:33.627 --> 00:00:37.016 Everything that we do at TED is driven by the same mission, 00:00:37.016 --> 00:00:39.099 which is to spread ideas. 00:00:39.099 --> 00:00:41.628 And if your goal is to spread ideas, at a certain point, 00:00:41.628 --> 00:00:44.431 you're confronted with the fact that you're only speaking in English. 00:00:44.431 --> 00:00:47.887 The very root of what we do is about connectedness. 00:00:47.887 --> 00:00:49.397 There's huge numbers of people 00:00:49.397 --> 00:00:52.167 who can be part of shaping a better future for everyone. 00:00:52.167 --> 00:00:54.984 It'd be crazy to leave them out. 00:00:54.984 --> 00:00:56.819 [K. Aparta] I wrote them, saying that these talks 00:00:56.819 --> 00:00:58.559 should have subtitles for the Deaf, 00:00:58.559 --> 00:01:01.634 and also translations for people from other countries. 00:01:01.634 --> 00:01:03.404 There has to be that one person 00:01:03.404 --> 00:01:05.982 who's so passionate about a particular talk, 00:01:05.982 --> 00:01:09.402 who wants the subtitles to exist in their language. 00:01:09.402 --> 00:01:12.089 Initially, I started translating for my sister. 00:01:12.089 --> 00:01:13.048 She lives with my parents 00:01:13.048 --> 00:01:16.866 in a very small town, where I'm from in Kazakhstan. 00:01:16.866 --> 00:01:20.639 And she doesn't get a lot of opportunities in exploring the world. 00:01:20.639 --> 00:01:23.886 But then, later on, I realized it's not just my family. 00:01:23.886 --> 00:01:27.674 Everyone who speaks Uzbek could benefit from it. 00:01:27.674 --> 00:01:32.666 [M. Pagel] Just as wings opened up the sphere of air for birds to exploit, 00:01:32.666 --> 00:01:36.479 language opened up the sphere of cooperation for humans to exploit. 00:01:36.479 --> 00:01:39.007 All of our speakers are on the edge of their fields, 00:01:39.007 --> 00:01:41.207 and therefore on the edge of language, 00:01:41.207 --> 00:01:44.745 so many of the terms they use you can't find in a dictionary. 00:01:44.745 --> 00:01:48.466 It actually takes a lot of research to accurately translate a TEDTalk. 00:01:48.466 --> 00:01:51.031 Depending on how technical it is, and how many words you have to look up, 00:01:51.031 --> 00:01:52.668 it could take up to 10 hours. 00:01:52.668 --> 00:01:55.923 I go and read about the speaker, and his books, 00:01:55.923 --> 00:01:57.931 so I get the whole context. 00:01:57.931 --> 00:02:00.095 Because of this community of translators, 00:02:00.095 --> 00:02:03.298 we suddenly have the ability to find the greatest ideas 00:02:03.298 --> 00:02:05.096 coming from speakers in any language 00:02:05.096 --> 00:02:08.229 and bring them into the English-speaking world 00:02:08.229 --> 00:02:23.192 and beyond. 00:02:23.192 --> 00:02:28.296 I translate because I want more people to have access to these ideas. 00:02:28.296 --> 00:02:31.049 It's an act of generosity from many people, 00:02:31.049 --> 00:02:33.109 just sharing knowledge. 00:02:33.109 --> 00:02:36.871 To inspire people, to give hope to some people. 00:02:36.871 --> 99:59:59.999 This changes a lot of things in the world.