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Welcome, everybody. I'm Doug Chilcott.

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Welcome to the Open Translation
Lounge here at TEDGlobal, 2013,

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in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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This is one of several sessions
we're doing all week,

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inviting TED speakers
and hosts to the translation lounge

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to talk about their talks or sessions
with an audience from around the world,

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translators both here in Scotland,
as well as others joining us via Skype.

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In today's session we have
Erik Hersman, who just left his session.

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And here on site we have
Khalid from Morocco.

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Anwar from Sudan,
and Bandi from the Congo.

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Joining us via Skype is David
from Tanzania, welcome, David.

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Anja from Slovenia,

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and Falguni from Bangladesh.

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Welcome to all of you.

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So, we'll just start with this session,
Erik. Amazing session.

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Talk a little bit about your vision
for the session and how it came together.

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- Adrian and I, we were looking
to do a session that really talked about

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that there's a lot going on in Africa
and the Middle East and Asia,

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that a lot of the world doesn't know about

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but is going to have
a huge impact in the years ahead.

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So, we were looking for the people

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who could tell those stories
in a good way.

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It came out in the music where people
expect a certain type of music,

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because you're coming from Africa.

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Let's do something that's not expected.

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And, so, Forces Of Change is about
talking about there's a lot of unrest

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happening around the world,
a lot of disruption.

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Africa and the Middle East,
quite frankly, are leading it,

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and Asia, are leading in a lot
of the changes that are happening.

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What will it look like ten years from now,
we don't know,

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but we think that Africa,
Asia and the Middle East

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are going to have a huge impact.

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It might be part
of the solution to the problems

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we face endemically around the world.

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- What was your impression of the session?

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- The session was really great.

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It was so positive that one
feels proud of Africa

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and looking forward to seeing
what will happen in the near future.

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And also it gives you
the other side of the coin.

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That people won't expect
[this] to come out of Africa.

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Me, personally, I'm so proud of this guy,
Erik, and what he does in Kenya,

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and in the near future, I'm going
to Kenya to observe the Ushahidi, AIHD,

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and take [that] back to Khartoum.

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Instead of going to United States or,
you know, into Europe to learn,

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now I have something inside Africa,
nearby me where I can learn.

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- How about you, Bandi?

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- Well, I did find it was very powerful
because I would say it's very rare

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that Africa is spoken about
the way it was spoken about today.

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You know, full of hope,
but also full of opportunities,

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showcasing what Africa is already doing.

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The development,
the role technology's playing,

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and really showing that, actually,

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there are certain things
the world can learn from Africa

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in terms of technology.

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Not just the other things,
but in terms of technology.

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I thought that was very powerful.

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And it was also good to listen to Dambisa,

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looking at another way
of looking at Africa,

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and even doing the development of Africa.

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I did find that very powerful.

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And, you know,
it was very representative of Africa,

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and the music was also equally as good.

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- I want to bring in somebody from Skype.

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David from Tanzania.

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What were your impressions
of the session today?

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- What Erik was saying
that there's so much disruption

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happening in Africa and the continent

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and, of course, in other parts
of the world is an issue,

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I think it's true,

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and if you can have a better way
of representing all the efforts

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that are happening in Africa, I think
it would be a very good thing.

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- One of the things we're trying to do,

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and you know, there's two things
you can tell by the story of Africa.

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There's one which is the narratives,

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the anecdotes, the stories
of interesting stuff.

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And you do actually see
more of those happening today.

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But what was really important for us

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was to bring on some of the people
who do their research

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and understand the science about
what's going on behind the numbers.

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And, so, to have two economists
up there was very important for us

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to say this isn't just a story,
a feel-good story,

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about a couple of things happening.

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There's a trend here.

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And there are indicators
that you can't ignore.

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So, to have that lay the foundations
and say, hey, this is legitimate stuff.

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- Khalid, we haven't heard from you.

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A question for Erik
or a reflection on the session?

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- Sure. The session,
I really enjoyed it as an African,

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although we're not really
considered as African.

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We're more categorised as Arabs of Africa.

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What's going on in Sub-Saharan Africa
is not reaching us.

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What's going on in Europe is far from us

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and Sub-Saharan Africa
is separating itself from North Africa.

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Just recently we have started
the first Hackerspace in Morocco,

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and the trend is catching,
but it could have been faster and smoother

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if Sub-Saharan Africa
actually helped us to do that.

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So, I'm hoping for more
collaboration between North Africa

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and Sub-Saharan Africa, and not only
categorising Africa as Africa,

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but only speaking about Sub-Saharan
Africa, instead of the whole of Africa.

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- But I also think that shows
the diversity of Africa.

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And, yes, you can get into that trap

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of thinking that Africa
is the same everywhere.

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For instance,
although Africa is rapidly developing,

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there are also areas
where development is not reaching,

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for instance, the Congo.
Terrible problems there.

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But it is true that when you look at
Africa globally, it is rapidly developing,

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but there are still pockets
where it's still lagging behind.

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And it's also true that sometimes
there is no strong connection

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between certain parts of Africa,
for instance, what you've just highlighted

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the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan Africa,

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South Africa also has
a different kind of system and flavour.

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Different kind of technology.

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Kenya also has a different kind of hub,

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businesses, ingenuity, all those things.

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So, yes, I think,
to some extent, you're right,

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although, I think in this session
we also had Mustafa

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who addressed another dimension of Africa

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which I did find it was really,

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you know, well thought because
it helped us understand

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the complexity of Africa,

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the political growth of Africa,
which I find very positive and hopeful.

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(Erik Hersman) What Bandi is saying
is exactly right.

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I think there might be some things
on the technology or entrepreneur front

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that would be really great to see
up in the northern part of Africa,

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from some of the Sub-Saharan African
states, but there is some stuff

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happening politically in the North
that we wish would become South, so...

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- Then let's collaborate!

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Let's exchange.

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- You should export it!

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(Laughter)

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(E.H.) There's something else interesting.

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You're talking about
the first Hackerspace in Morocco.

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So, there's a trend now, happening
over the last couple of years,

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where we're seeing these tech shops,
tech spaces, tech labs,

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hubs, whatever you want
to call them, proliferated.

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If you go back even three years ago,

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there was a handful, three or four
tech incubators and spaces

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across the whole continent.

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Now we have 50+, and some of these
are just kind of co-working

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or hot-desking spaces.

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Others of them are incubators
and others of them are hacker spaces,

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where people are making
physical stuff with big tools.

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And it's this kind of diversity
and even the tech shops

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and tech spaces of Africa
that I think is so fascinating.

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And the growth and exhilaration
that will come because they exist

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is yet to be seen.

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(Doug Chilcott): It's interesting,
the idea of Africa being--

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I think we talked about it
in this aggregate,

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in the way we never do with Europe.

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No-one says
"How are Europeans doing this?"

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Which invites me to invite
Anja to talk about this idea,

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a collective continent having a mindset.

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Africa doesn't have one either.

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It has very distinctive
cultures and languages,

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in the same way Europe does.

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Anja, could you reflect
on that observation?

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- Where I come from, Slovenia,
there are a lot of start-ups,

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but mainly they're focusing on the US,

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not that much creating a European
start-up culture or anything like that.

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But I really loved this session,
and it brought something--

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a new perspective to looking at Africa.

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Because I loved Toby Shapshak's
interpretation of the map.

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Innovation doesn't come from conformity,

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and if you're challenged
with real problems, you begin to think,

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to innovate, to be creative,

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and I think that's a really
good point for Africa,

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to be innovative.

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But for Europe, I guess
we're a bit too conformist.

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We have a lot of good things
and that maybe keeps us from tackling

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with the real problems

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and just looking for the next big app
for iPhone or Android.

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- One thing that Erik
started the session with

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was the troubleshooting aspect
of the African average.

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The day before I came here,

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we had lunch with
the British ambassador in Khartoum,

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and then he asked the people

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ten things that every British diplomat
should know about Sudan.

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And I shared with him the fact

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that everyone in Sudan
is a trouble-shooter.

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That you have very unique problems
you have to overcome.

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Electrical cut, water cut and then,
you know, car problems,

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and malfunctioning here,
you go to the hospital.

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So, it's very complex
and you have to overcome.

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You complain for ever, but the only
solution for you is to overcome.

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So, whenever you go outside the continent,

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you become super, super effective
to the that community you join.

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The challenge is, I guess,

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is to get back from where you are
and to bring back the local community,

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and I guess the TEDx phenomenon
is reflecting now

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of what's happening there, right?

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(Erik Hersman) A more bottom-up approach.

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- And especially, I have to say,
the Open Translation because,

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you know, people like my family,
who are in the Congo,

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they can't hear English,
and most of the conversation,

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or many conversations are happening
in English, and they're missing out.

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But with the Open Translation,
they are able to follow it.

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In fact, because I spoke before
and it was on TED.com,

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it allowed them for the first time
to understand what I say at TEDx,

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which, thankfully,
was featured on TED.com.

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- Isn't it crazy that you had to have
your mum and dad

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see your talk online
before they understand what you do?

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(Laughter)

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It's a human problem!

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- But it was translated in French,
whereas before it wasn't.

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And that's something to be celebrated

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because it connects them
to the outside world,

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which maybe before
they were not able to connect to.

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- Thanks to the French translators.

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- Yes!

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So, thank you to all the French
translators out there!

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(Applause)

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And, hopefully, there will also be some--

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Local languages, like Swahili.

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- So, this is an interesting thing.

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My parents were linguists,
they were translators.

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That's what we were doing in South Sudan,

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that's what we were doing
in North Sudan, and everything.

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But it's actually true.

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There's over 2,000 languages in Africa.

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And the big languages,
Arabic, French, English...

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(Anwar Dafa-Alla) Swahili.

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Swahili, to a certain level,
are already done.

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But getting something
in your mother tongue

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it takes it so much further,

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it makes it so much more--

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You really hear things then.

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And, so, the idea of an Open Translation
Project for TED is a fantastic one.

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I think the mission now should be,
we've done some of the big languages,

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let's drive down.

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There's a lot of languages out there
that still need some work.

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- That would be fantastic,

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because the quality of the talks
that you get at TED

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translated in very local languages
and teachers would be able to plug it in

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and be able to follow it, free.

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It connects you in a way that,
you know, 20 years ago,

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it would have been unheard of.

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And you couldn't even have imagined
that would have been possible,

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to get access to that kind of information.

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We'll have to end, we're running out
of time and the next session's starting.

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So, thank you, Erik, for joining us,

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thank you all of you here as well.

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There's one more session
tomorrow morning after the first session.

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So I hope to see you then. Goodbye!

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(Applause)