It’s that time of the semester! Students are wrapping up final projects, and heading out to their Winter Break destinations, ready to recharge their batteries.
Lots of innovative student projects are hot off the press right now! We, the ROAR Magazine editors, have the honor of showcasing some of these wonderful creations.
Tenryumura History Project
One of the research projects coming out of this semester’s Localization Practicum, is 2nd-year TLM student (2022 – 2024) Nicholas Niculescu’s collaboration with the Tenryumura History Project in the form of providing localization services for the project.
The Tenryumura History Project’s website movingly describes the project’s mission:
The Tenryumura History Project seeks to translate and archive historical records from Tenryumura, a mountain village in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The village’s history includes a complex role in World War Ⅱ in which laborers from China and Korea, as well as allied POWs captured by the Japanese Imperial Army, were forced to construct the Hiraoka Dam on the Tenryu River. The project focuses on preserving written records and translating them into English so that all can learn from this period in Japan’s history.
The project is a collaboration by an international team of contributors, including:
The Middlebury C.V. Starr School in Japan;
Translation and Interpretation (TI) and Translation and Localization Management (TLM) graduate
students at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies;
Middlebury’s Center for Community Engagement;
Middlebury’s Japanese Studies Department; and
Individuals in Tenryumura
The project is funded through the Middlebury Office of the Provost. It also serves as one of many projects and initiatives that function under the framework of and seek to advance Conflict Transformation.
The Tenryumura History Project strongly reflects the values by which the conflict transformation is based. It also provides translation students the opportunity to engage with historical material that, through careful and accurate translation, can have a transformational impact on how we view, accept, and learn from past episodes of conflict and struggle.
You can find out more about the project by visiting their website, linked here: https://tenryumura.middcreate.net/. Way to go, Nick!
LinguaInclusa
Our second featured research project is 2nd-year TLM student (2022 – 2024) Emilia Primavera’s website called LinguaInclusa. LinguaInclusa is a much-needed resource for both localizers and for the wider population to both contribute their knowledge and experiences, and to learn about how to localize for accessibility for target markets around the world.
LinguaInclusa has resources on visual, auditory, cognitive, and other accessibility considerations. The website also has a robust repository of information on laws pertaining to accessibility and disability from a long list of countries.
LinguaInclusa can be accessed via this link: https://linguainclusa.primavera.middcreate.net/
Resources like LinguaInclusa are sorely needed in the contemporary localization landscape. We are so proud of Emilia for pioneering the field where localization and accessibility meet, and are excited to see how this project evolves!
Please consider contributing to LinguaInclusa, whether it’s through sharing personal experiences or providing localization insights related to accessibility and disability. You can contribute by filling out the following form: https://linguainclusa.primavera.middcreate.net/contribute-to-linguainclusa/
Here’s to all the great localization projects that got their start this year in 2023, cheers!
~The ROAR Magazine Editors