A few weeks ago we shared information on TED’s open translation project, also thanking the Hebrew translators who have volunteered their time to make over 220 TED talks available in Hebrew!

And now I have the opportunity to introduce 3 of them – all of whom are attending TEDxTelAviv.

Meet Shlomo Adam, Yifat Ben Yaacov and Shaike Katz

Between them they have translated almost 100 talks, with Shlomo alone accounting for over 50! And Yifat over 30!

I asked each of them to share why do you translate for TED:

Shlomo: “First and foremost I am an Alexander Technique teacher, which means aspiring to be in a constant state of learning. Apart from that I also translate professionally, of course, but whenever I have the time to do it for a hobby, like when I log onto DotSub or TED and look for talks to translate, it’s the learning I’m after, and TED is loaded with that. So when I find an interesting talk (and that happens quickly), I get a chance to learn something new about life, the universe & everything, and if someone else enjoys my work half as much as I do, then it’s a bit closer to perfect.”

Yifat:
“My interest in computers started when I was about 13 years old. After studying and working and working and working with computers – I found out I missed connecting people. So, I studied Shiatsu and Safe Touch Therapy and started combining working with computers and working with people. I got in contact with Israeli sites for survivors of Trauma and Sexual Harassment and found myself translating professional articles for them. After studying Translation and Translation Editing and adding translation to my previous tasks – I got to know TED and their translation project. With TED I can combine my various interests and loves with my love for translation and I’m happy I’m able to make TED accessible to the Hebrew audience.”

Shaike:
“I translate for TED because I like the ideas and the talks and I find myself repeatedly referring people to TED talks and I just wanted to make the talks more accessible and understandable for Hebrew speakers.”

Watch TEDTalks in Hebrew here

PS A special thanks to all of you who added Hebrew talks in the last month – there are an extra 50 talks in Hebrew since our last post!