From January 2024 onwards, citizen translators will receive increased recognition and rewards through a new improved points-based framework.

These translators are dedicated volunteers who help to identify and report translation errors in Government communication materials, and provide suggestions to rectify them.

The citizen translators project was introduced in 2021 by the National Translation Committee (NTC) with the goal of leveraging community expertise to crowdsource the most effective translations.

Enhancements to the framework

During an engagement session organised by NTC at the Lifelong Learning Institute on Oct.17, Senior Minister of State for Ministry of Communications and Information Tan Kiat How announced enhancements to the recognition framework for citizen translators.

Currently, those who have participated in at least three activities within a calendar year would qualify for the Basic Tier and receive an e-certificate of participation.

Those who have participated in at least five activities would qualify for the Enhanced Tier, and will receive the e-certificate, an e-voucher and be eligible for learning and development opportunities.

This tiered structure will be adjusted to a points-based system from January 2024.

"This is to better reflect the different levels of commitment required for the various activities that our citizen translators participate in," Tan explained.

The Secretariat will be announcing the details in due course, he added.

Revised points-based system

The revised points-based system expands opportunities for more citizen translators to qualify for the Basic Tier and attain the Enhanced Tier.

Furthermore, Basic Tier citizen translators will receive e-vouchers while Enhanced Tier Citizen Translators can anticipate training opportunities like translation workshops and learning journeys.

"We will work closely with our training partners to provide citizen translators more opportunities to improve their translation capabilities, so do strive for the Enhanced Tier, and share with us what training activities you would like to take part in," Tan said.

Tan expressed his gratitude to the translators, stating:

"These recognitions are small tokens of our appreciation for the significant effort and time that you have contributed to the translation effort in Singapore, and to the community of translators."

Translation Talent Development Scheme

Tan also presented certificates to the five award recipients of the Translation Talent Development Scheme.

It was launched in 2018 to support translation and interpretation practitioners from the private sector in deepening their skills.

Awarded recipients will receive up to S$10,000 to offset 90 per cent of the expenses incurred in their participation in capability development programme(s) related to translation, interpretation or languages in Singapore and overseas.

Workshops by translation practitioners

The engagement session also featured workshops conducted by experienced translation practitioners, Yuen Kum Cheong, Khadijah Seron, and Pavalakantham Allagarsamy, focused on translating public communication materials from English to Chinese, Malay, and Tamil respectively.

Yuen, a previous recipient of the Translation Talent Development Scheme award, is a part-time lecturer in translation at local universities in Singapore.

Seron serves as an adjunct lecturer with various international universities, while Allagarsamy has over 30 years of experience as a newscaster.

Local polyglot Jonas Fine Tan, known for going viral on Tiktok for speaking 11 languages, engaged with citizen translators in a virtual dialogue during the event as well.

Top photos from Tan Kiat How's Facebook and Google Photos