Difference between revisions of "ICANN - Paris/Translation meeting"

Latest revision as of 12:06, 26 June 2008

Workshop: Translation Programme

• http://par.icann.org/en/node/65

• From the text feed

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: -- IS INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES AND ALLOWING PEOPLE TO PARTICIPATE WITHIN ICANN'S PROCESSES WITHIN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES, THE SIMPLE REASON BEING THAT THE INTERNET IS GLOBAL. THE INTERNET IS GLOBAL, AND SO THEREFORE PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT ICANN IS DOING.

WE VIEW NOREPINEPHRINE THE WORLD AS A POTENTIAL STAKEHOLDER OF ICANN'S PROCESSES.

SO WE'D LIKE YOU TO BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE AND INTERACT WITH US SO THAT ICANN REPRESENTS WHO IT WANTS TO REPRESENT.

NOW, ICANN RECOGNIZES BECAUSE THIS WAS THE -- STARTED IN THE UNITED STATES, AND ICANN -- YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THE INTERNET INITIAL WORK WAS DONE BY ENGLISH SPEAKERS, AND A LOT OF THE TECHNICAL COMMUNITY SPEAK ENGLISH, ICANN HAS ALWAYS HAD A VERY STRONG FOCUS ON ENGLISH. NEARLY ALL THE DOCUMENTS ARE IN ENGLISH, AS YOU'VE NOTICED IF YOU'VE NO DOUBT BEEN IN THESE SESSIONS, MOST OF THE PEOPLE SPEAK ENGLISH. AND WE RECOGNIZE THIS IS THE FACT THAT AS THE INTERNET EXPANDS AND AS ICANN'S JOB EXPANDS MORE GLOBALLY, YOU'LL RECOGNIZE THAT IT'S GETTING MORE DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE TO PARTICIPATE EFFECTIVE FOR A LARGE NUMBER OF OUR STAKEHOLDERS.

SO WHAT ICANN HAS DONE IS WE CREATED THIS TRANSLATION PROGRAM. THE LAST TWO MEETINGS WE'VE HAD, IN LOS ANGELES AND DELHI, WE'VE HAD SPECIAL SESSIONS LIKE THIS TO TALK THROUGH THAT TRANSLATION PROGRAM.

THIS TIME, RATHER THAN TALK ABOUT THE PROGRAM, WE WANT TO SHOW YOU WHAT WE'VE ACTUALLY BEEN DOING. WE WANT TO SHOW YOU WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING IN REAL TERMS AND WE WANT TO ASK YOU WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT, YOU THINK THIS IS GOOD, YOU THINK THIS NEEDS CHANGE.

WE WANT SOME OF YOUR FEEDBACK ON WHETHER YOU THINK WE'RE GOING ALONG THE RIGHT LINES.

WE'VE ALSO RAN A PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD ON THIS TRANSLATION PROGRAM. AND THE SUMMARY ANALYSIS OF THAT IS UP. AND WE'RE GOING TO PULL THAT IN. AND WE'RE ALSO GOING TO REVISE THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM BASED ON THAT SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, I THINK ICANN'S GOING TO BE HIRING A TRANSLATION COORDINATOR. IT DEPENDS ON WHEN WE CAN GET SOMEONE WITH THE SKILLS. BUT HOPEFULLY WITHIN THE NEXT MONTH OR TWO MONTHS. AND THAT PERSON IS GOING TO BE -- HOPEFULLY BE A HIGHLY SKILLED PERSON WITH A LOT OF EXPERIENCE IN TRANSLATION. AND THEY WILL BE EFFECTIVELY RUNNING THE TRANSLATION PROCESS THAT WE HAVE IN PLACE.

THAT -- USUALLY, ALTHOUGH THERE DON'T SEEM TO BE THE NORMAL PEOPLE HERE, USUALLY WHEN WE RUN THESE SESSIONS, PEOPLE PARTICULARLY ASK US, I RUN A TRANSLATION PROGRAM, I WOULD LIKE ICANN TO CONSIDER ME FOR TRANSLATION FOR MY PARTICULAR LANGUAGE.

WE HAVE A VERY CLEAR ANSWER TO THAT, IS, WE WILL BE RUNNING A FORMAL TENDER PROCESS FOR THE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. AND IT WILL BE THE TRANSLATION COORDINATOR THAT WILL PUT IN PLACE THAT TENDER PROCESS.

NOW, THAT -- WE THINK THAT WILL BE IN APPROXIMATELY SIX MONTHS' TIME, BEING REALISTIC. THERE WILL BE A FORMAL TENDER PROCESS FOR EACH LANGUAGE, AND WE'LL MAKE A DECISION, WE'LL BE OPEN ABOUT MAKING THE DECISION OF WHY WE CHOOSE SOMEONE OR SOMEONE ELSE FOR THE TRANSLATION WORK THAT ICANN'S GOING TO TAKE ON.

SO THAT'S THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION, WHICH WE ARE CONSISTENTLY ASKED.

NOW, ONE OF THE THINGS, WE'RE TRYING TO SEVERAL WAYS TO GET AT PEOPLE, GET PEOPLE ENTHUSED AND TO PROVIDE INFORMATION IN THEIR LANGUAGES. AND ONE OF THEM IS VIDEO.

AND SO WE'VE GOT HERE, WE'VE GOT -- WE USE A SYSTEM CALLED DOTSUB, WHICH ENABLES US TO BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE TO -- IN VIDEO IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. WE HAVE THE CEO OF DOTSUB HERE, MICHAEL SMOLENS, AND HE'S GOING TO COME UP, BECAUSE HE CAN EXPLAIN MUCH BETTER THAN I CAN HOW THIS SYSTEM WORKS AND WHAT USE YOU CAN PUT IT TO.

SO IF YOU COME UP, MICHAEL.

>>MICHAEL SMOLENS: THANK YOU, KIEREN.

WHAT I'M GOING TO DO IS JUST START OFF AND TALK ABOUT THE OVERALL OBJECTIVES OF WHY DOTSUB WAS CREATED. DOTSUB WAS CREATED ABOUT FOUR YEARS AGO TO TRY TO REMOVE LANGUAGE AS A BARRIER TO CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION USING VIDEO TO CREATE AN OPEN WIKI KIND OF TOOL, SORT OF A WIKI PED YEAH FOR VIDEO, TO ALLOW ANYONE IN ANY CULTURE TO SHRINE ON FROM ANY CULTURE WITH NO TRAINING TO SUBTITLE A VIDEO AS LONG AS YOU HAVE PERMISSION.

AND WHAT I WANT TO DO IS SHOW YOU A BUNCH OF EXAMPLES OF HOW IT IS USED, AND I'LL BE AROUND ALL AFTERNOON IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS.

WHAT KIEREN AND I WANT TO TRY TO DO IS WE CREATED YESTERDAY, AND KIEREN SHOWED THIS VIDEO THAT'S AN ICANN VIDEO WITH ICANN EMPLOYEES, AND THERE WAS 11 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES SPOKEN. AND IT'S SUBTITLED, AND WE WOULD LIKE TO GET THIS IN A HUNDRED LANGUAGES BY ICANN PEOPLE WORKING WITH ICANN, FRIENDS OF ICANN.

IT TAKES ABOUT FIVE TO EIGHT MINUTES TO DO IT IN YOUR NATIVE LAWNG. YOU WOULD JUST GO TO DOTSUB.COM, CLICK ON THE VIDEO , YOU NEED TO REGISTER AT THE SITE, AND THEN IF YOU WANT TO TRANSLATE THIS VIDEO FROM ENGLISH TO AFRIKAANS, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU HIT TRANSLATE AND TYPE IN AFRIKAANS OR ANY LAWNAL YOU WANT, DOUBLE BY CHARACTERS RIGHT TO LEFT, HIT THE DID YOU KNOW BUTTON.

IF YOU DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH AND THIS VIDEO IS IN TWO LANGUAGES, IF YOU WANT TO GO FROM FRENCH TO AL BANE YANN, YOU ALBANIAN, YOU CAN HIT FRENCH TO ALBANIAN AND THE SOURCE LANGUAGE BECOMES FRERCHL. SO AS MORE LANGUAGES GET ENTERED, THOSE LANGUAGES BECOME THE SOURCE LANGUAGE SO WE TRY TO MAKE IT NON-ENGLISH CENTRIC FRENCH.

LET ME SHOW YOU AN EXAMPLE OF SOME VIDEOS AND HOW WE ARE DEALING WITH MULTICULTURAL COMMUNICATION.

THIS IS AN ORGANIZATION CALLED POP TECH. THEY HAVE ASKED US TO DO THESE IN THESE EIGHT LANGUAGES.

LET'S PICK SWAHILI. YOU CLICK ON SWAHILI, AND ALL OF THIS IS HUMAN TRANSLATION. THIS IS NOT MACHINE TRANSLATION. ALL OF THE HTML AND TEXT IS IN SWAHILI. YOU HAVE A VIDEO, HERE IS THOMAS FRIEDMAN, THE NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST. YOU HIT ON THE PLAY BUTTON, HIS SPEECH IS STREAMED IN FLASH VOID, VOD, SUBTITLED IN SWAHILI. IT CAN CONVERT TO AN MPEG 4 WHICH IS A PORTABLE FILE YOU CAN RSS E-MAIL AND THERE IS A VIDEO SUBTITLED IN SWAHILI THAT YOU CAN MOVE AROUND. RSS TO A VIDEO-ENABLED MOBILE DEVICE. AND ULTIMATELY WE WOULD LIKE ICANN, MAYBE IN 12 TO 18 MONTHS, FOR EXAMPLE, TO HAVE RUSSIAN MEMBERS SUBSCRIBE TO ICANN CONTENT IN RUSSIAN WITH AN RSS FEED, GO TO THEIR MOBILE DEVICE AND WATCH ICANN VIDEOS SUBTITLED IN RUSSIAN, ALL DONE AUTOMATICALLY THROUGH THE ICANN COMMUNITY.

THE TECHNOLOGY ALREADY EXISTS TO DO THAT.

HERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PANGEA DAY. THIS WAS AN EFFORT LAST MONTH. 100 TO 300 MILLION PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WATCHED IT. HERE IS A MENU SHOWING 40 LANGUAGES OF THE VIDEO AND THIS IS WHAT THE INTERFACE LOOKS LIKE. WHEN YOU ARE PLAYING THE VIDEO, HERE IS ARABIC SUBTITLES, AND YOU CAN JUST SCROLL THROUGH, AND THERE IS CATALAN SUBTILES. THERE SUBTITLES. THERE IS CHINESE SUBTITLES.

SO WE ARE TRYING TO MAKE THIS AS MULTICULTURAL AND AS EASY AS POSSIBLE.

TO GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT IS POSSIBLE, ALL OF YOU HAVE BEEN HEARING ABOUT MACHINE TRANSLATION, GOOGLE TRANSLATES, S WR. S TRAN, BABBLE FISH, AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT WHETHER WE FEEL THE QUALITY OF THIS IS BAD OR GOOD. IN SOME LANGUAGES IT'S VERY GOOD. IN SOME LANGUAGES IT'S VERY BAD, IT'S VERY INCONSISTENT. BUT WE HAVE CREATED THE ABILITY TO INTEGRATE MACHINE TRANSLATION WITH GOOGLE TRANSLATE. IN THE MACHINE TRANSLATION PROCESS, SO IF WE GO TO THE VIDEO THAT WE SHOWED YOU YESTERDAY, HE FOR THE -- WHERE IS IT, KIEREN?

THE VIDEO THAT WE SHOWED WITH THE MULTIPLE LANGUAGES, IN THE 11 LANGUAGES.

ON WHERE?

HERE, I CAN GO TO DOTSUB AND FIND THIS.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THRUG.

>>MICHAEL SMOLENS: ITHERE YOU GO.

>>MICHAEL SMOLENS: I WANT TO DO IT ON THE OTHER SITE.

HERE IS THE VIDEO WE DID YESTERDAY, AND I WANT TO SHOW YOU HOW THIS WORKS WITH GOOGLE TRANSLATE.

AND I HAVE GOT TO SIGN IN. I HAVE GOT TO LOG OUT.

SIGN IN AS ME.

SORRY ABOUT THIS.

IF WE TAKE THIS VIDEO, AND LET'S SAY WE WANT TO TRANSLATE THIS INTO ARABIC -- OH, IT'S ALREADY IN ARABIC. LET'S TRANSLATE THIS INTO JAPANESE.

SO WE WILL GO TO JAPANESE, SELECT JAPANESE. HIT TRANSLATE. AND I WANT YOU TO WATCH WHAT HAPPENS.

WATCH VERY CAREFULLY. CLICK HERE USING GOOGLE TRANSLATE. YOU WILL SEE A PROGRESS BAR, AND YOU WILL SEE THE LINES OF TEXT BEING TRANSLATED IN JAPANESE IN REAL TIME.

THERE IT IS IN JAPANESE USING GOOGLE TRANSLATE.

YOU GO BACK TO THAT VIDEO, RE REFRESH THE BROWSER, AND THEN YOU CAN WATCH THAT VIDEO TRANSLATED IN GOOGLE TRANSLATE.

THAT'S HOW QUICK IT WORKS.

SO WE'RE NOT GOING TO COMMENT AT ALL WHETHER OR NOT THAT QUALITY IS GOOD OR ACCEPTABLE, BECAUSE ICANN HAS VERY PRECISE REQUIREMENTS. BUT THIS IS THE ABILITY TO INTEGRATE GOOGLE TRANSLATE OR OTHER, SO THERE IS A VIDEO TRANSLATED WITH A CLICK OF A BOINT, WITH TIME CAPTURES AND ANYTHING IN ANY LANGUAGE THAT GOOGLE TRANSLATE SUPPORTS. RIGHT NOW IT'S 38 LANGUAGES.

SO THE BOTTOM LINE OF THE STORY IS, AS ICANN CREATES MORE VIDEO CONTENT, VIDEOS OF PRESENTATION, VIDEOS OF INFORMATION, VIDEOS OF TRAINING, VIDEOS OF USER-GENERATED CONTENT, KIEREN AND PAUL ARE VERY INTERESTED IN ALLOWING THE COMMUNITY TO HAVE THIS CONTENT FULLY AVAILABLE BY ANY MEMBER OF THE ICANN COMMUNITY SPEAKING ANY LANGUAGE.

SO HOPEFULLY WE WILL BE ABLE TO CONTINUE TO WORK ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO ENABLE ALL OF ICANN CONTENT TO BE AVAILABLE AS LONG AS THE ICANN COMMUNITY WANTS TO BE INVOLVED IN HAVING IT AVAILABLE IN THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE.

SO THAT'S WHAT DOTSUB IS ALL ABOUT. AND THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY.

(APPLAUSE.)

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THANK YOU, MICHAEL.

YOU KNOW, I FIND IT INCREDIBLE THAT PEOPLE -- THERE AREN'T MORE PEOPLE HERE SEEING THIS. THE GRIEF I CONSISTENTLY GET ABOUT I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS, I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS, AND THAT'S EXTRAORDINARY. I MEAN, THAT'S JUST TERRIFIC.

SO THANK YOU, MICHAEL.

MICHAEL, ALSO, I SHOULD ALSO SHOW THAT WE HAVE GOT THE DOMAIN INFO BOYS HERE. THEY HAVE WANDERED OFF BUT I CAN SEE THEY ARE STILL ACTUALLY FILMING ME WITH A CAMERA POINTING AT ME. THEY HAVE BEEN PIECING TOGETHER VIDEOS OVER THE COURSE OF THIS WEEK, RECORD, EDITING THEM UP. AT THE MOMENT WE HAVE THREE UP THERE. THE PUBLIC FORUM, THE PRESENTATIONS OF RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE IDNC. PETER TALKING ABOUT THE BUSINESS ACCESS AGENDA, ET CETERA, ET CETERA.

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT WE HAVE DONE THAT.

AND SO THIS INFORMATION, USING DOTSUB, IS NOW AVAILABLE. YOU CAN FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THESE MEETINGS WHENEVER YOU LIKE, IN WHATEVER LANGUAGE YOU WANT. AND THAT'S AVAILABLE NOW. AND IF YOU USE IT A LOT AND IF YOU LIKE IT A LOT, WE WILL PUT MORE RESOURCES INTO THAT.

SO PLEASE USE IT. HAVE A LOOK AT IT. GIVE US FEEDBACK. SAY WHAT SORT OF VIDEOS ARE USEFUL, HOW YOU LIKE THEM, AND THAT'S WHAT WE'LL DO.

WE WANT TO GET AT AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE.

SO THE NEXT STEP -- WE DID AN ONLINE SURVEY TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE THOUGHT ABOUT THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM AND TRANSLATION IN YN WITHIN ICANN. AND WE CAME UP WITH SOME VERY INTERESTING RESULTS.

FIRST OF ALL, IT WAS THE BIGGEST SURVEY THAT ICANN HAS EVER HAD. WE HAD 206 RESPONDENTS, WHICH IS A SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF THE ICANN -- CURRENT ICANN COMMUNITY. AND THE REASON WE HAD THAT WAS BECAUSE IT WAS, FRANKLY, IT WAS SIMPLE. AND WE TRANSLATED IT INTO MULTIPLE LANGUAGES, SO PEOPLE FELT COMFORTABLE FINDING OUT WHAT THEY WERE AGREEING TO OR NOT AGREEING TO OR PROVIDING FEEDBACK OR NOT PROVIDING FEEDBACK ON.

AND WE GOT A HUGE RESPONSE. AND WE ARE GOING TO USE THAT TO DECIDE WHERE WE GO AND WHAT WE DO IN THE FUTURE.

I'D SAY WE WERE SLIGHTLY NERVOUS ABOUT WHAT THE RESULTS WOULD BE, BUT I HAVE BEEN AMAZED BY WHAT THE RESULTS ARE.

WE NEED TO DO AN ANALYSIS, BECAUSE I THINK WE'RE JUST CLOSING IT OR ARE ABOUT TO JUST CLOSE THE SURVEY. SO WE NEED TO DO A PROPER ANALYSIS, BUT THESE ARE THE EARLY RESULTS.

THE EARLY RESULTS WERE THAT 82% OF PEOPLE THAT RESPONDED SAID THAT THEY SPEAK ENGLISH. I THINK THAT SHOWS THIS IS THE ICANN COMMUNITY THAT'S PREDOMINANTLY A COMMUNITY AT THE MOMENT THAT SPEAKS ENGLISH OR SAYS THAT THEY WANT TO SPEAK ENGLISH. WE WANTED TO TRY TO FIND OUT WHAT THE BREAKDOWN WAS.

BUT OF THOSE -- OF ALL THE PEOPLE THAT RESPONDED, 41% OF THEM SAID THEY HAD SOME KIND OF DIFFICULTY PARTICIPATING IN ICANN BECAUSE OF THE ISSUE OF LANGUAGE, WHICH WAS MUCH, MUCH HIGHER THAN WE EXPECTED.

WE KNOW THERE ARE SOME ISSUES WITH PARTICIPATION, UNDERSTANDING THE DOCUMENTS OBVIOUSLY IS THE ISSUE BECAUSE WE ARE ALL ENGLISH SPEAKERS. THE ISSUE OF THE MICROPHONE IS CULTURALLY SENSITIVE. SOME PEOPLE DON'T LIKE GETTING UP AND TALKING IN FRONT OF A BIG CROWD.

WE KNEW THAT THERE ARE THESE ISSUES. 41% OF PEOPLE SAID THEY HAD SOME KIND OF DIFFICULTY PARTICIPATING IN ICANN, AND WE WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT THAT DIFFICULTY IS AND HOW WE CAN RESOLVE THAT.

THAT'S A VERY HIGH NUMBER. WE WANT TO RESOLVE THAT ISSUE. SO THIS IS WHY WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK, BECAUSE DWENT WE DON'T KNOW. I DON'T KNOW. I SPEAK PRETTY GOOD ENGLISH AND IT'S NOT DIFFICULT FOR ME TO INTERACT IN ICANN. 41% OF PEOPLE SAID THEY HAD SOME KIND OF ISSUE.

WE ARE VERY PLEASED THAT WE GOT A MASSIVE POSITIVE AGREEMENT WITH WHAT'S IN THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM. AND WE WERE SCRE VERY HAPPY WITH THAT BECAUSE WE WERE HOPING IT WOULD BE AGREED TO. 81% OF PEOPLE AGREED WITH OUR BASIC AIM THAT THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM WOULD PROVIDE AN EQUAL LEVEL OF ACCESS TO INFLUENCE AND PARTICIPATE IN THE WORK OF THE ORGANIZATION.

81% OF THE PEOPLE AGREED WITH THAT. SOMETHING LIKE 50% STRONGLY AGREED WITH THAT.

91% OF THE PEOPLE AGREED THAT THE QUALITY OF INTERPRETATION AND TRANSLATION WAS VITAL, AND THAT IT NEEDED CONSISTENT TRANSLATED.

SO THAT'S A PRETTY CLEAR INDICATION THAT PEOPLE AGREED WITH THAT AND THAT'S WHAT WE ARE GOING TO RUN WITH.

NINE% OF PEOPLE AGREED THAT WE KNEED A NEW DOCUMENT NAMING SYSTEM AND THAT WE NEEDED THAT IN A STANDARD FORMAT.

THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE BELIEVED, INTERNALLY, WAS VERY IMPORTANT. 90% OF YOU AGREED OR STRONGLY AGREED. WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE PEOPLE WHO DISAGREED, WHAT THEIR POINTS ARE. WE WILL HAVE A LOOK AT THE COMMENTS AND FIND OUT WHAT THEY ARE, BUT THAT'S A VERY, VERY CLEAR MESSAGE THAT THAT'S WHAT WE NEED TO DO AND SO THAT'S WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO.

90% OF PEOPLE AGREE WITH TEN LANGUAGES FOR OUTREACH. THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM BASICALLY OUTLINED WE WOULD TRANSLATE THINGS IN A BLOCK OF EITHER FIVE LANGUAGES OR TEN LANGUAGES OR AS REQUIRED.

FIVE LANGUAGES ARE THE U.N. LANGUAGES, THE (INAUDIBLE) LANGUAGES: FRENCH, SPANISH, RUSSIAN, CHINESE, ARABIC.

AND WE ARE GOING TO USE THAT FOR STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS AND POLICY DOCUMENTS. THE REASON WE CHOSE THOSE FIVE IS TO TRANSLATE THAT EVERYTHING PRODUCES IN TEN LANGUAGES IS ENORMOUSLY EXPENSIVE AND TIME CONSUMING AND RESOURCE HUNGRY. SO WE GOT AN EXPERT IN AND HE SAID DO THESE DOCUMENTS IN FIVE LANGUAGES AND IN THE OUTREACH DOCUMENTS EXPLAINING WHAT WE DO, WHO WE ARE, HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE ARE IN TEN LANGUAGES.

90% OF THE PEOPLE AGREED THAT THE TEN LANGUAGES FOR OUTREACH WAS THE RIGHT APPROACH. 77% AGREED THAT FIVE LAWNGS. LANGUAGES. THAT'S STIFF VERY HIGH, BUT WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE OTHER PEOPLE ARE SAYING. ARE THEY SAYING THEY THINK IT SHOULD BE MORE THAN FIVE LANGUAGES? LESS THAN FIVE LANGUAGES? THAT'S WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW. WE RAN A FAIRLY SHORT SURVEY SO WE CAN GET MORE RESPONDENTS SO NOW WE NEED TO DRILL INTO THAT AND FIND OUT.

(SPEAKING TOO FAST).

ARE NOT SURE ABOUT THE AMBIGUITY, HOW WE WOULD MAKE THE DECISION WHAT LANGUAGE TO DO IT IN. THAT'S A VERY GOOD QUESTION. IF THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE MEAN BY THAT, TELL US AND WE'LL TRY AND CREATE SOME KIND OF PROCESS BY WHICH WE MAKE IT CLEAR HOW WE'RE GOING TO DECIDE WHAT LANGUAGE WE TRANSLATE INTO.

WITH THE GUIDE OF THE SURVEY, WE NEED TO TRANSLATE THE COMMENTS. THERE WERE A LOT OF COMMENTS IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. WE NEED TO TRANSLATE THEM AND DO AN ANALYSIS OF THEM AND FIND OUT WHAT THAT MEANS. AND WE'LL TAKE AM I COMMENTS THAT YOU HAVE IN THE ROOM, AND WE'LL ADD THAT TO IT AND THEN WE HOPE TO BE ABLE TO FIND OUT WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO TELL US.

SO I YOU PUT QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS THERE, BECAUSE I'M HOPING THAT'S GOING TO INSPIRE AT LEAST A FEW OF YOU TO RESPOND TO SOME OF THOSE QUESTIONS BECAUSE WE HAVE GOT A LOT OF STUFF. AND I'M HOPING THAT SOMEONE -- IF THERE ARE ANY COMMENTS, NOW IS THE TIME TO RAISE IT.

KAREN HAS A MICROPHONE, SO IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS ON THAT, ANY SUGGESTIONS, NOW IS THE TIME TO -- WE HAVE GOT ONE THERE.

IF YOU COULD JUST STATE YOUR NAME.

>> MY NAME IS CARLTON SAMUELS, I AM THE SECRETARY TO THE LAC RALO.

NOT SPECIFIC COMMENTS ON THE SURVEY ITSELF, BUT JUST TO REITERATE HOW IMPORTANT THIS STEP IS IN THE ICANN PROCESS.

COMING FROM A REGION WHERE MANY MEMBERS ARE SPANISH SPEAKERS, THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM IS ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT TO US. AND THE AT-LARGE HAS BEEN CONSISTENT IN REQUESTING TRANSLATION.

WE HAVE BEGUN TRANSLATING TELECONFERENCES, AND I CAN TELL YOU THAT HAS BEEN A TREMENDOUS BOON TO PARTICIPATION. PEOPLE REALLY WANT TO PARTICIPATE. NOW THAT WE HAVE A PROGRAM TO GET THESE POLICY DOCUMENTS TRANSLATED, I THINK IT WILL EVEN HELP SOME MORE TO ENABLE PARTICIPATION.

SO I WOULD ENCOURAGE ANY KIND OF MOTION IN THIS WAY. AND WE CERTAINLY LOOK FORWARD TO MORE -- EXCITING DEVELOPMENTS WITH DOTSUB. AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO EVEN BETTER OUTCOMES.

THANKS.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THANK YOU, CARLTON.

IS THERE ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE WHO WOULD LIKE TO MAKE ANY COMMENTS, OBSERVATIONS? PRACH WE HAVE ONE IN THE BACK.

IF YOU COULD STATE YOUR NAME FIRST, PLEASE.

>> (SAYING NAME) INTERNET SOCIETY, POLAND.

I GENERALLY AGREE WITH WHAT WAS PRESENTED. IT'S HIGHLY DESIRABLE TO PROVIDE THE TRANSLATIONS, AND TO ENABLE WIDE PARTICIPATION.

THE QUESTION IS, TO BE ON MORE NEGATIVE SIDE, WHAT'S THE COST AND HOW IT LOOKS LIKE FROM A REAL EXECUTION TO PERFORM AND TO DO IT RIGHT? BECAUSE WHILE IT'S GENERALLY MAGNIFICENT GOAL, IT'S EXTREMELY HARD TO ACHIEVE IN MY OPINION.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: I THINK I'LL RESPOND TO THAT NOW. THE FIGURES ARE IN THE ICANN BUDGET, AS ARE A LOT OF OTHER FIGURES. THE TRANSLATION BUDGET LAST YEAR WAS $446,000 WHICH I DON'T THINK WE HAVE USED MOST OF BECAUSE WE WERE GETTING THIS IN PROCESS, IN PLACE. AS WE HAVE NOW INCREASED THAT, AFTER WE DID AN ANALYSIS OF WHAT WE THOUGHT ALL OF THIS WOULD COST, TO 800,000.

SO WE HAVE GOT IT THIS YEAR. WE DON'T KNOW IF WE WILL USE ALL THAT. WE OPT HOPE WE DON'T. WE HOPE WE GET A LOT OF PARTICIPATION IN RESPONSE TO THAT. BUT FOR NOW WE ARE GOING TO RUN WITH THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM AS WE HAVE MAPPED OUT AND WE WILL ASSESS ALONG THE WAY WHETHER IT'S ENABLING PEOPLE TO BE MORE EMPOWERED AND THEN WE WILL ASSESS AT SIX MONTHS AND WE WILL ASSESS AT THE END OF THE YEAR TO SEE WHETHER WE NEED MORE MONEY, IN WHICH CASE WE WILL NEED TO ASK THE COMMUNITY, OR IF IT'S TOO MUCH MONEY, IN WHICH CASE WE WON'T SPEND AS MUCH NEXT YEAR. WE DON'T KNOW. THE SURVEY REITERATED THIS, WE KNEW THAT THERE WAS AN ISSUE THERE AND WE WANTED TO FIND OUT AND TRY AND TACKLE IT AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

SO IF YOU WANT -- IF YOU THINK IT'S IMPORTANT, YOU NEED TO REALLY USE IT AND PUSH IT THIS YEAR BECAUSE THIS IS THE FIRST BIG YEAR.

I HAVE A QUESTION FROM MICHAEL AT THE FRONT HERE.

>>MICHAEL SMOLENS: I WOULD JUST LIKE TO ENGAGE JUST A QUESTION TO THE AUDIENCE. THIS IS MY FIRST ICANN MEETING AND I AM NOT VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE PROCESS, BUT I'M JUST WONDERING, FOR ESPECIALLY REMOTE LANGUAGES, DO YOU THINK THAT MEMBERS OF THE ICANN COMMUNITY, IF THE PROCESS WERE VERY EASY AND QUICK, WOULD ENGAGE THEMSELVES OR FRIENDS IN TERMS OF DOING TRANSLATION FOR CONTENT THAT THEY DEEMED IMPORTANT IF THERE WASN'T A BUDGET OR TIME TO DO IT THEMSELVES, NUMBER ONE? AND THE SECOND QUESTION IS, IF THERE WERE MACHINE TRANSLATION THAT COULD BE DONE, IS THAT BETTER THAN NOTHING OR IS THAT WORSE THAN NOTHING?

IN OTHER WORDS, IF YOU ARE MADE VERY AWARE THAT THIS SORT OF GIVES YOU AN IDEA OF WHAT IT IS, I'M JUST WONDERING WHAT PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS ARE. IS THAT BETTER THAN NOTHING? OR IS IT BETTER NOT TO HAVE ANYTHING?

I'M JUST CURIOUS AS TO WHAT THE GENERAL DISCUSSION WOULD BE.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: YEAH, WE HAVE GOT SOME MORE HANDS UP IN RESPONSE TO THAT.

>>NICK ASHTON-HART: THAT.

>>NICK ASHTON-HART: THAT.

>>CARLTON SAMUELS: WOULD I DEFINITELY SAY IT'S BETTER THAN NOTHINGMENT.

I CAN TELL YOU FROM OUR EXPERIENCE, WHEN WE HAD -- WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT A REMOTE LANGUAGE HERE. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SPANISH. WHEN WE HAD TRANSLATION, THERE WAS DEFINITELY MORE QUESTIONS ASKED, THERE WAS DEFINITELY MORE DISCUSSIONS AROUND THE DOCUMENTS THAT WERE SENT. AND, YOU KNOW, AS I TELL YOU, WE PROBABLY ARE THE ONLY REGION WITH TELECONFERENCES THAT ARE TRANSLATED. AND IT'S NOT PERFECT. BUT THE SPANISH SPEAKERS ARE HAPPY TO HAVE SOMETHING THAT THEY CAN RESPOND TO.

AND SO I WOULD SAY, YES, DEFINITELY IT'S BETTER THAN NOTHING. AND WHATEVER -- I BELIEVE IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. I BELIEVE IT IS GOOD STRATEGY, AND I BELIEVE IT IS A SOUND PHILOSOPHY AND SOUND POLICY TO GET TRANSLATION.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THANK YOU, CARLTON. WE ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO TALK ABOUT THAT A LITTLE BIT MORE LATER ON. NICK IS GOING TO TALK ABOUT ALMOST EXACTLY THAT A LITTLE BIT LATER ON.

>> PATRICK (SAYING NAME) FROM THE INTERNET SOCIETY LUXEMBOURG.

REGARDING TRANSLATIONS, WELL, I'M A FRENCH SPEAKER, BUT I'M LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE QUITE A GOOD COMMAND OF ENGLISH. AND I HAVE READ SOME OF THE TRANSLATIONS THAT ICANN HAS COMMISSIONED TO PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS. AND ALTHOUGH I COMMEND THE EFFORT, I ALWAYS GO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL ENGLISH DOCUMENT, IN SOME CASES, BECAUSE I'M NOT ALWAYS SURE TO UNDERSTAND THE POINT IN THE FRENCH VERSION.

I CAN UNDERSTAND, INDEED, THAT TRANSLATIONS ARE USEFUL IN ICANN CIRCLES, BUT I WOULD REAM SUGGEST TO DO WHAT IS BEING -- WHAT HAS BEEN DONE AND WELL DONE TO TRANSLATE THE GENERAL DOCUMENTS FOR GENERAL AUDIENCE. AND UNFORTUNATELY, I UNDERSTAND THAT SOME PEOPLE MAY HAVE A PROBLEM UNDERSTANDING POLICY DOCUMENTS IN ENGLISH, FOR EXAMPLE. AND I'M SORRY FOR THAT. BUT UNFORTUNATELY, I'M AFRAID IT'S -- THESE KIND OF DOCUMENTS ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO TRANSLATE, IN GENERAL.

AND I'M AFRAID THAT A MACHINE TRANSLATION MIGHT EVEN BE MORE CONFUSING THAN READING THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THANK YOU, PATRICK. WE SHOULD SAY WITH REGARD TO THAT THAT ICANN WANTS TO BE VERY CLEAR, WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO THE ACTUAL POLICY THAT GETS APPROVED BY ICANN, THE ACTUAL DECISIONS THAT THE BOARD MAKES, THESE ARE GOING TO BE ENGLISH DOCUMENTS.

THIS TRANSLATION EFFORT IS TO GET PEOPLE INVOLVED, TO MAKE PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THERE ARE THESE ISSUES, TO MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND WHAT THE ISSUES ARE AND TO GET THEM INVOLVED IN THE KFERS.

AND YOU CONVERSATION. AND YOU CAN'T DO THAT WITH THE DOCUMENTS THAT WE CURRENTLY PUT OUT.

SO YES, YOU'RE RIGHT. AND THERE IS ALSO THE UNDERSTANDING OF (INAUDIBLE) TRANSLATING EVERYTHING. THAT'S WHY WE HAVE THE FIVE DOCUMENTS -- IT'S THE FIVE LANGUAGES AND TEN LANGUAGES. SO WE ARE TESTING THIS, BUT WE ARE NOT GOING TO START DISCUSSING OR WORKING FROM FRENCH POLICY DOCUMENTS AT THE GNSO AND AT THE BOARD LEVEL, BECAUSE YOU'RE RIGHT, THESE ARE VERY PRECISE DETAILS. WE REMAIN A VERY HIGHLY TECHNICAL BODY. BUT WHAT WE DO WANT IS GLOBAL STAKEHOLDERS TO BE ABLE TO EXPRESS THEIR VIEWS VERY CLEARLY, AND THEN THE FINE DETAIL WHICH ON WHICH THE ACTUAL DECISION IS MADE WILL NEED TO BE (INAUDIBLE) IN ONE LANGUAGE, AND THAT WILL BE ENGLISH BECAUSE OF THE COMMUNITY.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER COMMENTS?

>> MY NAME IS BAHER ESMAT, I AM WITH ICANN BUT I AM NOT SPEAKING HERE FOR ICANN. I JUST WANTED TO SHARE ONE COMMENT THAT I -- OOPS, SORRY.

ONE COMMENT THAT I HAVE RECEIVED FROM MY COMMUNITY IN THE ARAB WORLD REGARDING TRANSLATION OF ICANN MATERIALS.

THE COMMENT IS BASICALLY THAT THE -- WHETHER IT'S MACHINE TRANSLATION OR EVEN HUMAN TRANSLATION, THE COMMENT WAS THAT SOMETIMES THE LITERAL TRANSLATION, LIKE TRANSLATING THE DOCUMENT OR THE PARAGRAPH WORD BY WORD, SOMETIMES IT DOESN'T WORK. SOMETIMES IT ENDS UP HAVING A PARAGRAPH IN ARABIC THAT DOES NOT CONVEY THE SAME MEANING.

I'M NOT SAYING THAT IT CONVEYS A TOTALLY OP AT THIS TIME MEANING TO OPPOSITE MEANING TO THE ORM DOCUMENT BUT IT DOES NOT CONVEY THE SAME MEANING THAT THE ENGLISH TEXT IS SUPPOSED TO DELIVER.

AND THAT IS A COMMENT THAT I HAVE RECEIVED NOT ONCE BUT MORE THAN ONCE IN THE PAST, SO I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE GOOD TO SHARE IT WITH YOU.

THANK YOU.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: WELL, WITH REGARD TO THAT -- AND I'D LIKE TO GO INTO THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF THIS BECAUSE, BAHER, AS I HAVE STARTED TO LEARN, BECAUSE WE ARE HAVING THE MEETING IN CAIRO IN NOVEMBER, WE HAVE PARTICULAR ISSUES WITH ARABIC. NOT ONLY THE RIGHT TO LEFT, BUT ALSO THE FACT THAT THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS ACRONYMS AND ALSO THE FACT THAT CERTAIN WORDS DON'T APPEAR. THAT'S WHY WE ARE HOPING THAT THIS TRANSLATION NART, WHO WILL COORDINATOR, WILL KNOW THIS: HE OR SHE WILL KNOW THEM AND THEY WILL BE ABLE TO WORK AROUND THEM, ALSO IN REGARD TO QUALITY OF TRANSLATION. WE FOUND RECEIPTLY WE HAVE BEEN USING RECENTLY AND BUILDING UP TRANSLATION MEMORY AND TERMS AND GLOSS REESE SARR REESEARY'S THAT WE ARE WORKING WITH CONSISTENTLY EACH TIME.

WE DON'TWE HAVEN'T DONE A LOT OF ARABIC. PRACH BUT WE DO NOT FRENCH AND SPANISH HAVE BEEN GETTING CONSISTENTLY BETTER AND THE LAST FEW MONTHS.

SORRY, I AM SPEAKING FAST AGAIN.

THE QUALITY OF THE FRERCHL AND THE SPANISH TRANSLATIONS THAT WE HAVE BEEN RUNNING RECENTLY WERE OF U.N. STANDARD FRENCH WHICH WE ARE FAIRLY PLEASED WITH BUT AS WE DO MORE TRANSLATIONS AND WE GET MORE FEEDBACK, WE EXPECT THE QUALITY -- AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN TOUCHED CHINESE, I DON'T THINK, YET.

SO WE ARE HOPING TO IMPROVE THAT. AND WITH CAIRO COMING UP, WE ARE GOING TO BE PUTTING A LOT OF EFFORT INTO TRYING TO GET ARABIC RIGHT.

>>MICHAEL SMOLENS: I THINK WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT IS A REALLY BASIC PHLEGM WITH PROBLEM WITH TRANSLAKES, AND I LAGS TRANSLATION AND THE TECHNICAL TERM IS DOMAIN EXPERTISE. EACH OF YOU HAVE SPENT YEARS UNDERSTANDING THE NUANCE OF WHAT ICANN IS ABOUT, WHAT THE REGULATIONS ARE ABOUT AND WHAT THE SUBJECTS ARE.

AND SO IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO GO ON A WORD OR A SENTENCE AND A TRANSLATOR WHO HAS NO IDEA OF WHAT THE NUANCE OF WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT SO THEY CANNOT DO A GOOD JOB OF TRANSLATION.

IT'S ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I THINK ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY WHO ARE NOT PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS, BUT THEY CAN PROVIDE THE TRANSLATION AND THE NUANCE, AND THEY MIGHT NOT EVEN TRANSLATE WORD FOR WORD, BUT THEY TRANSLATE THE MEANING.

SO IF YOU MAKE IT EASY ENOUGH, YOU CAN HAVE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATORS PROBABLY DO A BETTER JOB OF TRANSLATING WHAT IS MEANT.

SO WE'RE WORKING ON TRYING TO GET A HAPPY MEDIUM BETWEEN THESE TWO. BUT IT'S A VERY, VERY DIFFICULT CHALLENGE. IT'S A VERY DIFFICULT CHALLENGE.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: OKAY. WE HAVE GOT ONE FROM NICK, AND THEN I WILL TRY TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT SUBJECT. WE HAVE PLENTY OF TIME FOR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS.

>>NICK ASHTON-HART: I AM KIEREN'S COLLEAGUE AND COMRADE IN ARMS, I THINK, OCCASIONALLY, ON MATTERS RELATED TO TRANSLATION.

THE FIRST THING I WANTED TO SAY IS.

THE WAY TO ENSURE THAT THE QUALITY BECOMES CONSISTENT IS TO USE A SUPPLIER THAT IS CAPABLE OF REMEMBERING EVERY WORD AND PHRASE THAT THEY HAVE EVER TRANSLATED FOR YOU. AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE, EVERY TIME YOU -- WE SPOT-CHECK THE TRANSLATIONS THAT WE GET. WHEN WE KNOW SOMETHING IS PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT TO READ IN ENGLISH OR PARTICULARLY COMPLICATED, WE HAVE IT SPOT-CHECKED, AND THE CHANGES ARE FED BACK TO THE TRANSLATION COMPANY, WHO INCORPORATES THOSE CHANGES IN THEIR DATABASE OF OUR PHRASES, SO THAT, HENCE FORWARD, THE CHANGES -- THE MEANING IS RENDERED MORE ACCURATELY EVERY TIME THAT PHRASE IS USED.

WE ACTUALLY SEE WITH EVERY DOCUMENT THAT WE TRANSLATE WHAT PROPORTION OF THAT DOCUMENT HAS BEEN TRANSLATED EFFECTIVELY BEFORE. AND THIS IS THE REASON WHY THE FRENCH AND SPANISH TRANSLATIONS OF LATE HAVE BECOME SO GOOD, IS BECAUSE WE'VE DONE SO MANY OF THEM, WE'VE CHECKED ENOUGH OF THEM, AND THE MEANING IS MORE CORRECTLY RENDERED.

BUT I WOULD LIKE TO -- I WOULD LIKE TO CAUTION PEOPLE NOT TO LET US OFF THE HOOK TOO MUCH HERE.

IF MATTERS OF WAR AND PEACE CAN BE DECIDED IN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES WHERE FIVE DIFFERENT LANGUAGE VERSIONS OF A TREATY ARE EQUALLY AUTHENTIC, IF THAT LEVEL OF PRECISION, OF NUANCE, IS POSSIBLE, IT OUGHT TO BE POSSIBLE FOR US TO RENDER DOMAIN NAME MATTERS CORRECTLY IN ANY LANGUAGE. AND I THINK WE SHOULD -- YOU KNOW, THOSE WHO DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH SHOULD EXPECT THAT WHEN THEY RECEIVE A TRANSLATION FROM US THAT HAS BEEN TRANSLATED PROFESSIONALLY, THAT IT SHOULD ALMOST ALWAYS CORRECTLY CONVEY THE EXACT MEANING, THE PRECISE MEANING OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT. AND THERE SHOULD BE A CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN THE QUALITY OF TRANSLATED MATERIALS.

SO I WOULD JUST CAUTION YOU ALL NOT TO SAY, "WELL, IT'S VERY TECHNICAL, SO WE'LL GIVE YOU A BREAK."

YOU KNOW, IF YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT IS WRONG WITH A PHRASE IN A TRANSLATED DOCUMENT, PLEASE SEND IT TO US AND TELL US, "THIS IS ACTUALLY INCORRECT. IT SHOULD ACTUALLY SAY THIS."

BECAUSE WE WILL PUT -- THOSE THINGS THAT YOU SEND TO US WILL NOT JUST CORRECT THE DOCUMENT THAT YOU'VE COMMENTED ON. THEY'LL BE USED TO CORRECT EVERY SUBSEQUENT USE OF THAT PHRASE. AND YOU'D BE SURPRISED HOW OFTEN IN A SPECIFIC AREA LIKE OURS THAT GIVEN PHRASES ARE DUPLICATED.

I THINK ABOUT 40 TO 50% OF MOST DOCUMENTS NOW, THE TRANSLATION DATABASE IS ALREADY SEEN AT SOME POINT BEFORE. AND WE'VE ONLY BEEN WORKING WITH THAT PROVIDER FOR SEVEN MONTHS? SIX MONTHS?

SO --

THE OTHER THING I WOULD SAY IS, WITH RESPECT TO THE TRANSLATION OF MAILING LISTS, CARLTON WAS REFERRING TO THIS EARLIER, WE ARE CURRENTLY HAVING AN INTERFACE FOR ELECTRONIC MESSAGES CREATED THAT WILL INTERCEPT THE E-MAILS, TRANSLATE THEM INTO MULTIPLE LANGUAGES, AND PUT THEM INTO MULTIPLE LANGUAGE VERSIONS OF A GIVEN MAILING LIST SO THAT YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO SUBSCRIBE AND INTERACT IN YOUR OWN LANGUAGE, AND THE OTHER VERSIONS OF THAT LIST WOULD RECEIVE MACHINE-TRANSLATED VERSIONS.

NOW, WE DID THIS AS A PILOT PROJECT FOR AFRICA IN THRASHING AND IN AT LARGE AND ALAC RALO.

AND THE LANGUAGE WAS NOT REALLY -- THE QUALITY OF THE TRANSLATION WAS NOT REALLY THE PROBLEM. THE PROBLEM WAS THAT PEOPLE SEND E-MAILS FROM MULTIPLE E-MAIL CLIENTS WHICH ALL FORMAT MESSAGES SLIGHTLY DIFFERENTLY. AND WHAT WAS GETTING TRANSLATED WERE SENTENCE PIECES, BECAUSE THERE WERE LINES BEING BROKEN FROM HTML TO PLAIN TEXT AND ALL OF THIS. SO, OF COURSE, IF YOU BREAK A SENTENCE UP INTO FRAGMENTS, IT ALMOST INEVITABLY BECOMES RUBBISH WHEN SOMEONE TRIES TO READ IT.

WE HAVE GONE A LONG WAY TOWARDS GETTING A REASONABLE SYSTEM THAT WE CAN TRY AGAIN TO IMPLEMENT. BUT THAT IS THE HOPE, IS THAT AT SOME POINT SOON, PEOPLE SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET A GOOD APPROXIMATION OF THE MEANING OF ELECTRONIC MAIL ON A MAILING LIST. IT WILL NEVER BE A PRECISE RENDERING OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT. AND YOU'LL ALWAYS BE ABLE TO CLICK ON A LINK AND READ THE ORIGINAL, IF YOU CAN. BUT IT'S TRUE, THOSE LISTS WERE MUCH MORE ACTIVE, EVEN WITH PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE CRAP FRAGMENTS BEING TRANSLATED.

IT DID REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE, DIDN'T IT?

SO --

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THANKS, NICK.

SO THE THING WHICH I'M GLAD NICK STRESSED THERE IS, WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT COMMUNITY FEEDBACK, WE REALLY MEAN IT. IF YOU -- IF THERE'S A WRONG TRANSLATION AND YOU SAY, "BY THE WAY, YOU SHOULD HAVE TRANSLATED LIKE THIS, I THINK THIS IS MUCH BETTER," THAT EFFECTS NOT JUST THAT DOCUMENT, BUT EVERY SUBSEQUENT DOCUMENT. EVERY SUBSEQUENT DOCUMENT WE PRODUCE, THAT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN. THE TRANSLATION WILL IMPROVE. WE'RE ONLY JUST (INAUDIBLE) I SEE VITTORIO THERE. WE'RE ONLY JUST GOING INTO SOME DOCUMENTS IN ITALIAN. WE HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED WITH BUILDING UP THE KNOWLEDGE THAT WE NEED, THE KNOWLEDGE DATABASE THAT WE NEED IN ITALIAN. SO I CAN TELL YOU NOW, THE ITALIAN DOCUMENTS THAT ARE GOING TO COME OUT IN THE NEXT THREE MONTHS ARE NOT GOING TO BE GOOD. AND YOU'RE GOING TO HATE THEM. BUT IF YOU PROVIDE FEEDBACK, THEY WILL GET BETTER AND BETTER AND BETTER UP TO THE POINT WHERE WE'LL PRODUCE SOMETHING AND YOU'LL BE PERFECTLY HAPPY WITH IT. BUT IT'S A PROCESS. AND WE'VE BEEN WORKING VERY HARD ON IT, BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT THIS QUALITY HAS BEEN THE ONE MAJOR ISSUE PEOPLE HAVE HAD WITH ICANN DOCUMENTS. AND WE'RE DEALING WITH IT. AND WE THINK WE'VE GOT THE RIGHT SYSTEM.

ANYWAY, SO MOVING ON, THERE'S A FEW OTHER THINGS WE'D LIKE TO SHOW THAT WE'RE DOING. ONE IS THE INTERPRETATION, THE LOVELY TEARPS AT THE BACK WHO HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY HARD INTERPRETERS WITH PEOPLE SPEAKING FAR TOO FAST IN TECHNICAL LANGUAGE. WE HAVE BEEN PUTTING THAT ON IN SEVERAL MEETINGS, AND I THINK WE'RE GETTING BETTER AT IT. PEOPLE LIKE ME STILL SPEAK TOO FAST. I THINK THIS TIME WE FINALLY PROVIDED THE INTERPRETERS WITH SOME INFORMATION ABOUT ICANN BEFORE THEY HAD TO START TRYING TO INTERPRET IT ON THE FLY. SO FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND, THAT'S MADE THEIR LIVES AND YOUR LIVES EASIER.

WE'RE GETTING BETTER AT IT.

BUT WHAT I HAVE NOTICED IS THAT NOM MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN USING HEADSETS AND I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHY. I'M NOT SURE -- WE'RE IN PARIS AND I KNOW WE HAVE A LOT OF FRENCH SPEAKERS HERE. YOU ONLY HAVE TO GO OUT AND TALK TO PEOPLE OUT THERE, AND ABOUT 60% OF THE CONVERSATIONS I HAVE HEARD HAVE BEEN IN FRENCH. BUT WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF PEOPLE USING HEADSETS. AND I'M NOT SURE WHETHER PEOPLE REALIZE THE VALUE OF LISTENING TO INTERPRETERS, BECAUSE INTERPRETERS DON'T JUST LITERALLY INTERPRET THE WORD. THEY'RE NOT MACHINES. THEY PROVIDE A WHOLE CONTEXT AN IT, AND YOU HAVE A VOICE TO LISTEN TO. AND IT'S A VERY HUMAN THING. YOU REALLY GRASP WHAT SOMEONE IS SAYING MUCH BETTER. AND IF YOU'RE -- AND I -- I'M NOT QUITE SURE WHY MORE PEOPLE AREN'T USING THE HEADSETS. SO I'D LIKE TO ASK YOU WHY, YOU YOU KNOW, WHY YOU AREN'T USING THEM. IF YOU'RE SO CONFIDENT WITH YOUR ENGLISH AND COMFORTABLE WITH ENGLISH THAT YOU DON'T USE THE HEADSETS? DO YOU FIND THAT YOU DON'T KNOW THE HEADSETS ARE THERE?

DO YOU FIND THE HEADSETS AREN'T WORKING? I DON'T KNOW. WE'D LIKE TO KNOW WHY MORE PEOPLE AREN'T USING THE HEADSETS.

IS IT BECAUSE WE'RE NOT TRANSLATING IN YOUR LANGUAGE? BECAUSE THIS MEETING, WE HAVE FRENCH AND SPANISH. IS IT BECAUSE YOU'RE ALL PORTUGUESE SPEAKERS? YOU KNOW, TELL US AND WE'LL TRY AND FIX THE NEXT MEETING.

AND ALSO, I THOUGHT VERY STRANGE NOT MANY FRERFLG AND SPANISH SPEAKERS ARE ACTUALLY GETTING UP AND ASKING QUESTIONS.

NOW, I KNOW THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE GETTING UP AND TALKING INTO THIS MICROPHONE. IT'S A VERY -- I VIEW THAT AS A VERY NORTH AMERICAN CULTURE, HAVING A MICROPHONE RIGHT UP THE FRONT AND THEN HAVING TO TALK TO AN ENTIRE ROOM.

I GOT USED TO IT. I'M NOT COMFORTABLE WITH IT. IS THAT THE ONLY EXPLANATION?

WE'RE IN PARIS, SO WHY AREN'T PEOPLE -- AND I KNOW PA PA PEOPLE FROM --

SO WHY AREN'T PEOPLE GETTING UP AND ASKING QUESTIONS IN SPANISH? IS IT BECAUSE YOU FEEL THAT ICANN SOMEHOW FROWNS UPON THAT? IF THAT'S THE CASE, WHAT CAN WE DO TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT WE DON'T? I'D REALLY LIKE PEOPLE TO EXPLAIN TO US, BECAUSE INTERPRETATION IS -- IT'S A -- I DON'T WANT TO SAY IT'S A BIG EXPENSE, BUT IT'S A BIG EXPENSE. IT REQUIRES A LOT OF ORGANIZATION. AND I'D REALLY LIKE TO SEE PEOPLE USING THE HEADSETS MORE AND TALKING MORE, OR HAVE WE GOT IT WRONG? ARE WE SORT OF -- IS IT REALLY NOT THAT NEEDED? DO PEOPLE SPEAK ENGLISH AND, BASICALLY, THIS IS OVERKILL? THIS IS WHAT I'D LIKE TO ASK, WHAT I'D LIKE TO ASK YOU NOW, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ON THAT?

DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS? SBASTIEN. VITTORIO, AND PATRIK.

>>SEBASTIEN BACHOLLET: THANK YOU.

I'D LIKE TO BACK UP WHAT KIEREN HAS JUST BEEN SAYING, WHICH I THINK IS VITAL. I DON'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR KIEREN TO PUT HIS HEAD SET ON, BECAUSE HE ACTUALLY MADE A BET WITH ME, AND THAT WAS THAT IF I ORGANIZED THE MEETING IN PARIS, HE WOULD LEARN FRENCH AND HE WOULD SPEAK FRENCH IN HIS PRESENTATION.

SO I FULFILLED MY PART OF THE BARGAIN. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY WITH THE RESULT. BUT HE'S STILL GOT SOME WORK TO DO. BUT I'M SURE HE'LL GET THERE.

I THINK THAT WHAT KIEREN WAS SAYING ABOUT THE FACT THAT THESE HEADSETS ARE TAKEN BY THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE, WELL, VERY OFTEN PEOPLE SAY TO US, "PUT IT ON THE SCREEN, AND I'LL BE ABLE TO READ IT. DON'T WORRY." WELL, SURE, IT'S ON THE SCREEN. YOU CAN READ IT. AND I KNOW THAT WE CAN ALL MULT TASK. WE CAN READ IT ON THE COMPUTER, READ IT ON THE SCREEN, AND LISTEN TO IT IN FRENCH IN ONE EAR, AND IN YOUR BRAIN, YOU NOTICE THAT PUTTING IN ALL OF THESE DIFFERENT MESSAGES, IT'S ENGLISH HERE, FRENCH THERE. I'M NOT QUITE SURE HOW YOU DO IT, BUT I THINK IT MUST BE PRETTY TOUGH.

IF I HAVE THE CHANCE, THERE'S SOMEONE ONLINE WHO'S NOT ACTUALLY HERE IN THIS ROOM, BUT IN ANOTHER ROOM, CONCERNING THE ISSUE OF TRANSLATION. AND, ANYWAY, IF THE QUESTION COMES TO ME, I'LL BE HAPPY TO TRANSMIT IT.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THANK YOU, SBASTIEN. IF YOU CAN SAY YOUR NAME FIRST, VITTORIO.

>>VITTORIO BERTOLA: VITTORIO BERTOLA, NOT SPEAKING EITHER ENGLISH, FRENCH, OR SPANISH AS A FIRST LANGUAGE.

I THINK ONE OF THE REASONS WHY SOME PEOPLE, AT LEAST SOME PEOPLE DON'T USE THE HEADPHONES, IT'S BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTAND ENGLISH, FRENCH, AND SPANISH, MUCH LIKE ME. I THINK IT'S NOT SO UNCOMMON IN THIS KIND OF -- AT LEAST IN EUROPE IN THIS KIND OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT.

BUT I DO THINK THAT THERE'S ALSO MANY, MANY PEOPLE THAT REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT LISTENING TO INTERVENTIONS THAT ARE BEING MADE IN OTHER LANGUAGES. AND I THINK IT'S REALLY CULTURAL. IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME FOR PEOPLE TO CONSIDER ALL THE LANGUAGES EQUALLY GOOD.

I REMEMBER THAT YEARS AGO ESPECIALLY, WHEN WE FIRST STARTED, WHENEVER SOMEONE WOULD COME UP AND MAKE A QUESTION IN A LANGUAGE DIFFERENT THAN ENGLISH, EVEN IF THERE WAS TRANSLATION, YOU COULD SEE SEVERAL DIFFERENT (INAUDIBLE) THINKING, OH, HE'S SO STUPID THAT HE DOESN'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH. SO THERE WAS THIS KIND OF FEELING.

NOW, IT'S GETTING BETTER, I GUESS. BUT THERE'S STILL TO BUILD THE CULTURE THAT ALL THE LANGUAGES ARE THE SAME. AND I THINK YOU SHOULD DO SOME VERY SYMBOLIC STUFF, FOR EXAMPLE, HAVING SOME OF THESE PUBLIC FORUMS OR WORKSHOPS, EVENTS, WITH SLIDES IN FRENCH OR IN SPANISH. SO -- AND PRESENT IT, IF POSSIBLE, IN FRENCH OR SPANISH, SO IT'S THE ENGLISH PEOPLE, OR ENGLISH-ONLY PEOPLE THAT HAVE TO USE THE HEADPHONES.

SO I THINK YOU HAVE TO PUSH THAT. IT TAKES TIME. IT TAKES YEARS. BUT YOU HAVE TO BE BORING TO -- YOU HAVE TO BE DARING, AND THAT'S -- THIS IS NOT MY LANGUAGE -- BUT YOU REALLY HAVE TO INSIST. THANK YOU.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THANK YOU, VITTORIO.

>> WELL, SINCE, KIEREN, YOU ASKED THE QUESTION, THIS TIME I WILL ANSWER IN FRENCH. AND THIS MEANS YOU WILL HAVE TO PUT YOUR HEAD SET ON. SORRY.

WHY ARE THERE SO FEW PEOPLE WEARING HEADSETS? I THINK THE ANSWER IS, QUITE SIMPLY, THAT IN THIS ICANN COMMUNITY, THERE ARE A LOT OF FRENCH SPEAKERS WHO SPEAK ENGLISH QUITE WELL. AND THERE'S ONE SIMPLE REASON FOR THAT. FOR NEARLY NINE YEARS NOW, ALL OF OUR MEETINGS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN IN ENGLISH. SO, OBVIOUSLY, EVEN IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ENGLISH FROM THE VERY BEGINNING AND YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE A NATIVE SPEAKER LEVEL INITIALLY, YOU KIND -- WE HAVE TAKEN THE INITIATIVE HERE OF GIVING THE SPEECHES IN ENGLISH.

IT'S NOT EASY TO THINK IN ONE LANGUAGE AND SPEAK IN ANOTHER. TYPICALLY, FOR ME, WHEN I'M IN AN ENGLISH-SPEAKING MEETING, I THINK IN ENGLISH. I'M NOT ACTUALLY TRANSLATING AS I GO IN MY HEAD.

ANOTHER ISSUE IS THAT WE ARE IN A COMMUNITY ON VERY SPECIFIC, VERY FOCUSED ISSUES THAT WE DISCUSS, AND IF WE WANT TO SPEAK WITH ABSOLUTE PRECISION, THEN IT'S EASIER TO SPEAK IN ENGLISH, BECAUSE AT LEAST WE KNOW WE'RE ALL TALKING ABOUT THE SAME ITEMS AND WE ALL UNDERSTAND WHAT IS BEING DISCUSSED. WE'VE GOT OUR INTERPRETERS AT THE BACK OF THE ROOM HERE DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT, REMEMBER, THERE ARE LOTS OF ITALIANS IN THE ROOM WHO ARE TALKING ABOUT TRADUTORRE, TRADUTORRE, REMEMBER THAT IF YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT A VERY TECHNICAL TOPIC, IT'S EASIER AND SIMPLER TO ALL MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE SAME THING BY USING THE SAME LANGUAGE, QUITE SIMPLY. I THINK THAT'S THE REASON.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THANK YOU. SOME EXCELLENT POINTS THERE.

>> GOOD AFTERNOON. MY THANKS TO ICANN FOR ENABLING US TO ASK QUESTIONS IN FRENCH OR IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE.

MY NAME IS (SAYING NAME). I AM RESPONSIBLE TO MR. McCARTHY, WHO WAS EXPLAINING A CASE BEFORE AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A TRANSFORMATION FOR THE TRANSLATION.

I'VE DEVELOPED A SYSTEM IMPERATIVE, WHICH MEANS THAT I CAN TRANSLATE E-MAIL PAGES. AND I WAS WONDERING IF THAT WOULD BE USEFUL FOR YOU IN YOUR TRANSLATION EFFORTS, BECAUSE YOU COULD TRANSLATE THE CHARACTERS, TRANSLATE THE STRINGS AND CHARACTERS PERFORM OTHER MULTILINGUAL TASKS. AND I WAS WONDERING IF THAT WOULD BE OF ANY USE TO YOU.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: WELL, EVERYTHING THAT THE COMMUNITY HELPS US WITH, WE'RE DELIGHTED TO TRY AND EXPERIMENT WITH AND SEE IF IT CATCHES ON AND SEE IF PEOPLE LIKE IT. SO, YES, EVERY SUGGESTION, EVERY OPPORTUNITY FROM THE COMMUNITY, WE WILL WORK WITH IT AND SEE IF IT WORKS FOR THE JOB THAT WE HAVE. ABSOLUTELY.

I SHOULD APOLOGIZE THAT MY FRENCH IS RUSTY. IT'S GOT SLIGHTLY BETTER OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS. BUT -- AND I UNDERSTAND -- I UNDERSTAND 70%, BUT I WANTED TO UNDERSTAND 100%. AND MY SPOKEN FRENCH IS -- REMAINS POOR, I'M AFRAID.

SO DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR SHALL I MOVE ON TO THE NEXT SUBJECT?

ICANN WEB SITES.

I THINK THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST -- GOING TO BE THE MOST USEFUL TRANSLATIONS THAT WE DO, BECAUSE ICANN IS, YOU KNOW, A CHILD OF THE INTERNET. AND WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, MOST OF THE WORK THAT WE DO IS DONE, MOST INTERACTION IS DONE BY POSTING DOCUMENTS ON THE WEB SITE, OFTEN TOO MANY, OFTEN VERY POORLY POINTED TO. THAT CAN BE DEALT WITH. BUT THE ISSUE IS, CAN YOU GET IT IN YOUR LANGUAGE.

SO I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT WE'VE DONE RECENTLY.

WE HAVE ADDED -- AND I'VE MADE THIS APPEAR ON EVERY ANNOUNCEMENT FROM NOW ON WILL HAVE THIS TRANSLATION, WHICH IS GOING TO NUDGE ICANN INTO DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

EVERY ANNOUNCEMENT GOES UP, AND WE HOPE TO EXTEND THIS INTO OTHER DOCUMENTS, HAS THIS TRANSLATION BAR, ARABIC, ENGLISH, CHINESE, FRENCH, SPANISH, RUSSIAN, GERMAN, PORTUGUESE, ITALIAN. IF THEY'RE NOT COLORED IN, IT MEANS WE DON'T HAVE THAT TRANSLATION. WHATEVER IS IN RED IS THE CURRENT TRANSLATION. YOU CAN SEE THIS ONE, WE'RE STILL NOT IN THE HABIT OF DOING THIS. WE HAVE THIS ABOUT THE FRENCH MINISTER ONLY IN ENGLISH. I'M TRYING TO EMBARRASS OURSELVES INTO SAYING, SHOULDN'T WE REALLY HAVE THAT IN FRENCH.

AND THE ONES THAT -- THE ONES THAT ARE IMPORTANT, SORT OF THE PEOPLE THAT THE TRANSLATION COMMITTEE ARE ON, WE'RE TRANSLATING THESE. AND WE HOPE THIS BECOMES MORE OF A CULTURAL ISSUE. SO, FOR EXAMPLE, THIS SURVEY THAT WE DID, WE TRANSLATED IT INTO ALL TEN.

SO THERE WE HAVE RUSSIAN, ET CETERA, ET CETERA.

SO ALL THE ANNOUNCEMENTS WILL HAVE THAT BAR. AND YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SEE IF YOU HAVE THAT AVAILABLE.

NOW, WHAT WE'RE WORKING ON WITH -- HOPING TO WORK ON WITH THE COMMUNITY IS, WE'RE NOT ALWAYS GOING TO TRANSLATE ALL OF THESE. THERE'S ALSO GOING TO BE A DELAY SOMETIMES WITH THESE THINGS. AND WE'RE HOPING THAT IF THE COMMUNITY WANTS TO TAKE SOMETHING AND TRANSLATE IT AND THEY'RE -- WE'LL TRY AND PROVIDE A PROCESS BY WHICH WE CAN THEN -- WE'LL TAKE THAT FILE AND PUT IT UP ON THE SITE. WE WANT TO TRY AND SEE IF WE CAN GET A SYSTEM LIKE THAT THAT WORKS AND TURNS THINGS AROUND FAST.

BUT THIS IS -- THIS HAS GOT TO BE -- YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT IF AN ENTIRE ORGANIZATION IS BUILT AROUND DOCUMENTS IN ONE LANGUAGE, TO SUDDENLY SAY, "NOW YOU NEED TO LEAVE A WEEK WITH EVERYTHING THAT YOU PRODUCE IN ORDER TO GET TRANSLATED, YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT, YOU HAVE TO PROVIDE IT THROUGH THE SYSTEM, YOU HAVE TO WAIT, THEN YOU HAVE TO PUT IT UP IN THE SYSTEM," THIS IS A VERY, VERY BIG ORGANIZATIONAL SHIFT, AND IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN STRAIGHTAWAY. BUT THERE WILL BE ELEMENTS OF IT, THERE WILL BE -- WHAT'S THE -- RAYS OF LIGHT OCCASIONALLY, AND YOU'LL SEE THAT PARTS WILL BE TRANSLATED. AND WE'RE GOING TO TRY AND FOCUS ON THE THINGS THAT WE KNOW WILL BE OF MOST IMPORTANCE TO PEOPLE IN THOSE LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES.

AND THEN WE HOPE TO EXPAND IT FURTHER.

BUT WE'VE GOT TO WALK BEFORE WE CAN RUN.

WE'VE NOT GOT NOW GOT A FAIRLY BIG REPOSITORY OF DOCUMENTS IN OTHER LANGUAGES. IT'S NOT MASSIVE, BUT IT'S GETTING THERE.

AND IT'S BEEN ADDED TO GREATLY IN THE PAST MONTH, TWO MONTHS.

AND SO WHAT WE PLAN TO DO IS CREATE A LANGUAGE-SPECIFIC ENTRY PAGE. HAVE A LOOK AT THE ICANN PAGE. EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE THAT, OBVIOUSLY WE CAN'T PUT THAT BAR ON ABSOLUTELY EVERY PAGE THAT WE EVER PRODUCE BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BE -- IT'S UNNECESSARY.

ALSO, YOU WALK IN, AND IT'S ENGLISH, THE WHOLE PAGE IS ENGLISH, AND YOU HAVE TO GO AND SEARCH FOR FRENCH WITHIN ENGLISH PAGES.

I HAVE THREATENED ICANN STAFF WITH SWITCHING THE WHOLE SITE TO CHINESE ONE DAY AND ASKING THEM TO FIND THE DOCUMENTS IN ENGLISH WHEN IT'S ALL IN CHINESE.

AND I KNOW THAT -- BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S TOO GOOD AN IDEA, BUT IT'S THE KIND OF THING I TRY TO GET ACROSS TO PEOPLE. IF IT'S ALL IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FIND THE DOCUMENTS? YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE WORDS SAY TO TRY TO GET AT THEM. SO WE ARE GOING TO CREATE ENTRY PAGES IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.

NOW, THOSE ENTRY PAGES ARE GOING TO BE EFFECTIVELY A MUCH REDUCED FORM OF THE ENGLISH VERSION BECAUSE THERE'S NOT THAT MANY DOCUMENTS, BUT AT LEAST IT MEANS YOU WILL GO TO THAT ENTRY PAGE AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT DOCUMENTS THERE ARE IN YOUR LANGUAGE.

THEN IT'S VERY EASY TO CLICK BACK TO THE MAIN ICANN PAGE IN ENGLISH WHERE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT'S BEING PRODUCED. BUT AT LEAST THIS WILL BE ONE STEP ALONG THE WAY IN ENABLING YOU TO BE ABLE TO FIND THOSE KUMS IN YOUR LANGUAGE MUCH EASIER.

I AM INTERESTED IN WHETHER PEOPLE THINK THAT'S THE RIGHT APPROACH. I THINK IT IS, BUT IF YOU THINK IT'S NOT, WE WILL REVISIT IT.

WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY.

WE'RE WORKING WITH BRAZILIANS WHO, I DON'T KNOW WHETHER YOU ARE AWARE OF IT, HAVE BEEN TRANSLATING ICANN ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SOME ICANN DOCUMENTS FOR YEARS, JUST IN ORDER TO GET THEIR COMMUNITY.

AND SO BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN DOING THAT AND THEY HAVE BEEN DOING THAT AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE, WE STARTED TALKING TO THEM ABOUT HOW WE COULD TRY TO FIND OUT A WAY OF WORKING TOGETHER, BECAUSE THEY WANT TO GET AT THEIR COMMUNITY. THEY HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT, THEY ARE COULD DOING IT ANYWAY SO WE FIGURED WE WOULD GRAB THE PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING AND FIND OUT IF WE CAN WORK TOGETHER.

SO WE ARE WORKING WITH THEM TO SEE WHAT WE CAN DO.

IT'S EARLY DAYS. IN FACT, I SHOULD GIVE THEM A PLUG.

SO I THINK I AM RIGHT IN SAYING IT'S ICANN.ORG.br.

IF WE HAVE A SIGNAL. THERE WE GO.

SO YOU WILL NOTE THAT THEY ARE USING THE OLD DESIGN OF THE SITE. WE HAD A PHONE CALL THE OTHER DAY IN WHICH THEY DISCUSSED WHETHER WE SHOULD GIVE THEM THE HTML FILES SO THEY CAN COPY THE NEW DESIGN OR WHETHER WE SHOULD COME UP WITH A SYSTEM BY WHICH THEY PROVIDE US WITH TRANSLATION, WE PUT THEM ON THE ICANN SITE AND THEY PRODUCE THEIR OWN SORT OF SITE WHERE THEY GIVE MORE CONTEXT AROUND THINGS. SO THEY ARE WRITING MATERIAL FOR THEIR COMMUNITY, WHICH THEN POINTS TO US.

IT IS AT THE POINT AT TENTATIVE AGREEMENTS BUT WE HOPE THAT PROCESS, IF WE GET IT RIGHT, WE CAN THEN EXPAND WITH THE DIFFERENT LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES THAT THERE ARE OUT THERE. SO WE WOULD END UP FINDING ONE GOOD SYSTEM AND REPEATING IT WITH OTHER LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES.

WE'RE TRYING TO SEE IF THAT WILL WORK. WE DON'T KNOW YET.

OH, AND ALSO I SHOULD SAY WITH THE PARIS SITE, WE DID SOMETHING FOR THE FIRST TIME WHICH WAS -- WHERE IS THE PARIS SITE?

WHICH WAS WE MADE IT BILINGUAL.

SO WE DIDN'T DO THE TRANSLATION OURSELVES. THIS IS AN PARAMOUNT AND WE NEED TO TALK TO SEBASTIEN ABOUT HOW DIFFICULT OR EASY IT WAS. I SUSPECT IT WAS HARDER THAN WE WANTED IT TO BE.

WE GAVE THE LOCAL HOST ACCESS TO PAGES TO BE ABLE TO TRANSLATE IT TO SEE IF THERE WAS A SYSTEM THAT WORKED.

I THINK THE DIFFICULTY WITH THAT, AND SEBASTIEN WILL KNOW A LOT BETTER THAN I DO, IS WE ARE JUST PRODUCING A LOT OF PAGES AND SAYING BY THE WAY, YOU CAN GO TRANSLATE THEM. AND I DON'T THINK THAT'S THE BEST WAY TO WORK BUT IT WAS AN EXPERIMENT TO SEE IF WE COULD GET THE TECHNOLOGY ITSELF WORKING, AND WE CAN.

SO FOR EXAMPLE, YOU CLICK ON EN FRANCAIS AND THERE IT IS IN FRENCH.

NOW, IT DOESN'T PICK UP THE RAPID CHANGES WE MADE DURING A MEETING BECAUSE YOU NEED TO HAVE A BILINGUAL PERSON CONSTANTLY WATCHING.

SO, FOR EXAMPLE, I'M HOPING THAT NEWSLETTER AND NEWSLETTER. I KNOW WHAT THE FRENCH FOR THURSDAY IS, BUT IS THAT THE BEST WAY OF DESCRIBING THURSDAY NEWSLETTER? FRENCH? I DON'T KNOW.

IS KIEREN MAKING ITIT'S KIEREN MAKING IT UP, FRANKLY.

SO THE DIFFICULT ONE WILL BE CAIRO MEETING WHICH WE HOPE TO DO THE SAME THING, AND WE STILL HAVEN'T FIGURED OUT TO DO THE RIGHT TO LEFT WITH ARABIC.

AND ALSO WITH ARABIC, FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU PUT IN ANY ENGLISH TEXT OR ASCII TEXT IN THE MIDDLE OF A SENTENCE -- SO, FOR EXAMPLE, ICANN, THEN SOMETIMES WITH THE SYSTEMS THAT YOU USE IT FLIPS. IT FLIPS THE ARABIC ON THE LEFT-HAND SIDE ON ICANN WITH THE ARABIC ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE OF ICANN SO YOU END UP WITH A COMPLETELY INCOMPREHENSIBLE MESS. THAT, TO MY EYES, LOOKS FANTASTIC UNTIL SOMEONE READS WHAT IT SAYS AND IT'S UTTER GIBBERISH.

WE ARE ON A BIT OF A TIGHT SCHEDULE WITH TRYING TO GET THE ARABIC VERSION WORKING FOR CAIRO. WE ARE GOING TO TRY THAT.

SO THAT'S ANOTHER THING THAT WE ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH TO SEE IF WE CAN GET IT WORKING RIGHT.

AT WHICH POINT I WILL TURN IT OVER TO NICK WHO IS ACTUALLY LEADING THE WAY AHEAD. THAT'S THE MAP ICANN MAIN CANE SITE. NICK IS LEADING THE WAY WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES THAT HE IS GOING TO TELL BUT WHAT WE ARE TRYING DO THERE WITH WEB SITES.

>>NICK ASHTON-HART: THIS SITE WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED BASED ON INPUT FROM THE AT-LARGE COMMUNITY OVER A PERIOD OF TIME, ASKING BASICALLY THAT THE SITE THAT SERVED THEM WOULD CEASE BEING A SORT OF ONE-WAY COMMUNICATIONS MEDIUM WHERE THINGS GET POSTED, AND YOU CAN COME AND READ THEM, TO BECOMING MORE OF A TWO-WAY PORTAL AND POINT OF INTERACTION.

ONE OF THE CORE ELEMENTS OF DESIGNING THIS WAS THAT UNDER THE COVER, IT WOULD ULTIMATELY BE AN ENTIRELY MULTILINGUAL SITE.

SO FOR EXAMPLE, YOU COULD, ON THE FRONT PAGE, CHOOSE THE LANGUAGE THAT YOU WANTED. AND MOST OF THE CONTENT, INCLUDING THE MENUS, WOULD THEN BECOME MULTILINGUAL.

OF COURSE THIS IS A SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT THING TO DO WHEN YOU ARE STARTING WITH A MONO LINGUAL INFORMATION SOURCE AND WHERE MUCH OF THE MATERIAL IS DRAWN FROM ANOTHER MONO LINGUAL INFORMATION SOURCE, WHICH IS THE MAIN ICANN.ORG SITE.

IT'S ALSO UNLIKE THE -- PEOPLE MAY NOT REAL THIS, BUT THE IZUMI AIZU THIS, REALIZE THIS BUT THE ICANN SAT IS ALL HTML PAGES WHICH BOGGLES THE MINDS OF MOST PEOPLE. IT'S TENS OF THOUSANDS OF INDIVIDUAL PAGES LINKED TOGETHER BY THE CLICKABLE LINKS THAT YOU SEE.

THE AT-LARGE -- WHICH IF YOU CAN THINK ABOUT THAT, IT'S A SIMILAR METAPHOR INTERNALLY, WHEN YOU ARE A MONO LING GALL LINGUAL ORGANIZATION, YOU POST DOCUMENT X ON THE WEB SITE WITH AN ANNOUNCEMENT WHICH IS ALSO IN ENGLISH TO LINKS TO OTHER DOCUMENTS WHICH ARE REFERENCE SOURCES ALSO IN ENGLISH.

OF IF YOU ADD TEN LANGUAGE VERSIONS OF THAT, EVERY SINGLE LINK WILL POINT TO A DIFFERENT PLACE ON EVERY SINGLE PAGE. AND IF YOU ARE DOING THAT IN INDIVIDUAL PAGES, YOU HAVE JUST GONE FROM FIVE PAGES TO 50 FOR ONE PIECE OF COMMUNICATION.

SO WE ARE LITERALLY TRYING TO REBUILD THE HOUSE THAT IS ICANN.ORG AT THE SAME TIME AS WE ARE TRYING TO ALL LIVE IN IT AND MAKE IT MULTILINGUAL.

I AM GOING TO BE ADVENTUROUS HERE AND TRY TO GET INTO THE BACK-END WITHOUT HAVING MY SAVED PASSWORD AVAILABLE TO ME.

YOU MAY NOW IMPERSONATE ME FOREVER, KIEREN, IN THIS WORKS. IT PROBABLY WON'T, THOUGH.

I WILL SHOW YOU THIS IN A DIFFERENT NONE DIFFERENT WAY.

THEY HAVE TAKEN THE LAWNAL OPTION AWAY FROM ME LANGUAGE OPTION AWAY FROM ME ON THIS PAGE.

UNFORTUNATELY I AM NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO SHOW YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL FEATURES OF THIS.

YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO KNOW, DREW PAUL IS THE ACTUAL BACK-END ENGINE THAT IS BEING USED FOR THIS. IT'S A RESOURCE DRIVEN ENVIRONMENT FOR THE WEB. AND THE CHIEF BENEFIT THAT IT BRINGS IS THAT THE PAGES THAT YOU HAVE ARE ALL STORED IN A DATABASE. SO WHEN YOU POST A PIECE OF -- A NEW ANNOUNCEMENT, YOU CAN, FOR EXAMPLE, SAY, WELL, THIS IS THE ENGLISH ORIGINAL AND THERE ARE TRANSLATIONS PENDING IN THESE LANGUAGES AND TICK THESE BOXES.

BEHIND THE SCENES, YOU CAN THEN SAY I WANT TO SEE ALL PENDING TRANSLATIONS, AND ALL THE PLACES WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE POSTING MATERIAL IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE ARE THEN VISIBLE TO YOU.

RIGHT NOW IN ICANN.ORG, AS DONALD RUMSFELD HAS FAMOUSLY SAID, IT'S A BIT OF AN UNKNOWN UNKNOWN, BECAUSE ANYTIME YOU TRANSLATE A FEW THINGS, YOU ARE ONLY A FEW LINKS AWAY FROM AN ORIGINAL THAT IS ONLY IN ENGLISH.

AND THAT'S IT.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THANK YOU, NICK.

WE'RE GETTING THERE.

I SUPPOSE IS THERE ANY QUESTIONS AT THIS POINT? VITTORIO HAS A QUESTION.

>>VITTORIO BERTOLA: THANK YOU. VITTORIO BERTOLA. I'M NOT SURE IT IS A QUESTION, BUT I'M (INAUDIBLE) BY THE PRESENTATION IN THE SENSE THAT MAKING A MULTILINGUAL WEB SITE IS NOT SOMETHING NEW. IT'S BEEN HAPPENING FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS. SO THERE ARE SOME VERY WELL CONSOLIDATED WAYS OF DOING IT, WHICH UNFORTUNATELY, NOT FOR THE PLARNLG AT-LARGE BUT FOR THE MAIN WEB SITE, IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE THE WAY YOU ARE DOING IT.

I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE A BIG BACKLOG OF STUFF THAT IS ONLY IN ENGLISH, BUT FIRST OF ALL, MAKING A MULTILINGUAL WEB SITE IS A CHOICE BY DESIGN, SO YOU HAVE TO START AND THINK EVERYTHING FROM THE BEGINNING AS MULTILINGUAL.

SO IF THE CURRENT ICANN WEB SITE IS NOT THOUGHT OUT LIKE THAT, YOU SHOULD START A NEW ONE, BASICALLY, BUT START SINCE THE BEGINNING WITH A MULTILINGUAL FRAMEWORK.

BUT ONCE YOU GET THAT, THEN IT'S USUALLY VERY EASY IN THE SENSE THAT YOU CAN -- I MEAN, DEPENDING ON HOW YOU DO IT, YOU CAN HAVE FALL-BACK AUTOMATICALLY TO ENGLISH IF THERE IS NOT CONTENT IN THE LANGUAGE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.

BUT THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS OF DOING IT.

THE ONLY THING IS THAT YOU REALLY HAVE TO AIM FOR IT.

SO I WOULD RECOMMEND STRONGLY AGAINST TRYING TO PUT MULTILINGUAL CONTENT IN THE MIDDLE OF A WEB SITE THAT'S NOT BEEN CONCEIVED TO MANAGE MULTIPLE LANGUAGES BECAUSE THE RESULTS YOU GET IS WHAT YOU HAVE NOW, THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE CONTENT IN ARABIC OR DOICH BUT YOU HAVE TO NAVIGATE IN ENGLISH TO GET TO THAT. IT DOESN'T REALLY MAKE ANY SENSE.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THANK YOU, VITTORIO. I SHOULD POINT OUT THAT, YES, WE KNOW THIS.

IT'S A PERFECTLY VALID POINT.

I'M TEMPTED TO SHOW YOU WHAT THE ICANN.ORG SITE LOOKS LIKE AT THE BACK END BUT I AM NOT GOING TO, BECAUSE I THINK IT WOULD TERRIFY PEOPLE.

WE KNOW THIS. AND MARC SALVATIERRA IS, AS WE SPEAK, IN LOS ANGELES HIS BRAIN WORRYING ABOUT HOW TO REBUILD ALL OF THE CONTENT THAT EXISTS INTO A TOTALLY NEW DATABASE SO THAT WE DON'T END UP REPEATING A STRUCTURE THAT DOESN'T WORK VERY EFFECTIVELY.

FOR EXAMPLE, I PUSHED HARD ON PROVIDING THESE ANNOUNCEMENTS IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES BECAUSE OTHERWISE IT WASN'T GOING TO HAPPEN. SO THAT'S ALL FINE. I'LL TRY TO BRING IT UP. I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT I MEAN.

GIVE ME A SEC.

>>VITTORIO BERTOLA: I DIDN'T MEAN TO BE DISMISSIVE OF THE EFFORT. I JUST WANTED TO POINT TO IF YOU NEED HELP IN CONSIDERING -- EVEN MY PERSONAL WEB SITE WHICH I DO IN MY SPARE TIME IS TRILINGUAL.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: I DIDN'T TAKE IT AS DISMISSIVE AT ALL.

I'LL JUST SHOW YOU, VERY BRIEFLY -- I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS INTERESTING TO PEOPLE BUT IT'S JUST AN INDICATION, PERHAPS, OF WHY WE WON'T BE ABLE TO DO THIS SPHAST PEOPLE THIS SPHAST PEOPLE AS FAST AS PEOPLE WOULD LIKE BUT WE ARE WORKING ON IT.

HERE WE GOMENT WE WILL WE GO. WE WILL USE THIS ONE AGAIN.

SO AT THE TOP UP HERE YOU WILL NOTICE THE TOP, SLASH EN ANNOUNCEMENTS, SO YOU HAVE FRANCAIS, FOR EXAMPLE.

WHEN I TOLD A WEB DEVELOPER THIS IS WHAT I WAS DOING, HE SAID CRETE GREAT, NOWIVE NOW I HAVE TO CREATE TEN STRUCTURES FOR EACH HTML PAGE YOU PUT UP THERE. THAT'S GOING TO TAKE TEN TIMES LONGER. I MIGHT AS WELL GO HOME NOW.

HE WASN'T OVER THE MOON ON THAT SO HE IS WORKING VERY HARD TO CREATE FROM THE GROUND UP AN ENTIRELY NEW WEB SITE. I JUST DON'T WANT TO BORE PEOPLE WITH THE FACT THAT WE KNOW WE HAVE A HUGE AMOUNT OF WORK. AND THE REASON WHY WE ARE SHOWING YOU THESE THINGS IS TO SHOW WE ARE WORKING ON IT AND IT'S GETTING THERE.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ONE FROM MICHAEL AT THE FRONT HERE.

>>MICHAEL SMOLENS: ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT -- BECAUSE YOU CAN SET BROWSERS FOR CERTAIN LANGUAGE AND ISPs ARE COMING OFF OF CERTAIN LANGUAGES SO YOU CAN HAVE BY DEFAULT GO INTO CERTAIN LANGUAGES DEPENDING ON WHO IS SIGNING IN AND LOOKING AT YOUR WEB SITE. ARE YOU GOING IN THAT DIRECTION?

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: YES, WE HAVE THAT ON THE PARIS SITE. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU HAVE LOGGED IN AND YOUR BROWSER IS SAYING I READ FRERCHL, YOU GO TO THE FRENCH FRENCH PAGES. WE WILL BE DOING THAT AS WE STEP FORWARD? AND ONCE WE HAVE GOT THE INDEX PAGES WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IN A GOOD FORM, BEAM DIRECT PEOPLE DIRECTLY TO THOSE LANGUAGES IF THEIR BROWSERS SAY I AM SPEAKING FRENCH, ET CETERA, ET CETERA.

>> I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW, WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT TRANSLATION, IS IT REAL-TIME TRANSLATION? BECAUSE THE CASE THAT I MENTIONED TO YOU EARLIER IS FOR DEALING WITH HTML PAGES IN REAL TIME. SO I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU DO ON YOUR SITE. IS IT REAL-TIME TRANSLATION? THANK YOU.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: NO, IT'S NOT. AND WE ARE CURRENTLY FAIRLY WARY OF AUTOMATED TRANSLATIONS BECAUSE WE HAVE TRIED IT A FEW TIMES AND WE CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT IT'S FAIRLY USEFUL IN SOME AREAS BUT WHEN IT COMES TO PAGES AND DOCUMENTS, WE HAVE HAD A LOT OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK SAYING THIS IS CONFUSED AND PEOPLE FEEL AS IF -- THEY FEEL IN AN ODD WAY AS IF WE ARE KIND OF MOCKING THEM. HERE YOU GO, HERE IS YOUR TRANSLATION, AND IT'S NOT VERY GOOD. AND THEY THINK THAT ICANN IS SAYING THEREFORE, YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT.

AND WE GOT A LOT OF BAD FEEDBACK, A LOT OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK ON THAT APPROACH SO WHAT WE ARE TYING TO DO IS BUILD UP COMMUNITY SUPPORT BY TRYING TO PROVIDE THE HIGHEST QUALITY.

I HAVE NO DOUBT, THIS TECHNOLOGY YOU HAVE ONLY TO LOOK AT WHAT, AMONG MANY PEOPLE, GOOGLE ARE DOING AND THERE ARE FEEDBACK MECHANISMS. WE HAVE LOOKED AT THAT, WE HAVE LOOKED AT SYS TRAN, AND WE ARE HAPPY TO LOOK AT YOURS AS BELL WELL. AND THAT'S GETTING BETTER AND BETTER BUT AT THE MOMENT WE HAVE TO BUILD UP A LOT OF GOODWILL WITH THE COMMUNITY BECAUSE OF THE TRANSLATION ISSUES IN THE PAST.

BERTRAND. .

>>BERTRAND DE LA CHAPELLE: ONE PREVIOUS ITEM AND I AM SPEAKING IN ENGLISH BECAUSE I AM SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF (SAYING NAME) WHO IS IN ANOTHER MEETING ROOM AND WAS ASKING, COULD YOU PLEASE ASK IF ANY CONSIDERATION WAS TAKEN, SUGGESTION MADE IN DELHI, THAT ICANN CONSIDER CONSTRUCTING ALS'S AT-LARGE S.O. TO DO TRANSLATION OF CRITICAL DOCUMENTS. THANK YOU.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THAT'S A WONDERFUL QUESTION FROM EVAN.

YES, YOU KNOW. EVAN ALWAYS HAS A QUESTION, WHICH I THINK HE TRIES TO FIND THAT I'LL DISAGREE WITH.

WE HAVE GOT IN PLACE A WHOLE RANGE OF MECHANISMS FOR TRANSLATING THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS. EVAN USUALLY ASKS ME WHY ARE WE USING THIS PROVIDER AND THEN I EXPLAIN WE ARE PUTTING IT OUT TO TENDER IN THE FUTURE AND THEN EVAN WILL USUALLY ASK ME, WHY DIDN'T YOU TRANSLATE THIS PARTICULAR DOCUMENT AND I WILL SAY IF YOU WOULD SEND ME AN E-MAIL ABOUT IT AND WE THINK IT'S USEFUL, WE WILL DO IT.

SO THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM IS THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM.

IT'S THE STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS WILL BE TRANSLATED INTO FIVE LANGUAGES. AND POLICY DOCUMENTS. OUTREACH DOCUMENTS WOULD BE TRANSLATED INTO TEN LANGUAGES. THAT PROCESS IS JUST STARTING. WE HAVE STARTED RUNNING IT SLOWLY AND WE HAVE ALREADY FOUND WE NEED A BETTER SYSTEM BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN SWAMPED WHILE WE HAVE BEEN IN PARIS, AND THE TRANSLATION COMMITTEE ARE ALL HERE AND WE ARE ALL WORKING VERY HARD OP ON RUNNING MEETINGS.

I HAVE SEEN E-MAILS POPPING INTO MY INBOX SAYING HERE IS THE TRANSLATION FOR THIS AND I SAY THAT'S GREAT BUT I HAVE APPROXIMATELY 30 SECONDS BEFORE I NEED TO BE IN THE NEXT MEETING. AND IT TAKES TIME TO GRAB THOSE DOCUMENTS, PUT THEM INTO HTML, PUT THEM UP ON THE SITE. BUT THAT SYSTEM IS STARTING WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT NEXT MONTH. SO WE ARE RUNNING AS HARD AS WE CAN. THAT'S WHY WE ARE GETTING THIS TRANSLATION COORDINATOR WHO WILL BE WORKING ON THIS FULL TIME, SO THAT WE CAN ROLL THIS THROUGH BETTER.

DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

OKAY. MOVE ON TO THE NEXT TOPIC.

HOW ARE WE DOING FOR TIME?

14 MINUTES, GREAT.

NAWD NAH NICK HAS BEEN TRYING, AND I KNOW NICK WAS GOING TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT IT BECAUSE HE HAS BEEN AT THE OTHER END OF IT.

SO IF YOU WILL GIVE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT IS BEING DONE WITH INTERPRETATION COSTS.

>>NICK ASHTON-HART: I WILL INTRODUCE IT AND CARLTON HAS MADE SOME STATEMENTS ALREADY ABOUT THIS. BUT THE BASIC NEED AROSE BECAUSE IN LATIN AMERICA AND IN AFRICA, A LARGE PROPORTION OF THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE THRARNL COMMUNITY HAVE LIMITED ABILITY TO SPEAK AND READ IN ENGLISH, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S VERY TECHNICAL.

AND SO WHAT WE HAVE DONE IS CONTRACTED WITH A CONFERENCE CALL PROVIDER THAT BASICALLY HAS EACH CONFERENCE CALL DIVIDED INTO TWO OR THREE DEPENDING ON THE LANGUAGE NEEDS.

AND THE RESULT IS THAT THOSE WHO WISH TO HEAR A SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION IN SPANISH ARE IN A SPANISH SUBCONFERENCE.

THOSE WHO SPEAK ENGLISH ARE IN THE ENGLISH SUBCONFERENCE, AND WHEN A SPANISH SPEAKER IS AN INTERPRETER, THEN, BETWEEN THE TWO SUBCONFERENCES.

SO THEN WHEN A SPANISH SPEAKER INTERVENES AND MAKES A COMMENT, IT'S SIMULTANEOUSLY INTERPRETED INTO ENGLISH FOR THOSE ON THE ENGLISH CALL. AND OF COURSE THOSE ON THE SPANISH CALL ARE ALREADY LISTENING TO IT IN SPANISH.

AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN ON A CONFERENCE CALL WHERE THERE IS SOME ECHO OR SOMEONE IS ON A MOBILE PHONE IN A NOISY AREA.

SO, THEN, WHEN A SPANISH SPEAKER INTERVENES AND MAKES A COMMENT, IT'S SIMULTANEOUSLY INTERPRETED INTO ENGLISH FOR THOSE ON AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN ON A CONFERENCE CALL WHERE THERE IS SOME ECHO OR SOMEONE'S ON A MOBILE PHONE IN A NOISY AREA WILL KNOW THAT EVEN A NORMAL TELECONFERENCE CAN POSE AUDIO CHALLENGES TO THOSE ON IT. THIS IS COMPLICATED WHEN YOU HAVE INTERPRETATION, BECAUSE INTERPRETATION REQUIRES THAT THE INTERPRETER HAVE A QUITE GOOD LINE, HAVE -- IF THE LINE IS VERY POOR AND IT'S DIFFICULT FOR THE INTERPRETER TO HEAR WHAT IS BEING SAID, IT'S EVEN HARDER TO INTERPRET THAT IN REAL TIME.

SO WE'VE -- WE HAVE DEFINITELY HAD SOME CALLS WHERE THERE HAVE BEEN REAL AUDIO PROBLEMS ASIDE FROM THE INTERPRETATION. BUT I GUESS I WOULD LET CARLTON, WHO WAS IN THE INTERESTING POSITION ON THE LAST MONTHLY LAC RALO TELECONFERENCE, THERE WAS HIM AND I ON THE GLIB CALL, ENGLISH CALL, WITH HIM CHAIRING, AND EVERYONE ELSE WAS ON THE SPANISH CALL. SO HE AND I WERE IN THE POSITION EVERYONE ELSE NORMALLY IS, OF LISTENING MOSTLY TO THE INTERPRETED COMMENTS OF OTHERS.

I WOULD SAY -- THE OTHER THING I WOULD SAY ABOUT THIS IS, IT ALSO REQUIRES A VERY ORDERLY -- THE PARTICIPANTS HAVE TO SPEAK INDIVIDUALLY. THEY CANNOT TALK OVER ONE ANOTHER. PEOPLE HAVE TO BE MINDFUL OF THE SPEED AT WHICH THEY SPEAK. IT DOES IMPOSE SOME CHALLENGES ON THOSE WHO PARTICIPATE IN THEM. BUT PEOPLE -- I THINK IT WOULD BE FAIR TO SAY -- CARLTON WILL DISAGREE, I KNOW IF HE ACTUALLY DOES -- THAT PEOPLE ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE USED TO BEING CAREFUL ABOUT HOW THEY SPEAK, ASKING TO SPEAK, WAITING UNTIL THEIR TURN, SO THAT EVERYONE CAN HEAR WHAT EVERYONE ELSE SAYS.

I DON'T KNOW, CARLTON, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD ANYTHING TO --

>>CARLTON SAMUELS: THANK YOU, NICK. (INAUDIBLE) TECHNICAL CHALLENGES NORMALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE TELEPHONE SYSTEM, ESPECIALLY ASSOCIATED IN CERTAIN AREAS OF THE WORLD.

I THINK IT WAS A REALLY BIG STEP FORWARD. IT -- I'M PICKING UP ON SOMETHING THAT I THINK VITTORIO SAID EARLIER ON.

IT REALLY DOES HELP WHEN YOU ARE THE MINORITY IN THE CONVERSATION. SO, FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN WE'RE LISTENING TO THE SPANISH SPEAKERS AND IT'S TRANSLATED TO US, IT REALLY HELPS YOU FOUND HOW YOU MODERATE THE CONVERSATION. IT DOES IMPOSE SOME DISCIPLINE ON SPEAKERS. BUT, ALL IN ALL, WE HAVE SEEN TREMENDOUS IMPROVEMENT IN THE COMMUNICATION, AS WELL AS IN THE PARTICIPATION. BECAUSE PEOPLE REALLY DO FEEL EMPOWERED WHEN THEY CAN GET TO SPEAK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE AND YOU LISTEN TO WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY AND THEN TRANSLATE.

THIS IDEA YOU HAVE, VITTORIO, OF CONDUCTING A MEETING IN THE OTHER LANGUAGE, I CAN TELL YOU FROM EXPERIENCE, IT REALLY WOULD BE A STEP FORWARD. AND I REALLY -- I WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO ICANN TO TRY THAT AT LEAST ONCE, TO HAVE THE MEETING IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH AND DO IT -- THE TRANSLATION THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

WE'VE CERTAINLY LEARNED IN LATIN AMERICA HOW THAT WORKS.

THERE'S ONE THING I WANTED TO SAY ABOUT THE THING. I AM NOT DISPAIRING ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE TRANSLATION. BECAUSE, YOU KNOW WHAT, IN THE CONVERSATION, THE PARTICIPANTS TEND TO IMPROVE THE UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS SAID, BECAUSE THEY HELP EACH OTHER TO FINE TUNE THE CONVERSATION. AT LEAST THAT'S HOW OUR EXPERIENCE IN LAC. THE SPANISH SPEAKERS, EVEN IF YOU START FROM A DOCUMENT THAT WAS NOT WELL TRANSLATED OR UNDERSTOOD, IT'S THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN ALL OF US THAT TENDS TO IMPROVE THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE DOCUMENT OR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT SOMEONE IS TRYING TO SAY.

SO I GUESS WHAT I'M SAYING IS THAT THE CONVERSATION ITSELF AS YOU GO ALONG TEND TO IMPROVE WHAT IS SAID. AND THEREFORE I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT THIS IS SEEN AS ONE OTHER USEFUL TOOL IN THE OUTREACH SECTOR.

>>NICK ASHTON-HART: THE OTHER THING I WOULD MENTION, FOLLOWING ON FROM THAT, IS, I KNOW THAT I HAVE NOTICED THAT AS -- FROM WHEN WE STARTED THOSE TELECONFERENCES, NOT ONLY HAVE THE CALLS BECOME MORE ORDERLY, MORE STRUCTURED AS PEOPLE HAVE REALIZED THAT WITHOUT BEING CAREFUL ABOUT NOT SPEAKING ON TOP OF ONE ANOTHER, FOR EXAMPLE, EVERYONE WILL BE UNABLE TO SPEAK. I REMEMBER THE VERY FIRST CALL WE DID, IT WAS KIND OF FUNNY, BECAUSE WE HAD PEOPLE ON THE ENGLISH SUBCONFERENCE SPEAKING IN SPANISH. AND, YOU KNOW, WE HAD TO INTERVENE AND SAY, "GUYS, I'M SORRY, BUT WE CAN'T HAVE INTERPRETING BOTH DIRECTIONS IN BOTH LANGUAGES IN BOTH SUBCONFERENCES. ALL THAT WILL DO IS GUARANTEE THAT, ACTUALLY, NOBODY REALLY UNDERSTANDS ANYONE."

AND NOW IT'S, OF COURSE, QUITE ORDERLY.

BUT EVEN THE DYNAMIC, I WOULD SAY, OF THE CONFERENCE CALLS HAS CHANGED. PEOPLE USED TO BE -- IT USED TO BE FAIRLY REGULAR THAT YOU WOULD SEE A MISUNDERSTANDING BECOME MORE -- THERE WAS MORE CONFLICT RELATED TO MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF WHAT PEOPLE HAD SAID.

NOW, IT SEEMS PEOPLE SORT OF AUTOMATICALLY ASSUME, WELL, MAYBE I DIDN'T QUITE HEAR THAT PROPERLY. WHICH HAS CHANGED THE WHOLE, YOU KNOW, SORT OF DYNAMIC. IT USED TO BE KIND OF TWO CAMPS, IN A WAY, ON THAT MAILING LIST. AND NOW IT'S MUCH MORE OF A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO TRY, AS YOU SAY, AND HELP ONE ANOTHER UNDERSTAND. IT'S AMAZING WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT CAN MAKE WHEN YOU HAVE TO WORK TO HELP EACH OTHER COMMUNICATE A BIT. AND AS A NON-SPANISH SPEAKER, I CAN CERTAINLY TELL YOU THAT I WOULD BE VERY LOST WITHOUT IT.

DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ON THIS?

OR COMMENTS?

>>SEBASTIEN BACHOLLET: THANK YOU VERY MUCH, NICK.

I HAVE A QUESTION WE HAVE USED THIS FOR THE REGIONS, SO THAT IN EACH REGION, OR EVEN AT WORLD LEVEL, WE CAN USE THESE TECHNIQUES FOR EXCHANGE AND DEBATE.

WOULD IT BE ENVISAGABLE TO USE TELECONFERENCES IN ONE LANGUAGE, NOT ENGLISH, AS IT HAPPENS, SO THAT PEOPLE WHO SPEAK THE ONE LANGUAGE CAN TALK TOGETHER. THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH INTERPRETATION, BUT IT'S RELATED TO THIS ISSUE. THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING IT AT THIS POINT. IS IT CLEAR? HAVE YOU UNDERSTOOD WHAT I WAS GETTING AT?

>>NICK ASHTON-HART: YES.

I WOULD UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS NO REASON WHY, IF A GROUP OF PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY WANT TO HAVE A CONVERSATION IN WHATEVER LANGUAGE THAT GROUP OF PEOPLE ARE MOST COMFORTABLE SPEAKING, I -- THERE CERTAINLY WOULD BE NO IMPEDIMENT I CAN IMAGINE TO SETTING UP A CALL AND DECLARING THAT IT'S A FRENCH CALL OR A SPANISH CALL OR WHATEVER IT NEEDED TO BE. WE ALMOST HAVE THAT -- WE HAD IT -- WE'VE HAD A LAC RALO CALL, WHICH, AS I SAID, WAS THE LONELY TWO OF US ON THE ENGLISH CALL AND SEVEN OR EIGHT PEOPLE ON THE OTHER SIDE. AND WE'VE ALMOST HAD THAT ON A FEW OCCASIONS NOW, SO....

>>SEBASTIEN BACHOLLET: I WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE OPPORTUNITY TO ASK THIS QUESTION BEFORE YOU CLOSE THE MEETING. RATHER, IT'S A COMMENT.

I'D LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE WORK THAT YOU ARE DOING IN THIS FIELD, BOTH OF YOU, BECAUSE IT REPRESENTS CONSIDERABLE IMPROVEMENT FOR ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO DON'T SPEAK VERY MUCH ENGLISH OR WHO SPEAK ENGLISH BADLY, OR WHO SPEAK FRENCH OR SPANISH, THE LANGUAGES THAT ARE TRANSLATED. YOU ARE HELPING THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY TO MAKE GREAT PROGRESS IN THIS FIELD. SO WE REALLY THANK YOU FOR THIS WORK THAT YOU'VE DONE ALREADY AND THE WORK THAT YOU'RE GOING TO DO IN THE FUTURE.

[ APPLAUSE ]

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: NICK IS FLUENT AFTER ALL.

VERY BRIEFLY, I MEAN, IS THERE ACTUALLY ANOTHER SESSION AT HALF TO OR IS IT A BREAK?

SO VERY BRIEFLY, I'D LIKE TO DO TWO THINGS. ONE IS, THESE ARE JUST A FEW QUESTIONS THAT OCCURRED. YOU KNOW, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT WHAT WE'RE DOING, WHAT IS THE FUTURE, WHAT WILL ICANN'S REQUIREMENTS BE NEXT YEAR, IN TWO YEARS, IN FIVE YEARS? WILL WE HAVE -- WILL IT STILL BE 82% ENGLISH SPEAKERS? WILL THAT CHANGE? WILL WE SUDDENLY FIND, WITH THIS HUGE EXPANSION IN ASIA OF THE INTERNET, WILL WE SUDDENLY IN-KIND WE HAVE 82% ASIAN SPEAKERS? WE DON'T KNOW. WHAT DO YOU THINK? BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT TO GET IN THE POSITION WHERE WE'RE NOT PLANNING FOR IT.

SO I'D BE INTERESTED IN YOUR VIEWS ON THAT.

THE 41 PERCENT OF PEOPLE THAT ANSWERED THAT SURVEY, OF WHICH 82 WERE ENGLISH SPEAKERS SAID THEY HAD DIFFICULTY PARTICIPATING. PARTICIPATING HOW? WHAT IS THAT DIFFICULTY THAT YOU HAVE? PRECISE WHATLY WHAT IS THE DIFFICULTY YOU HAVE? BECAUSE IF IT'S, "I DON'T LIKE THIS, AND THIS IS A PROBLEM." WE'LL CHANGE IT. IT'S THAT SIMPLE, WE'LL CHANGE IT.

HOW MUCH HELP ARE YOU ABLE TO PROVIDE US? BECAUSE WE WANT TO WORK WITH THE COMMUNITIES. THE ONLY EFFECTIVE WAY TO DO IT, AND WE -- THERE'S A LOT OF ISSUES AROUND THIS. SO WE OFTEN HAVE PEOPLE OFFERING TO TRANSLATE MATERIALS IN THEIR LANGUAGE. AND THEN WHEN THEY SEE THE AMOUNT OF MATERIAL THAT ICANN ACTUALLY PRODUCES, THEY SAY, "I'M SORRY, YOU KNOW, BUT IT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO PRODUCE THIS HUGE AMOUNT OF MATERIAL. YOU'VE GOT" -- AND WE KNOW -- "HOWEVER MANY STAFF PRODUCING THESE DOCUMENTS. JUST ME AND A FEW FRIENDS THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA."

SO HOW MUCH HELP ARE YOU ABLE TO PROVIDE IN BECAUSE WE DO NOT WANT TO SWAMP THE COMMUNITY ON ANY LEVEL. BUT WHATEVER HELP YOU CAN PROVIDE, WHATEVER MECHANISM YOU SAY, "WELL, I CAN -- ONCE A WEEK, I'LL GO IN AND GIVE YOU SOME ADVICE," THAT'S GOOD. BUT WE DON'T WANT TO SWAMP YOU. WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO AND WHAT YOU'RE COMFORTABLE DOING. AND JUST ANY OTHER QUESTIONS. SO I AM GOING TO PUT THOSE QUESTIONS OUT TO YOU. I'D ALSO, JUST BEFORE WE FINISH, LIKE TO SHOW YOU AGAIN THE VIDEO THAT WE PUT TOGETHER TO DEMONSTRATE -- IN AN EFFORT TO DEMONSTRATE THE FACT THAT LANGUAGES CAN BE AN ISSUE, TO DEMONSTRATE THE FACT THAT WE CAN YOFIRM THAT ISSUE. WE OVERCOME THAT ISSUE.

WE DID -- I WENT AND FILMED ICANN STAFFERS SPEAKING THEIR LANGUAGES IN ORDER TO TRY AND GET THAT MESSAGE ACROSS TO ICANN. SO I'M GOING TO SHOW THAT AGAIN RIGHT AT THE END.

BUT IF ANYONE HAS ANY COMMENTS, BROADER COMMENTS, YOU DON'T HAVE TO ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS. THEN NOW IS THE TIME TO RAISE THEM.

>>VITTORIO BERTOLA: SORRY TO BE SPEAKING AGAIN. I THINK I HAVE A POINT THAT I'D LIKE TO BRING UP, EVEN IF I'M NOT SURE THAT I HAVE A SOLUTION.

BUT, I MEAN, ONE COULD THINK THAT THE MORE LANGUAGES YOU GET, THE BETTER. ON THE OTHER HAND, I SEE THE RISK OF CREATING EVEN MORE DIVIDES THAN YOU SOLVE IN THE SENSE THAT, FOR EXAMPLE, I MEAN, IF YOU GO WITH THE U.N., THEY HAVE THREE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES, AND THAT'S IT, OR SIX OFFICIAL LANGUAGES, DEPENDING ON THE MEETING. AND AT MOST, MAYBE THE LOCAL LANGUAGE.

IF YOU GO WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION, YOU HAVE EACH AND EVERY LANGUAGE, SO NO ONE IS EXCLUDED.

IT SEEMS TO ME THAT ICANN IS SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE. SO IT STARTED DOING ENGLISH, AND THEN FRENCH AND SPANISH, THEN SOME OTHERS ARE POPPING UP. BUT IT'S UNCLEAR HOW YOU ARE GOING TO SELECT IT, SELECT THEM.

SO, FOR EXAMPLE, GERMAN TRANSLATIONS HAVE BEEN POPPING UP IN THE EUROPEAN AT-LARGE, WHICH IS FINE. BUT I THINK THERE'S THE RISK OF CREATING A VICIOUS CIRCLE IN WHICH YOU HAVE, FOR EXAMPLE, A LOT OF PARTICIPATION FROM GERMANY, SO YOU START DOING GERMAN TRANSLATIONS, AND SO YOU GET MORE PARTICIPATION FROM GERMANY, BUT YOU STILL HAVE NO ONE FROM SPAIN OR FROM RUSSIA, AND THEN YOU'RE NOT DOING SPANISH AND RUSSIAN, SO YOU'RE NOT GETTING MORE PARTICIPATION FROM THOSE PARTS OF THE -- OF EUROPE.

SO IN A WAY, THE FACT THAT YOU'RE ADDING MORE LANGUAGES IS CONTRIBUTING TO MAKE A BIGGER DIVIDE BETWEEN THE PARTS OF THE WORLD THAT HAVE ALREADY STARTED TO PARTICIPATE AND OTHER PARTS THAT HAVE NOT STARTED YET. SO I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SOLVE THAT, BUT I THINK YOU SHOULD DEVELOP SOME VERY CLEAR MECHANISM RELATED TO IT.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: WE ACTUALLY HAVE VERY CLEAR MECHANISMS AND RULES, VERY CLEAR, IN THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM. WE'VE GOT THIS -- WE'VE GOT AN EXPERT PARTICULARLY BECAUSE OF THIS QUESTION. THAT'S THE ONE THING THAT EVERYONE ALWAYS RAISES. AND I'LL TELL YOU THE EXACT ANSWER, THE EXACT ANSWER IS, STRATEGIC AND POLICY DOCUMENTS WILL BE TRANSLATED INTO FRENCH, SPANISH, RUSSIAN, ARABIC, AND CHINESE, CHINESE SIMPLIFIED.

THEN OUTREACH DOCUMENTS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS ACCORDING TO NEED. SO, FOR EXAMPLE, WE PUT OUT A REQUEST FOR PEOPLE IN ASIA TO PUT IN EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR THE ASIA MEETING NEXT YEAR. WE PUT THAT OUT IN JAPANESE AND KOREAN AND CHINESE.

NOW, THERE'S NO POINT IN PUTTING THAT OUT IN GERMAN.

BUT THE OTHER LANGUAGES IN WHICH WE WILL PUT OUT OUTREACH DOCUMENTS ARE, KOREAN, GERMAN, ITALIAN, PORTUGUESE, -- I'M MISSING ONE.

>> JAPANESE.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: JAPANESE. THERE YOU GO.

SO THAT'S THE ANSWER. I MEAN, THAT'S -- WE HAVE -- WE REALIZE THAT THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE TO NOT MAKE THAT DECISION. NO, I CAN GIVE YOU THE RATIONALE. WE WENT THROUGH ENDLESS DEBATE. WE'VE GOT A WORLD EXPERT ON THIS. WE TOOK A HUGE AMOUNT OF COMMUNITY FEEDBACK. WE DISCUSSED IT AD INFINITUM, AND THIS IS WHAT WE CAME UP WITH, TEN LANGUAGES SPLIT UP INTO FIVE GROUPS.

WE'VE GOT THE RATIONALE IN THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM WITH REGARD TO WHAT PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE ONLINE SPEAK WHAT LANGUAGES, WITH REGARD TO WHO OUR COMMUNITY IS AND WHO WE EXPECT THEM TO BE. THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING IS THOSE FIVE -- TWO GROUPS OF FIVE LANGUAGES.

SO THAT'S THE DEFINITE, SOLID ANSWER. AND WE'RE GOING TO STICK WITH THAT UNLESS THERE IS A HUGE OUTCRY BY SOME, YOU KNOW -- I DON'T KNOW IF -- YOU KNOW, IF SOME PART OF THE WORLD SUDDENLY TAKES OFF AND WE HAVEN'T INCORPORATED IN THOSE LANGUAGE, AND WE HAVE THEM COMING INTO MEETINGS AND SAYING, "I MUST HAVE IT IN MY LANGUAGE," THEN WE'RE GOING TO SHIFT. BUT I CAN'T SEE SHIFTING FROM THAT POSITION FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS. SO THAT'S THE DEFINITIVE PROCESS THAT WE'RE RUNNING THROUGH.

>>MOUHAMET DIOP: THANK YOU, MY NAME IS MOUHAMET, AND I'M FROM SENEGAL.

SO I JUST WANT TO RECALL THE INITIATIVE THAT HAPPENED DONE BY THE FRANCOPHONIE IN THE PAST. I THINK THAT THEY HAVE MANY ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE SHOWN THIS REPORT TO THE TRANSLATION PROGRAM. AND MY CONCERN HERE IS, I UNDERSTAND THAT ICANN BUDGET CANNOT HANDLE THAT TRANSLATION PROGRAM FOR ALL THE LANGUAGES WORLDWIDE. BUT THE RATIONALE I WANT PEOPLE TO THINK ABOUT IS, IF WE HAVE A MECHANISM THROUGH WHICH, IF A GROUP OR COUNTRY OR INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION DEFINITELY SUPPORTS TO TAKE CARE OF A TRANSLATION PROGRAM FOR LANGUAGES, CAN WE JUST PUT CLEARLY SOMETHING WHERE ANYONE WHO GOT THAT PROGRAM, LIKE SOME COUNTRIES UNDERSTAND IT'S IMPORTANT FOR THEM TO FOLLOW AT A NATIONAL LEVEL THE DISCUSSION ON ICANN AND I.T. AND THEY HAVE A VERY GOOD READINESS PROGRAM, HOW THEY CAN DEAL WITH ICANN AND BRING THEIR SUPPORT IN TERMS OF BUDGET EXPERTISE, AND PEOPLE TO HELP TRANSLATE ALL THE RELEVANT DOCUMENTS TO INCREASE THE LOCAL PARTICIPATION TO THE DISCUSSION.

BECAUSE I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS REALLY THE GOAL, IS HOW WE CAN MAKE DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE AND HELP PEOPLE GET INTO THE DISCUSSION DURING -- OFFLINE AND ONLINE DISCUSSION REGARDING ALL THE ISSUES.

SO I REALLY WANT TO KNOW IF THERE'S ANYTHING THAT HAS BEEN STATED CLEARLY TO ALLOW THIS COUNTRY OR THIS ORGANIZATION TO COME ON THE TABLE AND SAY, "WELL, IF WE FULFILL THESE CRITERIAS, SO HOW CAN WE START OFFERING OUR SERVICE TO ICANN THROUGH A WE'LL-DEFINED PROCESS?"

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: I CAN TELL YOU WHEN THAT WILL HAPPEN. IT WILL BE APPROXIMATELY SIX MONTHS. AND I CAN TELL YOU THE PROCESS BY WHICH WE'LL GET THERE. WE'RE GOING TO HIRE, AS SOON AS WE CAN, A HIGHLY QUALIFIED TRANSLATION COORDINATOR WHO WILL COORDINATE ALL THE TRANSLATIONS THAT WILL RUN THROUGH ICANN THAT WILL CHANGE THE SYSTEMS THAT WE USE SO THAT IT WORKS MORE EFFECTIVELY. AND THAT COORDINATOR WILL BE IN CHARGE OF A TENDER PROCESS.

AND I AM ESTIMATING SIX MONTHS. I DON'T KNOW IF HE IS ABLE OR SHE IS ABLE TO DO THE JOB MUCH FASTER, THEN IT WILL BE EARLIER. BUT WE'LL MAKE IT CLEAR WHAT THAT PROCESS IS. WE'RE GOING TO RUN A TENDER PROCESS FOR EACH LANGUAGE.

AND AT THAT POINT, WE'RE GOING TO SEE WHAT THERE IS ON THE TABLE, WHETHER IT FITS IN WITH THE NEEDS, WHETHER THERE IS THE DEMAND THERE. AT THIS STAGE, WE HONESTLY DON'T KNOW.

THERE'S LOTS OF, I THINK, OUT OF FRUSTRATION, PEOPLE SAY, "LOOK, I'LL DO IT." BUT WE DON'T KNOW UNTIL YOU PUT IT ON THE TABLE, UNTIL YOU SAY THAT PEOPLE WILL BID FOR THIS, AND IN A PROFESSIONAL BID, WE DON'T KNOW WHETHER THAT OFFER IS RIGHT, WHETHER THAT OFFER IS REALLY THERE, OR IF IT'S FRUSTRATION. WE DON'T KNOW. BUT, YEAH, WE ARE ABSOLUTELY 100% OPEN TO WORKING WITH PEOPLE THAT WANT THIS INFORMATION, 100% OPEN TO IT.

BUT IT WILL BE IN SIX MONTHS' TIME. WE'VE GOT TO DO A LOT OF -- ICANN HAS TO DO A LOT OF WORK BUILDING UP THE PROCESSES BEFORE THAT.

DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

IN THAT CASE, JUST TO SHOW THIS VIDEO ONE MORE TIME TO TRY AND GET ACROSS, WE HAD REALLY -- AS MICHAEL DEMONSTRATED, THIS IS VERY EASY TO TRANSCRIBE. ONCE YOU GET USED TO THIS INTERFACE, BECAUSE IT'S VERY EASY TO TRANSCRIBE, AND WE'D LIKE TO SHOW YOU THIS. YOU CAN GO IN AND PUT IT IN YOUR LANGUAGE. AND WE'RE GOING TO USE THIS AS A SORT OF AS A POSTER CHILD FOR WHAT WE CAN DO WITH LANGUAGES AND WITH VIDEO.

>> PARTICIPANTS FROM OVER 120 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.

(SPEAKING IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES).

>> INTEROPERABLE.

>> INTERNET.

>> CAN FIND SOLUTIONS.

>> TO EVEN THE MOST DIFFICULT GLOBAL PROBLEMS.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: THE POINT OF THAT IS, THERE IS NO WAY THAT ANYONE IN THIS ROOM UNDERSTOOD ALL OF THAT. THERE'S NO WAY YOU ALL SPEAK -- SOMEONE HERE SPEAKS SEVEN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. WE HAVE PUT THAT ONTO THE -- THIS WEB SITE WHERE YOU CAN TRANSLATE THAT, TRANSCRIBE IT YOURSELF, AND TRANSLATE FROM ONE LANGUAGE TO ANOTHER. SO WE'LL BRING IT UP AND SHOW YOU WHAT IS POSSIBLE.

HERE WE GO.

LANGUAGE BAR ON THE BOTTOM SAYS "ENGLISH." AS WE RUN THROUGH THIS, YOU CAN SEE THAT YOU CAN CHANGE THAT. SO THAT --

>> ICANN HAS PARTICIPANTS FROM OVER 120 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.

(SPEAKING DIFFERENT LANGUAGES).

>> INTEROPERABLE.

(SPEAKING DIFFERENT LANGUAGES).

>> CAN FIND SOLUTIONS.

(SPEAKING DIFFERENT LANGUAGES).

>> TO EVEN THE MOST DIFFICULT GLOBAL PROBLEMS.

>>KIEREN McCARTHY: AND THAT'S THE END OF THE TRANSLATION MEETING.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ATTENDING. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR COMMENTS. I -- HOPEFULLY I'LL STAND UP IN CAIRO AND TELL YOU THE PROGRESS, THEN HOPEFULLY STAND UP IN MEXICO CITY AND TELL YOU THE PROGRESS THERE, AND THEN HOPEFULLY IN ABOUT SIX MEETINGS' TIME, I WON'T NEED TO STAND UP HERE AND TALK ABOUT IT AT ALL.

SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

[ APPLAUSE ]