CASA's biannual Translating Cuba event
CASA’s biannual Translating Cuba event took place last Monday, November 25, 2013. Members of CASA joined the e-board in translating blogs written by Cuban dissidents and activists into English, French, Dutch, and German. Students who did not translate worked on editing articles that had already been translated.
Translating blogs is not just about getting the Cuban opposition’s voice out there. Helping to translate blogs helps give Cubans who are constantly and violently silenced on the island a voice that can reach English, French, Dutch, and German speakers throughout the world. More access to primary accounts from Cuban dissidents in a variety of languages will help get the Cuban reality out to the rest of the world.
HemosOido.com, the website that aggregates a variety of posts to be translated, was founded by activists Yoani Sanchez and M.J. Porter “to spread the words of the Cuban bloggers beyond the fortunate 350 million people in the world who can read them in Spanish.”
The Cuban reality is too often sensationalized and politically cloaked by the Cuban government, which is why it is so important to help in the quest to make those voices that are being open and honest about their experiences more prominent and available to as many people around the world as possible. It is CASA ‘s, the founders’ of HemosOido.com, and Cuban activists’ firm belief that getting the truth of Cuba to the international community, will be one of the catalysts towards political, economic, and social change on the island.