Project FAQ

What does the money pay for?

It pays for the initial programming. This includes login, profile pages, and the translator programming. It will also pay for a server for a year and the shipping costs.

If the project is overfunded, where does the money go?

The money goes into the website, towards the programming to improve the website, and if we get enough funds, extra features. Overfunding will also help the website get partners in the future.

Why 8,000 dollars?

- 4,275 for the programming. This will be paid in 33% installments until all the things agreed on are completed. And will take a month.
- Commercial Hosting for the year 1,380.
- 3x5 Notebooks cost may vary by quantity. http://www.discountmugs.com/product/not45-3x5-in-recyclable-spiral-promotional-jotters/
- Shipping, including international shipping- Cost will vary by quantity.
- 4% for Indie Gogo
- Taxes. (I estimate 1,000 will cover)
- Acts of God. This includes things like the shipment not showing up, so having to reorder, notebooks not turning up, so the need to reorder, sudden need for bug fix. This is a minimal part of the 2,000. I was encouraged to add this because there was another project that failed because they didn't think about acts of God in their original ask and then their project never came to fruition.
- What will you do if there is leftover money from the 8,000? Put it back into the website to cover for bug and security issues, if any arise.

Why do you need commercial level hosting? Why not shared hosting?

Because the website will be unstable under shared hosting and a large load of people. Having our own server run by Dreamhost will insure security, reliability, and that they can handle the traffic that a crowd sourcing website needs to bring. It also means that the programmer will have increased flexibility to program as she chooses for the back end, to create a smoother experience for you, the client of the website.

What is the website running on now?

Shared Hosting. If this site crashes a lot it's because it's on shared hosting. Which argues for the need for a server.

Can I suggest a book for translation?

Sure! First read to see if it's on the list, it it is not, write to webmistress at Polyglit [dot] com. We cannot guarantee that we can get to books not in public domain fast enough or at all, but we will try. If it's already been licensed, it's unlikely we can get the book.

How do you plan to continue to fund the website after the initial funding?

The website owner is planning to look for companies who would like to be partners in the project. Also fund through the app, selling of the book and advertising.

You mentioned an app, but how are you planning to fund the programming for the app?

A connection the site owner has volunteered to do it for free. This will give us some funding to keep the website afloat.

What kind of servers are you chasing after?

We will not be taking care of the servers ourselves. It will be done through Dreamhost. Dreamhost has been in business for over 10 years, and has their own webhosting panel, which means greater security and stability for the website. Since this is a business, we will not be on shared hosting, which means no overages or the website suddenly freezing. The landing page and this page are currently on shared hosting.

What kind of books are you looking to translate?

We will not be taking on self-published books.

We are especially interested in books that are in public domain and untranslated. Or have been translated a long time ago and have outdated translations, such as ones that have gone into public domain and not been translated.

We have a special interest in books that are considered very important for the country they come from, such that they are recognized within the country instantly where if one were to ask important books from that country, they would list those books. Classics. Especially if they haven't been translated and aren't well-known in other countries.

We are also interested in books that break world-wide stereotypes of the countries they've been written in. For example, non-magical realism from Central and South American countries--for some reason the US has pigeon-holed the majority of books to that genre. Looks at contemporary Japan that aren't science fiction. Books about middle class peoples of Africa. And especially looks at books where the population isn't shown as permanently poor, in constant war and permanent suffering. For example, German books not about WWII, or showing WWII in a different way than how it's usually shown. If it will expand someone's world view of a country, we are very interested in testing the market--because it's unlikely to be translated otherwise.

What genres and forms are you interested in?

For right now, we will not take on poetry to start, as it is very difficult to translate properly without the oversight of someone who is very experienced.

We will take on short stories, novellas and novels. Longer forms will take longer to translate, and may have less interest overall.

We will take both fiction and non-fiction in any genre.

But you don't plan to pay the translators...

The translators and translation team get paid in several ways. They get to learn a language and test their skills in a real environment. They get a free subscription to the website for a month with unlimited access to the library for free without advertising. And they get a free copy of the book they helped with in electronic form.

We highly respect translators, but often translators don't get a chance to test their skills or prove them. This is a way for them to test their skills with minimized responsibility and work. We do believe professional translators and interpretors with high proficiency should get paid the professional rates they deserve. This website does not aim to replace them or minimize their skill set in any fashion.

We will be hiring professional translators for some projects and e-book versions of the books, eventually.

You seem a lot like Duolingo... how do you differ?

Unlike Duolingo, if you are level five of a language, you don't have to go through five levels of a language to prove you are at level five. Plus if you are interested in translating a book, you don't have to wait for the language to be posted to start.

We are also more project-based than Duolingo. We aim to translate whole books of literature, and build a community that talks to each other, coming up with the best contextual translation of a work as a whole. Users correct other users by directly interacting rather than through a computer.

In this way, we serve a different function from DuoLingo, which hopes you to teach a language using text as testing material.

Google Translate has a group translator. How does yours differ?

We aim to create a positive interactive community of translators where you know there are people interested in translating a work of literature. You don't have to look towards your best friends. Also, Google tends to split text by individual words, rather than sentences when it tries to translate, which causes problems, especially in poetry. With humans, there is less likely to be an error. You can make friends, chat, exchange language information, learn cultures, and so on on polyglit, once it's set up through forums or chat on your favorite books. Again, polyglit can't replace something like Google Translate, but offers a more interactive version of communicating with people around the world while doing a project.

You seem a lot like Viki.com...

Our policies are different from viki.com. They do videos, we do literature, so the rules will have to differ and our site structures will differ, even though the core concept is the same and we got their blessing to do this project.

How do you differ from LingQ?

We do not physically teach you the language--the interactions from other users teach the language. You can therefore ask a real human why they changed your translation and what rules are being applied. Also, you are translating a book. We focus on whole sentences over individual words, so you learn the context in which words are used and translated.

Do you have the translation team for Hong Gil Dong?

I have some volunteers already who said they want to try it and have connections to a few translators who are interested in books in other languages than Korean.