Worldmeets.US founder and managing editor William Kern at his desk at the Taipei Times in 2002.

Welcome to Worldmeets.US

 

Worldmeets.US is a nonprofit journalism project that gathers and translates the world's news and views about the United States.

 

The driving force behind the project is a belief that Americans often know very little about how U.S. policies, politics and actions affect other nations. Given the level of cooperation that the next few decades will require, direct contact and relationship-building between Americans and people around the world is essential.

 

We have translated thousands of articles from the most prominent names in modern journalism, which have never before been available in English - from Le Figaro of Paris to Kitabat in Baghdad, from El Universal in Caracas to the Global Times of Beijing.

 

Worldmeets.US is a project to connect Americans with the rest of the world, and inform them about global perceptions of their nation. The next phase of our work is to create an online community that will nurture citizen diplomacy across the globe.

 

Our 70 worldwide volunteers include journalists who have worked for Reuters, Dow Jones, The Associated Press, and the International Herald Tribune. Our volunteers translate and edit articles from multiple languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Swedish, Spanish, Hungarian and Farsi. Our current team of translators live in Iran, Iraq, China, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Switzerland, Malaysia, Morocco, Iran, France, Germany, Spain, New Zealand, the United States and Canada.

 

Worldmeets.US is a non-partisan, volunteer-based, nonprofit organization that operates solely in the public interest. The opinions expressed in articles posted by Worldmeets.US are not necessarily those of Worldmeets.US, its sponsors or its volunteers.

 

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HOW THE STORIES ARE CHOSEN

 

There are four criteria Worldmeets.US uses to select articles for translation and posting:

1) All articles must be about the United States.

2) All articles must appear in a foreign newspaper or publication and be written by a national of that nation or region.

3) All articles must show how the author feels toward the United States - its culture, government, history or people.

4) All articles must be interesting [after all, we're not looking to bore you!]

 

HOW THE TRANSLATIONS ARE CHECKED FOR ACCURACY

 

When managing editor William Kern launched his last project, he developed a system that uses online resources coupled with human translators, which results in very accurate translations of news content in all the romance languages, German, Chinese, Russian, Polish, Swedish, Farsi and Arabic. It is a process that requires great tenacity on the part of editors, and a high degree of teamwork between editors and translators.

 

The process of checking the translations utilizes dozens of text translators, dictionaries and reference sites and requires extensive cross-referencing and a determination to correctly portray the intent of the writer. After the translation is checked, the traditional copy-editing begins and articles are fact-checked, headlines and subheads are written and graphic elements, videos and captions are located.

 

HOW THE COPYEDITING IS DONE: 'TRANS-COPYEDITING'

 

The purpose is to correctly portray the intent of the writer and keep the translations as close to the original as possible, so that American and English-speaking readers can see what people around the world are reading and saying about the United States in their daily newspapers. This includes attempting to keep and explain all colloquialisms rather than Americanizing them, keeping the cadence of sentences as close to the original as possible, and through this process, impart to Americans not only the gist of what people abroad are reading about the U.S., but give the people of the United States a glimpse into the way people in other nations express themselves.

 

HOW ARE THE ARTICLES PACKAGED?

 

When finding graphic elements to package these articles with, the intent of the writer is kept fully in mind. For example, if an article from Iraq is critical of American policy, George W. Bush or his administration, graphic elements and cartoons are chosen to reflect that. Conversely, if an article is written praising President Bush and his administration, graphic elements and other media are chosen to coincide with the writer's position.

 

In the case of state-run media, a short paragraph at the beginning cues the reader to the fact that this article most likely reflects the views of the regime and graphic elements are chosen by the editor at his or her discretion - so that the reader can be made aware of the obvious propagandistic nature of the article.

 

DOES WORLDMEETS.US HAVE AN AXE TO GRIND?

 

Our mission is to provide the American people and the English-speaking world with a daily mirror of global public opinion about the United States and be a venue where bridges between ordinary Americans and people around the world can be built and nurtured. We follow the criteria listed above without fear or favor, and show Americans what we find.

 

In terms of the forum we will launch, the purpose will be to encourage average people in and out of the United States to engage in a dialogue on issues great and small, and to develop relationships that go well-beyond the superficial exchanges people normally engage in when for example, they are on vacation in France, Costa Rica or China.