Opening the doors to learning

<center class="t091105">(Source: China Daily)

Subtitling lectures from top universities in the United States and elsewhere means open courseware is available to all, Lulu Tsao reports

Yale professor Shelly Kagan doesn't speak Chinese, but thanks to online subtitling groups, thousands of Chinese students can now listen to Kagan's lectures. Over the past few months, China's top-ranked volunteer translation group, YYeTs, has subtitled 10 of Yale University's Open Courses for viewers to download for free, including Kagan's philosophy class on death.

Open courseware, which includes video lectures, assignments, and other materials from university classes, is available to anyone with an Internet connection. While people no longer have to be on campus to watch the lectures, a language barrier remains for non-English speakers.

Volunteer translation, or "crowdsourcing", is one solution that is increasingly popular in China, with Kagan's course receiving over 10,000 visitors per day.

Grateful viewers have applauded the translators for their dedication and hard work.

"This is a cause which will benefit mankind!" reads one online comment.

YYeTs has traditionally translated US TV shows like CSI and Gray's Anatomy, but Fang Si, an English editor who joined the group in 2008, explains that they started the Open Yale Courses project because so many of their users are students.

With this new project, the group is channeling its experience and passion for translating American entertainment.

"For us, it is a dream and a hobby. We can earn money through other ways, even translation work, but it doesn't give the same sense of achievement," Fang says.


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