Microsoft Releases Haitian Creole Translator for Haiti Aid Workers
Its been amazing to see the world community mobilize against the disaster in Haiti. There isn’t a day that goes by where I see, hear, or read an amazing story about survival and philanthropy. Microsoft has done a lot in this area to help.
“Since we first heard news of the tragedy in Haiti, there has been a remarkable outpouring of support from Microsoft employees. In the U.S. alone , about 4,300 employees have made contributions totaling approximately $800,000 ($1.6 million with corporate match). This is in addition to the incredible generosity that we are seeing from employees around the world. Beyond this direct monetary support, many employees have found ways to help with relief efforts by joining together to collect donations and increase awareness. Additionally, two employees were on the ground in Haiti working as volunteers with rescue and relief organizations.”
Lisa Brummel - Senior Vice President of Human Resources – Microsoft
What has been especially surprising outside of the monetary contribution, Microsoft is using their technology to improve the relief effort namely in areas of electronic communications and translations. Bing Translator has introduced Haitian Creole, a language that many probably haven’t had a need to translate until recently. As core infrastructure and telecommunications is solidified, machine translation will serve as an important tool for many foreign aid workers.