London Met Translation students have translated a sexual health campaigning website into eight languages, to ensure equal access to key information and basic health rights.
Date: 18 June 2020
London Met’s second year BA Translation students have undertaken a major translation project to bring vital sexual health information to people of different language backgrounds and cultures.
Under the supervision of Dr Piero Toto, Senior Lecturer in Translation, and with the help of both MA Translation students and colleagues, the students have translated and localised the website Long Time No Syphilis into eight languages: Arabic, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Polish and Russian.
Long Time No Syphilis is a sexual health website from not-for-profit organisation The Love Tank. Its aim is to educate about syphilis, its symptoms, prevention and treatment. It was developed by the innovators behind PrEPster, the UK PrEP awareness programme educating and advocating for PrEP - an HIV prevention drug - in England and beyond. They are committed to making sure that those who are most likely to get syphilis know about its symptoms, how it is prevented, how to treat it and where to go for testing and treatment.
Dr Piero Toto said: “This project was a great opportunity for students to learn about sexual health matters, confront the limits of their language when it came to inclusivity as well as grow professionally while giving back to the communities they belong to.
“This new collaboration between The Love Tank and the Translation BA students from London Met highlights once again the active role translation and translators have in society in ensuring equal access to key information and basic health rights.”
Dr Will Nutland, from The Love Tank, added: "Once again we are delighted to have worked with Dr Toto and the students at London Met. Students met the translation challenge head-on, with professionalism, enthusiasm and humour. This partnership is a win: win: win - students get experience of working on a live translation project, they get to learn about sexual health, and tens of thousands more people in our target groups get to know more about syphilis in a language other than English."
