Who?

Who are you? What’s Babelverse all about?

Babelverse is something completely new and unique, a movement to break down language barriers around the world. We are bringing interpretation to the masses and harnessing the power of language and human communication to bring the world closer together.

On Babelverse you work remotely, from home, or anywhere really—as long as it's a silent environment with a good connection to the internet. We give you access to a global market and total flexibility and control over your schedule. Now you don’t have to spend time at home waiting for your next assignment, only to then spend time and money on travel and accommodation.

We started Babelverse simply because we needed and wanted something like it ourselves (and then realised we’re not alone!) Like Siegfried Ramler, the chief of interpreting at the Nuremberg trials (where simultaneous interpretation originates) says, “necessity is the mother of invention”. We never set out to create yet another agency, LSP, telephone/video interpreting company, freelancers directory, provider of devices/software, or even to “disrupt the interpreting industry”.

It has become obvious that there’s a trend towards using more technology in interpreting, especially towards doing it remotely, and while we don’t claim to have all the solutions figured out off the bat, we intend to drive innovation forward, and we invite you to join us in creating the future.

Babelverse is also creating a new lifestyle that makes work in cubicles (or booths!) a thing of the past. A lifestyle where both geography and language are no longer barriers. We're here to help you have fun while enabling people to communicate, and still making a good living for yourself.

Who can work on Babelverse? I studied/worked for years to become an interpreter. I also know people who speak several languages fluently. It's not the same!

Babelverse makes a clear distinction between qualified professional interpreters and multilingual people who are interested in helping people communicate.

We do recognise that interpretation is a difficult skill, and that simply speaking two languages isn't nearly enough in many cases (notably for conference interpreting). It requires training, hard work, practice, and arguably even a certain predisposition.

That is why these distinct "Belt levels" on Babelverse are made available to users for different use cases and situations (informal vs. business, helpful vs. critical), and at different rates. This is part of our holistic approach which allows Babelverse for offer the right solution to every type of situation where language barriers get in the way.

Black Belts (professional interpreters with training and/or extensive experience): We have created innovative ways of working made possible by today’s technologies, and also access to a much larger global market made possible by working remotely.

Yellow Belts & Purple Belts (multilingual people): Given our increasingly global and connected lifestyles and the huge challenge inherent in the Babelverse vision to create the “universal translator” (i.e. in every language pair), we also leverage the power of the increasingly large number of multilingual people, to provide a new kind of informal on-the-spot interpretation which is easily accessible and affordable for travellers and glomads of all kinds.

How do you choose and screen interpreters? How do you control quality?

If you’re Black Belt (professional interpreter), you’ll have to provide your credentials, such as diplomas, certificates, resume, association memberships, and recommendations. These will then be verified before you can receive a black-belt assignment on Babelverse.

To preserve the highest quality of service, interpreters are rated by the clients or audience after each assignment. Assignment requests are sent in priority to the highest-rated interpreters.

I already have my own clients. Why should I be on Babelverse?

Babelverse is something you can do in your free time. We encourage you to also continue working with your existing clients, agencies, or institutions.

Babelverse is here to provide a service to clients and users who would otherwise not have access to interpretation, due to a lack of awareness, or the complexity and high costs usually associated. This enables individuals, businesses or organisations around the world – who may only have occasional needs, or who may need an uncommon language pair, or who don’t have any relationships with agencies/freelancers – to quickly and conveniently find and be connected remotely to an interpreter on-demand.

There are of course situations where traditional on-site interpretation may be more convenient or even required, and we are not trying to replace that.

If I work on Babelverse, do I have to sign an exclusive agreement or commit to certain hours or schedules?

We are not an agency and we don’t ask you to sign an exclusivity agreement or any constraining contracts with us. You manage your own time and you can decide what your availability is to work on Babelverse (you can change that at any time in your profile). You remain independent (i.e. not employees of Babelverse).

I'm studying to become an interpreter, but I rarely get the chance to practice in real life situations. Can I do that on Babelverse?

Yes, you can sign up as a Yellow & Purple Belt and practice with some less challenging assignments, working your way up to the Black Belt when you are ready.

For what?

Does Babelverse do remote conference interpreting?

With Babelverse you can now provide simultaneous interpretation without having to be on-site, for both on-site or remote audiences. You can help conferences around the world become accessible to people who would be unable to attend, let alone understand, all from the comfort of your home or office. We have created a remote “virtual booth” for this.

All you need is a silent place and a headset with a microphone plugged into a computer with a good internet connection, where you’ll watch the live video of the conference, and interpret simultaneously, in a similar way as you would in a traditional conference booth.

A remote "booth-mate" can support you remotely and you can easily switch-over with them at any time. For remote conference interpreting we always have at least 2 interpreters per language pair working together.

What about telephone interpreting?

We'll soon be launching a mobile app which will allow people around the world to access an “interpreter in their pocket” whenever they need help with short conversations, such as during their travels, for business or pleasure.

Interpretation requests will automatically be matched with the best available interpreters, who will be instantly alerted on their (smart)phone or laptop. The first to take the request, then and there, will be connected with the client.

Any other uses?

When you come across a video in a foreign language that seems interesting, with no subtitles available, did you ever wish you had an interpreter handy?

Babelverse is pioneering a new way to localise online video – recording live interpretation and making it available as a voice-over. We recently discovered that similar methods have been used before, in Russia under the name Gavrilov, and in Poland the people doing this are called lectors. We’re excited to start opening up a lot of the knowledge available online (such as TED talks, university lectures, and much more) to people who would be unable to understand it, because of language barriers, but also illiteracy or vision impairment.

As an interpreter, you'll soon be able to see a list of videos that have been requested in your languages, and choose to interpret some of them in your spare time. Some videos will be for clients who will pay for the interpretation (by Purple or Black Belts), while others may be for non profit or educational causes.

How?

How does it work? What are the features?

The exact setup and features tend to change every week! We want to provide you with the most easy-to-use, beautiful, and useful tools so you can work in new and innovative ways. For this reason, the platform is in "permanent beta" and may never be considered “finished” but will continue constantly evolving according to feedback from interpreters, clients, and our own experimentation.

How does the scheduling work?

You are in total control of your own schedule, we’ve made it easy for you to manage your own time. You can choose what dates and weekly/daily/hourly slots your are available, and update that at any time in your account. We will then send you interpretation requests that match your language pairs & topics of expertise during those periods.

How do I get assignments?

Currently, you will be notified by email when there’s a request that matches your profile (taking into account your availability, languages, dialects, accents, topics of expertise, previous ratings, etc). You can then choose whether to accept the assignment or ignore it. Please note that a similar notification will be sent to a handful of matched interpreters, so accepting an assignment is on a first-come first-serve basis.

We’re always tweaking this matching system, and developing better tools for this as well, such as a dashboard to see requests and assignments, and a way to get them on your smartphone.

What are the conditions for remote conference interpreting?

We know that preparation is key to providing a quality service, and do our best to educate event organisers to schedule and set up their conference to provide the best environment. Our minimum requirements include all speakers using individual microphones, and shown on a live video feed, and we strive to obtain speakers’ information, projection slides, and any prepared speeches in advance.

We require interpreters to work from a silent place, using headsets & microphones for quality sound, and provide them with clear technical requirements and usage guides. We frequently conduct 1 on 1 technical tests with the scheduled interpreters before an assignment to make sure that we can cover all the potential technical issues.

Do I get a booth mate? How long am I expected to interpret?

We recognise the huge mental focus and energy required for simultaneous interpreting, and as such the value in having a remote booth mate and we schedule at least 2 interpreters per language. The virtual booth environment we have developed helps them collaborate remotely, such as notetaking, monitoring that the active interpreter is being heard, and switching seamlessly with each other at any time (typically about every 30 minutes - you can coordinate with each other). When two booth mates have gotten along well and collaborated effectively, they can indicate that, which will be taken into account for future gigs.

What about technical aspects?

Babelverse is based on using standard devices and internet connections (or phone lines in some cases).

While the transmission quality of sound & video may not be on the same level as specialised hardware and dedicated satellite links (and obviously physical presence), that keeps costs low, which allows us to offer affordable prices to many clients who would otherwise be excluded or not even consider using interpreters. With the speed of technological progress (see Moore’s law), we are confident that this will only keep improving, and are constantly testing & developing new tools and techniques to utilise technological advances.

Note that while our tools are built with consumer-grade technology, we don't usually use off-the-shelf apps like Skype, WebEx, etc – we instead develop bespoke tools and infrastructure specifically for interpretation, based on similar underlying technologies, but also with even more cutting edge ones (such as WebRTC).

Does the platform conform to industry standards?

Remote interpreting over the web is very new. While we appreciate the value of industry associations and standards, innovation is not something that comes from committees.

We understand that our startup approach of "permanent beta" and "move fast and break things" is something that is not habitual for most professional interpreters, and may in fact seem "not professional" to some. But it's in this kind of environment – comparable to an experimental research lab – that innovation can occur.

That said, we love feedback! We often speak with industry representatives when the opportunity arises, and we look forward to being involved in the maturation of this industry in the future. Get in touch...

How much?

Who sets the rates? How much will I get paid?

The rates are set by Babelverse, in order to preserve a high quality of interpretation and professional service on Babelverse, and avoiding underbidding and low quality.

Our unique "fair trade" approach is about finding the sweet spot between affordability (for customers) and fair income (for the interpreters). That is why we are completely transparent with regards to both what the client pays, and what the interpreters receive.

We have developed a formula which calculates a distinct rate for every language combination, taking into account the cost of living and purchasing power of the speakers of those languages around the world. The rates also vary according to the use case and tier of service (belt level).

To see it in action and calculate rates, see the Babelverse Rates page

How do you make money?

In the early days of Babelverse Project, we said that the split would be would be 70-30 (interpreters receiving 70% of what the client pays for interpretation), and have stuck to this, putting much thought and effort into our rates and variable costs to make this work.

30% of what the client pays goes to Babelverse to cover connection/infrastructure costs, most payment fees, and of course to support the team who is running, developing and growing the service.

How long after an assignment will I get paid?

Every time you interpret on Babelverse, your account will accrue a credit balance. When your balance adds up to a set threshold ($10 USD or equivalent in your currency), you will be alerted and be able to directly withdraw your earnings to your PayPal account.

What payment methods and currencies do you support? What about fees?

For now we use PayPal to process payments because it is widely used internationally. We're testing some other payment systems that will allow more flexibility and we need feedback from you to figure out which payments methods work best, so please contact us and share your suggestions.

When we send you a payment using one of our officially supported methods and currencies (currently PayPal in USD, EUR, or GBP), Babelverse will cover the fees. If you request another payment system or currency, you may incur exchange rates and/or 3rd party fees.

Social impact

Can I volunteer through Babelverse?

Yes, we will provide you with volunteering opportunities in your languages and areas of expertise when available.

Are you interested in helping people and potentially saving lives? When there is a natural disaster or other emergency crisis anywhere in the world, you can volunteer to help the organisations doing disaster relief in the affected area.

Are you also interested in making a difference in the world? We partner with nonprofit organisations around the world that are working on important humanitarian causes.

It is of course up to you whether you take on an assignment. Volunteering can help you be a better interpreter, prepare you for future challenges, and gives you the chance to help others in need!

Crisis response? What about if comms are down?

Infrastructure and connectivity can be a challenge (and that actually applies to other Babelverse use cases too). This is something we've had in mind from the beginning, and for that reason our platform includes telephonic fallback for when there's no internet, which could be accessed via satellite phones, or check out what our friends at Tethr are doing for example).