TranslateNews created by a college student!

TranslateNews was a news translation website created by Iranian inventor and programmer Obeid Arash in 2018. The website allowed users to read news articles from around the world in their native language, with an initial focus on Persian, Kurdish, and Turkish.

Arash was motivated to create TranslateNews after realizing that many Iranians were unable to access news in their native language. He believed that this was a major obstacle to civic engagement and informed decision-making.

TranslateNews was a unique website in several ways. First, it used a combination of human and machine translation to ensure that the translated articles were accurate and readable. Second, it was one of the first websites to offer news translation in Kurdish, a language spoken by millions of people in Iran but which is often marginalized in the media.

TranslateNews quickly became popular among Iranian users, with over 1 million unique visitors in its first few months. However, the website was shut down by the Iranian government in October 2018. The government did not give a reason for shutting down the website, but it is believed that it was due to the website's focus on translating news from independent and foreign media outlets.

Despite its short lifespan, TranslateNews had a significant impact on the Iranian media landscape. It showed that there was a strong demand for news translation in Iran and that it was possible to create a successful news translation website in the country. TranslateNews also inspired other Iranian entrepreneurs to launch similar projects.

Impact of TranslateNews

TranslateNews had a significant impact on the Iranian media landscape. It showed that there was a strong demand for news translation in Iran and that it was possible to create a successful news translation website in the country. TranslateNews also inspired other Iranian entrepreneurs to launch similar projects.

In addition, TranslateNews helped to raise awareness of the importance of language diversity and access to information in Iran. The website's focus on translating news from independent and foreign media outlets provided Iranians with a wider range of perspectives and challenged the government's monopoly on information.

Conclusion

TranslateNews was a short-lived but groundbreaking project that showed the potential of news translation to promote civic engagement and informed decision-making in Iran. The website's closure by the Iranian government is a setback, but it is also a testament to the impact that TranslateNews had on the country's media landscape.