Communication barriers often lie at the heart of many challenges related to sustainable development. In a move towards breaking down these barriers, Localazy, the Czech localization platform, has unveiled its groundbreaking initiative: the Climate Strings Initiative. This innovative endeavor seeks to unite a global community of linguists, translators, and developers in a shared mission to populate an open-source repository of sustainability-related content in over 90 languages. Aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals program, the Climate Strings Initiative is a game-changer in the fight against climate change, offering a solution to linguistic disparities while fostering global sustainability. In this article, we delve into the significance and impact of this initiative, emphasizing its potential to revolutionize the way we address climate challenges.
The Climate Strings Initiative, aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals program, aims to connect translators, localizers, and linguists all over the world to populate an open-sourced repository of sustainability-related strings in +90 languages. This repository, currently available on GitHub, is open for developers, researchers, and startups to utilize in their initiatives against climate change. Its primary goal is to overcome language barriers that hinder effective global action against the climate emergency. Simultaneously, it provides valuable linguistic resources to countries with lower purchasing power parity, making sustainability accessible to all.
Localazy invites native speakers and linguists to join this non-profit initiative in a concerted effort to democratize access to sustainability resources. This inclusive approach could yield significant benefits for businesses and the environment. Jakub Dubec, Localazy's CMO, highlights the potential short-term impact of the initiative: "Improved access to research results and software tools. For example, innovative tech startups can expand faster to various regions and provide their solutions in the native language of their users if they have access to a well-built term repository. This has proven to improve end-user experience and increase return on investment, as the tools can be utilized by more customers."
While experts from every corner of the globe are welcomed, special attention is being directed toward African dialects and languages, such as Masai, Hausa, Swahili, or Tiv, where linguistic resources are scarce compared to well-established Western languages. The repository includes over 40 entries dedicated exclusively to African linguistic variations, along with diverse forms of Arabic, Asian, and Slavic languages, as well as mainstream languages like English, Spanish, French, German, or Chinese. This initiative marks Localazy's commitment to supporting the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, with the ultimate aim of empowering changemakers worldwide to address critical issues beyond climate change through the power of language and communication.
In the mid-term, the Climate Strings Initiative is much more than just a pilot project—it's a stepping stone to propel other Sustainable Development Goals endorsed by the United Nations. Localazy is already actively developing a series of additional climate-related projects, including a groundbreaking initiative that promotes localization as a cost-effective, scalable, and impactful solution in the agricultural sector. Notably, Localazy's commitment to sustainability extends beyond its initiatives; it operates on an infrastructure hosted in one of Europe's most energy and water-efficient data centers. With a fully remote team, Localazy serves a diverse range of net-positive companies and community projects dedicated to sustainability goals.
Localazy, founded in the Czech Republic in 2020, is a software localization startup that has revolutionized the localization and internationalization landscape for businesses of all sizes and global communities. Today, it operates across North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe, with an expert international team spanning various countries. Countless renowned brands and innovators, such as ROUVY, Plastic Bank, Donar Online, or CARE, have benefited from Localazy's localization software, impacting nearly 500 million people globally.
