Hello Nataliya! Tell us how you discovered Khan Academy as a platform, and then how you started to help with the translation into Bulgarian?
Hello all! Well, it was about two years ago when I started working as a professional translator and I was very eager to discover different projects to work on so I can enhance my skills. I accidentally came across Khan Academy – Bulgaria project via Facebook and instantly thought ‘What a great idea, I love it!’. I reached out to the team and that’s how I got on board.
Why does Bulgaria need Khan Academy?
Frankly, education in Bulgaria has seen better days and students sometimes get lost in all the things they are expected to know. Sometimes they really need a gentle push and some help to reveal their true potential. That’s where Khan Academy steps in.
Is there anything special or specific that people in other countries, especially beyond Europe, would not normally know about the Bulgarian language?
I’ve heard many people say that Bulgarian is an incredibly complicated language and very hard to learn… Besides that, our verbs have gender categories and we have to bear in mind whether we’re talking about he, she or it and conjugate the verb accordingly. We also have different forms of polite address (Вие) and of casual address (ти), something that in English is only expressed by “you”.
Why do you think you will (soon) be successful in bringing free world-class online education to Bulgarian kids?
The Bulgarian team is not very big, but the job we do is really enormous. People are very dedicated, and they work hard for what they believe will be useful to boost our education system. We also have teachers working with us who are willing to check our translations so that there is no misinformation.
Tell us your dream – how do you imagine the education of the future?
Orientated towards the individual. Children have special needs, they are emotional and very creative. Education shouldn’t be batch production aiming at quantity but at quality. Classes and education as a whole should be organized in such a manner so that everyone has the opportunity to get the most of it. There should be a lot more personal touch. Teachers shouldn’t just teach; they should ignite the spark of curiosity.
Any advice for other translators?
Keep up the great job you are doing by creating and translating Khan Academy content! It’s a long-term benefit for young people!