Application (application) offers translated dialogues for refugees from Arabic to Greek for everyday occasions. The communication guide was developed by the non-profit organization “Languages Without Borders”.
This specific digital communication guide (application) for refugees tries to face the obstacles in their daily communication in our country, connecting Arabic with Greek and English.
Using text and audio, the communication guide presents dialogues for 20 situations in which the refugee will need to communicate in Greek or English, such as a visit to the doctor and pharmacy, ordering coffee, discussing issues of age, origin, business or personal interests. In addition, the application connects everyday situations with the relevant vocabulary, so that the user can refer to the words he will need to use.
The communication guide was developed by the non-profit organization “Languages Without Borders” and is available through the website app.lwb.gr but also as an application on android and ios mobiles.
Arabic application in Greek: A tool for refugees
“Interacting with refugee organizations, we have found that lack of communication is one of the most important problems these people face. The question was how to create natural and digital solutions to the language barrier faced by people who come here, who often do not even know how to read in their own language “, explains the computer engineer, Spyros Tsoukalas, one of its founders organization.
That is why an important aspect of the communication guide is the audio recording of the dialogues, so that it is more easy to use for those who cannot read. Mr. Tsoukalas points out that the application is in the pilot phase, it is fully operational, but can be expanded much more depending on the needs and comments of organizations or users. Two of the next steps are to add grammar to the application, but also additional modules, such as transactions with public services. Also, the creators of the application intend to enrich the communication guide with more languages of the refugees, such as Farsi and Kurdish, but also additional European languages.
Application – technological solution to the refugee
However, as he explains, the application is not an educational tool, but a way of connecting two languages (Arabic-Greek). “We wanted a tool that has an educational tone, but we started with the pilot implementation of the communication guide because we do not have the budget for something bigger. “But if we see the need and find the funding, we are open to developing something useful and beneficial to address this gap.”
The non-profit organization “Languages Without Borders” was founded in 2019 by the computer engineer, Spyros Tsoukalas, and the linguist, Nikos Mourouzis, with the aim of offering technological solutions to refugees and other social problems. Last winter, they created the “CoronaSMS” application, with the aim of filling the gap of information and writing of the movement message of the citizens of third countries during the lockdown period.
The communication guide was implemented with funding from the Ionian Bank Cultural Foundation.
source: ΑΠΕ – ΜΠΕ
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