World Translation Month: Help Us Make Coding Education Accessible to All
As developers, we understand the power of code to solve problems and build solutions. But for millions around the world, the opportunity to learn coding skills remains out of reach–blocked by language barriers and a lack of accessible learning resources.
At freeCodeCamp, our mission is to help anyone, anywhere learn to code for free. Today, English is the de facto language of programming and technical content. Yet of the world‘s 7.8 billion people, only 1.5 billion speak English–and far fewer are proficient enough to learn complex technical concepts in English.
We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to learn coding skills, regardless of their native language or country of origin. That‘s why we‘re on a mission to make our curriculum and community resources accessible in every major language worldwide.
And this month, we‘re accelerating these efforts with World Translation Month (WTM). Throughout September, we‘re calling on our global community to help translate freeCodeCamp and make coding education more accessible to all. Here‘s how you can get involved.
The Importance of Translation in Tech
The language barriers in tech are immense. An estimated 60% of online content is in English, while the next most common languages–Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and Persian–only account for 26.9% of websites.
For those looking to learn in-demand technical skills, the linguistic barriers are even higher. On freeCodeCamp‘s popular YouTube channel for coding tutorials, only 33% of the audience comes from majority-English speaking countries.
And in a 2020 Stack Overflow survey, nearly 45% of professional developers reported that English is not their native language. For this sizeable portion of the developer community, it can be difficult and frustrating to keep up with documentation, tutorials, and new technologies only available in English.
Without access to native language learning resources, aspiring developers face the compounded challenge of mastering both programming syntax and English simultaneously. Many end up spending years to gain English proficiency before they can even begin learning to code.
At the same time, there is a growing acknowledgement that the tech industry needs to prioritize diversity and inclusion. Linguistic diversity is an important part of this equation. By providing coding education in a wider range of languages, we can empower more people from non-English backgrounds to enter the field–and bring their valuable perspectives and experiences with them.
The State of freeCodeCamp‘s Translations
Thankfully, a incredible community of volunteers have stepped up to help us break down these language barriers. Since 2016, hundreds of contributors have worked to translate freeCodeCamp‘s curriculum, articles, and videos into over 30 world languages.
To date, our translation efforts have focused on three main areas:
1. Curriculum
The core of freeCodeCamp is our coding curriculum, which includes 10 developer certifications covering over 3,000 hours of interactive tutorials and projects. Thanks to volunteer translators, this curriculum is now partially or fully available in 16 languages, including:
| Language | % Curriculum Translated |
|---|---|
| Chinese (Simplified) | 100% |
| Spanish | 64% |
| Italian | 61% |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | 60% |
| Ukrainian | 51% |
| Japanese | 50% |
| German | 24% |
| Romanian | 16% |
| French | 7% |
In total, nearly 80% of our curriculum content is now available in at least one non-English language–and we‘re continually adding support for new languages.
2. Documentation
To support our curriculum, we also maintain extensive contributor documentation. These resources provide guidance on everything from setting up a local development environment to submitting curriculum improvements.
Volunteer translators have made our core documentation available in 5 languages so far:
- Chinese (Simplified)
- Italian
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Spanish
- Ukrainian
Having contributor resources in native languages empowers more people to get involved in building and improving freeCodeCamp. We aim to make all freeCodeCamp‘s documentation available in the same languages as our curriculum.
3. News and Resources
Beyond our core curriculum, freeCodeCamp also publishes daily articles and tutorials on a variety of programming topics. Our global publishing team includes writers and translators who create both original and translated content for these language-specific publications.
So far, we have published over 500 articles in 4 non-English languages:
| Language | # Articles |
|---|---|
| Chinese | 235 |
| Portuguese | 141 |
| Spanish | 116 |
| Italian | 63 |
These localized publications give learners access to a wider range of learning resources to supplement their studies. They also provide opportunities for local contributors to share their expertise and perspective with their language communities.
Additionally, freeCodeCamp maintains an active YouTube channel with over 500 video courses and tutorials. So far, our volunteer contributors have added subtitles in 8 languages:
- Arabic
- Bengali
- Chinese
- Hindi
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Spanish
- Urdu
Thanks to volunteer translators, nearly half of our video library is now accessible to non-native English speakers. And we‘re continually working to expand language support.
Get Involved with World Translation Month
Our goal for World Translation Month is to double the number of active translators in our community and make significant progress on translating our remaining curriculum and content. We have big goals–and we need your help to achieve them.
Here are some ways you can get involved:
1. Become a Translator
If you‘re fluent in English and another language, you can help translate our curriculum, documentation, and articles. To get started:
- Create an account on our translation platform
- Choose your language and start translating lessons, challenges, or articles
- Submit your translations for review by a proofreader
No coding experience is required, and you can contribute as much or as little as you‘d like. Every contribution helps make freeCodeCamp more accessible.
2. Become a Proofreader
If you‘re a more experienced translator, you can help review and approve submitted translations. Proofreaders play a critical role in ensuring translation quality. To apply:
- Complete the translator registration process above
- Review our proofreader guidelines
- Reach out to our staff to request proofreader access
As a proofreader, you‘ll provide feedback to translators and ensure our content meets freeCodeCamp‘s quality standards.
3. Spread the Word
Even if you‘re not multilingual yourself, you can still support World Translation Month by spreading the word. If you know someone who might be interested in translating, share this article and encourage them to get involved. You can also follow @freeCodeCamp on Twitter to retweet translation updates and opportunities throughout the month.
The Future Is Polyglot
Looking ahead, our goal is to make freeCodeCamp fully functional and autonomous in every language we support. We envision each language community having:
- A fully translated curriculum
- Native language articles and tutorials
- Local study groups and events
- Dedicated social media and community forums
- Language-specific swag and branding
Essentially, we aim to replicate the freeCodeCamp experience in every language, while respecting the unique needs and identity of each community. We believe this localized approach will help us scale coding education in a culturally-responsive way.
From a technical perspective, we are also investing in better tooling and infrastructure to support translations at scale. This includes:
- A translation management system to streamline workflow and collaboration
- Automated proofreading and quality assurance checks
- Enhanced integration between our learning platform and translated content
By removing manual work and inefficiencies in our translation pipeline, we aim to make it faster and easier for contributors to localize freeCodeCamp.
Longer-term, our vision is to empower non-English speakers to code in their native language as well. While English is the predominant language used in programming today, we foresee a future where more languages are represented in code.
To support this, we plan to eventually offer translated versions of our interactive coding challenges–allowing learners to solve them in their preferred language. We are also exploring multilingual programming resources and integrating popular non-English coding tools into our curriculum.
Join the Movement
World Translation Month may only last 30 days. But our mission to make coding education accessible to all continues year-round. If you share our vision for a more inclusive, multilingual tech industry, we invite you to join our translation community today.
No matter your language skills or tech experience, there are opportunities to get involved and make an impact. Let‘s work together to break down language barriers and build a more diverse, equitable, and accessible future for tech.
Thank you for supporting freeCodeCamp. Happy translating!