The Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands sent an open letter to Google, requesting that they add Faroese to Google Translate. Google ignored that letter.

This meant that, we were faced with a problem we had to solve on our own. We developed a copy of Google Translate, albeit with one major difference. Instead of getting back an auto-generated translation, you get a film in which a Faroese volunteer translates the text you entered; the world’s first LIVE video translation system.

The films are stored in a database which continues to grow with every new translation. Naturally, users who enter a text that has been translated before are shown the film that was made for that translation.

The system automatically – and somewhat paradoxically – uses Google Translate to translate all the users’ texts into English, meaning the Faroese translators get Russian and Chinese translation requests delivered in English.

FaroeIslandstranslate.com looks like Google translate, only people get live video translations instead of text. Below the textboxes is a gallery of video translations that automatically adjust to fit what a person requested to be translated.

When a translation is requested, the request is automatically translated into English using Google Translate so the volunteers can understand the request. The request is sent to an app that can only be accessed in the Faroe Islands and push notifications are sent to online volunteers. The translators then make the video translations with the camera in their mobile phone.

After the video translations have been made they are automatically translated into 26 different languages and uploaded to the gallery and to YouTube.

The users can get their translations sent to their e-mail and sign up to an e-mail flow with films about the Faroese culture and language.

The PR initiative achieved a global reach of 1.4 billion people distributed across more than 200 stories/articles in the news media. Faroe Islands Translate has approx. 611,000 mentions online, and the estimated PR value amounts to DKK 150 million.

The system generated over 1.3 million translations for people in 181 different countries, and 41% of the total population of the Faroe Islands were involved in the campaign.

The number of visitors to the Faroe Islands from the 4th of October to today, measured through airport users, has increased by 29% compared to the previous year.

Finally – and perhaps best of all – the massive international news coverage and interest was enough to get Google’s attention. We are now working together to add Faroese to Google Translate. 

All the film translations are still available online, meaning that people will always be able to experience the Faroese language on FaroeIslandsTranslate.com