RIP-20: requesting monthly budget for Chinese translation of Rome communications

Moving this RIP to snapshot following discussion on:

1. https://forum.romedao.finance/t/rip-20-requesting-monthly-budget-for-chinese-translation-of-rome-communications/483
2. https://forum.romedao.finance/t/rfc-request-for-budget-for-chinese-translation-of-rome-articles-announcements/472
3. https://discord.com/channels/872472403970768916/893820980085006396/974702425392959569

Before you read this proposal, one of the common question raised was why don't we go with 'cheaper' options like hiring translators on Fivers and why we need two of them, please see my explanation here: https://forum.romedao.finance/t/rip-20-requesting-monthly-budget-for-chinese-translation-of-rome-communications/483/3

Update to proposal:

• added a 6 months timeframe to the monthly payroll, after that will be subject to reevaluation by the community whether it’s worth extending or not.

• creating an unofficial Twitter account for the Chinese community where translated content will be posted alongside Discord thread and Wechat (note: members in Mainland China do not need VPN to access our Wechat channel, so by posting translation there as well make it easier for them)

Summary :

Propose to provide monthly compensation for two community members (StormG#9999 and sylphyccc#7877) who has been volunteering to provide Chinese translation since early days of the project. The scope of work will include articles /announcements /tweets /wiki, etc in order to keep the Chinese community informed and engaged, as well as to attract new members.

Budget / compensation: equivalent of $400USD monthly ($200USD for each translator) starting from the month of June 2022.

Motivation :

StormG#9999 and sylphyccc#7877 are currently the last standing translators who had been volunteering to provide translation of ROME articles to serve their community.

Their work can be found on: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/mp/appmsgalbum?__biz=MzUzNzk0Mzg4OQ==&action=getalbum&album_id=2104100759909777410&scene=173&from_msgid=2247483822&from_itemidx=1&count=3&nolastread=1#wechat_redirect

See screenshot for viewership of early articles translated

As of lately, only Chinese translation kept continue on considering it’s community remain as one of the largest / most active compare to other non-English speaking communities in ROME. (In fact, the Chinese language thread under #multilingual has been the ONLY thread that has never been archived ever since the transition from language channels to threads)

There is also an unofficial Chinese channel on WeChat currently with close to 200 members where the translations are also shared.

In addition, considering the changing of newsletter (I.e. State of the Republic) frequency from monthly to weekly, I believe it is fair to start compensating for their work in order to keep them going / motivated.

Based on experience, relying on machine translation result in quality issues (e.g. some terminology/meaning got lost in translation), hence at least two translators are needed, one for the initial draft, and another for quality assurance / proofreading / formatting / posting. (Also for the purpose of back up and timely translation in case of issues with one’s availability)

Execution :

I (asathoro#2466, aka Thor of Æsir) will continue to take up the task of coordinating with the translators mentioned and deciding which materials need to be translated (if not all). At the minimum, tweets, wiki and all weekly newsletters will be translated.

Should the scope of work decreases OR staffing needs to be replaced in the future, I hereby ask the community to entrust me to exercise judgement diligently in deciding the fair level of compensation and selection of new candidates without the need to raise another RIP AS LONG AS THE BUDGET DOES NOT EXCEED $400USD per month for the mentioned work, with this being said, related changes/decisions will be announced on discord’s channel/thread accordingly.

On the other hand, should the scope of work increases in the future (e.g. translation of in-game materials) OR for any other reasons that warrant for additional budget/compensation (e.g. increase in workload, change in operating model of translation work, increase number of languages, etc), another RFC/RIP will be raised.

More caveats can be found on https://forum.romedao.finance/t/rfc-request-for-budget-for-chinese-translation-of-rome-articles-announcements/472

P.s. it is important to note that this proposal is purely coming from me as the coordinator for the translation work as I believe its fair to start compensating them, not a request from the two translators as there’s been no complaint from them @ all, in fact I understand they strive to continue their work regardless, so this is more of a pitch to offer them a token of appreciation as a gesture of good faith to keep them motivated, while also increasing the amount and frequency of work they do to better serve the community.

Thank you all for your time and consideration.