State Dept. To Translate Cairo Speech Into 13+ Languages

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/multiple-channels-for-obamas-cairo-speech/

Multiple Channels for Obama’s Cairo Speech
By Jeff Zeleny


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – President Obama’s speech to the Muslim world will not only be delivered at Cairo University. It also will be texted and tweeted, as well as highlighted on Facebook, Myspace and a host of other social networking sites.

The White House is taking elaborate steps to multiply the audience – and vastly expand the reach – of the president’s address on Thursday. It will be translated by the State Department into at least 13 different languages and a special Web site has been created in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English for people to receive the speech via text message.

Yes, the administration is taking a page from the playbook of the Obama campaign, which often turned to text messaging and other types of communication to draw people in.

“Welcome to the President Obama Cairo Speech SMS/Text Messaging Service,” said a message on the America.gov Web site. “Be among the first to receive highlights from President Barack Obama’s historic speech.”

The speech will also be Webcast as it happens on the White House Live section of Whitehouse.gov and streamed by the State Department as part of a live Web chat.

The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said that by translating the speech and trying to market it directly to a wide range of people around the world fit with the theme of the president’s address.

“There’s a tremendous amount of outreach,” Mr. Gibbs said. “But it’s important to realize that this is one of many events that a continuing dialogue must happen. This is not a one-time event.”

misconstrue the President's remarks.

...in poorly sourced posts that perpetuate lies.

This is good news on top of the many other good things this administration is doing.

Thanks for the post.

:patriot:

expectations of calming the ME, at least. Win/win. Though, as mentioned above, I do hope they get the translations right. ;)

Is it going to be over by the time we wake up?

The speech will be at 6:10 a.m. ET. The White House says the president plans to remind Muslims of his personal connection to them: His late father was a Muslim from Kenya, and the president spent some of his childhood living in Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population — more than 206 million.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-06-03-obama-muslims_N.htm