Translating from “TLDR” to “Amazing!”

(Note to older readers like myself — TLDR stands for “Too Long. Didn’t Read” in Reddit lingo)

We normally think of translations as taking content from one language to another. What about simplification or synthesizing content? Isn’t that also a form of translation? Making content that was unintelligible simple and digestible can be an even bigger challenge than translating a paper from English to Japanese. With withering public attention spans (a 2015 Yahoo! study claims that our attention spans have dropped by a third since 2000) perhaps this is the final frontier for content creators and publishers.

We see this already taking place through several forms of adaptations, such as famous authors adapted into children’s stories, complex concepts adapted into for guides “for Dummies,” tweets, and article lengths optimized for SEO. But what if this concept got taken to a whole other level?

There are hundreds of countries where the literacy rate and the lack of translated content makes it prohibitive for a large chunk of the population to access rich content that could potentially impact their character, moral fiber, professional capacity, skill set and other aspects that could have a determining role in how their future plays out.

Having the possibility of getting content translated to where it was not available previously, opens up access to education on a global level. But what if we take this one step further and think about adapting more content- precious content- that was written ages ago? Examples such as Homer’s Iliad or Plato’s Symposium, or The Confessions by Saint Augustine have become opaque or difficult to grasp due to their discourse; references that are no longer immediately understood. In an age where people no longer have the time, patience or discipline to read beyond a couple of lines of text or a tweet, textual adaptation as a form of translation can be an interesting way to keep the ancient wisdom fresh and accessible.

We could have Plato for first graders, or Hippocrates for middle schoolers. And while one may argue the immensity that is lost through this textual adaptation, the question remains: is it not better to lose much of the content rather than be left with none of it at all?

While we run the risk of enabling and further encouraging intellectual debilitation through this form of translation, this may be a final way of saving our heritage.