Yeeyan.com

Yeeyan.com now has about 100 thousand registered users and has translated more than 40 thousand foreign articles into 100 million Chinese characters since its founding in 2007.

Internet professional Zhao Jiamin is the co-founder.

"We saw many excellent professional IT articles while we were working in the United States. We hoped more Chinese IT people can see these articles, so we decided to translate them and put them on a blog."

As more volunteers join Yeeyan, the blog has grown into an independent website and the topics have expanded from IT to society, economy and culture.

A volunteer named Romulus has translated more than 20 articles for Yeeyan.

"During the May 12th earthquake period, Yeeyan was calling for volunteers to translate earthquake aid articles. My English was very poor at that time, but I really wanted to help. So I translated one article and published it. Many people read my work, and some even complimented me. It gave me the courage and confidence to go on."

Romulus has a stable income as a software salesman. He says he does not translate for money.

"My English has improved as many volunteers have commented on my work and given me advice. And I feel happy to see that others are concerned about my work. My social value has been realized."

Thanks to the massive participation, Yeeyan has a wider range of topics and is sometimes faster than traditional media when it comes to providing translations of articles.

But its translation quality cannot be guaranteed, and it has problems with those who copy and post translations from other sources.

Wang Yixin is Yeeyan's marketing director.

"Now we have started to cooperate with major western traditional media, including "The Guardian" and "The Daily Telegraph." But they have high standards for their translations, so only eligible users are allowed to translate their articles."

Although Yeeyan was established as a nonprofit organization to benefit and inform the general public, it has become a partially commercialized website.

There are advertisements on Yeeyan's home page, and its partners such as "The Guardian" pay for its services.

Wang Yixin, Yeeyan's marketing director, says while the website must earn money to maintain its equipment and staff, it will never abandon its commitment to providing free translation services to the public.

For China Drive I am Zhao Kun.