At Aavaaz, we strongly believe that technology should be shaped by those who understand its nuances best. In our case, with a core focus on multilingual capabilities, it is essential to call in the experts — linguists, native speakers, community members, and passionate language enthusiasts. It is this focus that conceived Aavaaz Allies, a passionate network of individuals who are as equally passionate about diversity, inclusion, language and global connectivity as we are. An international community of individuals who have graciously volunteered their time to join the Aavaaz mission – in support of driving the meaningful change that will help millions of lives across the globe. One of these incredible community members that Aavaaz has had the privilege of working with is Sara Elsafi, a statistician, language lover, and native Arabic speaker.

With a deep appreciation for both numbers and words, Sara brings a unique perspective to both development and validation phases. Her expertise in statistical analysis, combined with her passion for linguistic accuracy, gives her a sharp eye for identifying where machine translation falls short—and where it has the potential to excel.

In this discussion with CEO & Founder Jasmine Sharma, we hear Sara’s candid thoughts on the use of AI in translation, the challenges of capturing colloquial nuances in Arabic, and how Aavaaz’s approach differs from traditional machine translation tools. Let’s dive into the discussion.

In discussion with Sara Elsafi – Statistician & Language Lover:

Personal & Emotional Connection to Language

1. Can you tell us about a time when language barriers made you feel unheard or misunderstood in a critical situation?

   As I am passionate about languages, cultures and learning, I have always enjoyed meeting new people especially those who are equally as passionate to learn new languages – polyglots. This came from my struggle to communicate in English properly at times, and was something I found a lot of others had struggled with too. In those moments, if your words are not correctly translated or brought to life, it’s very difficult to feel included.

2. How has language shaped your personal and professional life?

   I don’t live in my country anymore, I’m now in a place where people don’t speak my first, native language. This means that language now defines how I live and how I communicate with everyone around me, not only this but my professional life requires language knowledge to be able to communicate properly with others.

3. Before using Aavaaz, what challenges did you face when trying to communicate across languages and across borders?

   I struggled while trying to deliver what I want to say naturally and effortlessly. I found that other AI translators never represented my Sudanese Arabic dialect correctly, especially the slangs or natural terms we typically use.

Experience with Other Machine Translation Tools

1. Have you used other AI translation tools before? If so, what were the biggest frustrations or issues you experienced?

   I was always frustrated by not receiving the required accuracy in terms of dialects and natural way of speaking as we do in my culture and dialect. I had never come across an AI translator that got this correct. Until Aavaaz!

2. Did you ever find translations from other tools inaccurate or unnatural? Can you share an example where it led to confusion or miscommunication?

   Yes - I find that Google Translate and others sometimes do not correctly translate the true context of the sentences, it can be literal rather than the actual conversational meaning, which makes it inaccurate.

3. What was your biggest fear or concern about relying on AI translation before using Aavaaz?

   Previously, because other AI translators are given by big companies, it was concerning to not know it is inaccurate while trusting it blindly! There’s a thought that “Oh because it’s a big company like Google or OpenAI, it must be correct, and I can trust results” – but that is not the case. It wasn’t until seeing the results by Aavaaz that I was able to truly trust and have confidence after seeing how well it works.

How Aavaaz Stands Out

1. The first time you used Aavaaz, what was your immediate reaction? Did anything surprise you?

   I was totally amazed. “How can AI be this accurate and fast?!” I had never seen anything like it. I thought Aavaaz would be the same and I didn’t have high expectations. But they proved me totally wrong.

2. How would you describe the difference between Aavaaz translations and the translations from other machine tools like Google or GPT?

   It is instantaneous and natural sounding. It grabs the speech very well. Also, they go deeper than just basic translation – they include important cultural points and emotion. Beyond this, the other features such as PDF translation and being able to use voice to voice translation in chat rooms is amazing. Aavaaz really tries to solve all of the problems related to language barriers in a way that’s so easy for the user.

3. Aavaaz specializes in translating colloquial and regional dialects. What did you notice in terms of how it specifically understands your language, dialect and cultural nuances?

   ⁠It surprisingly translates into my dialect in a very natural way as we normally speak in daily life situations.

Real-Life Impact & Trust in Aavaaz

1. Has Aavaaz ever helped you in a situation where accurate translation was critical? Can you share that experience?

   While I haven’t used Aavaaz in such a situation yet, I am confident in my use so far that if a critical situation did come up, Aavaaz would not let me down.

2. On a percent score out of 100%, how would you rate your trust in Aavaaz being used for communication with your loved one in a critical situation?

   100%

3. Now, what about the same for if Google Translate is used?

   Hmm, I don’t fully trust it!

4. If Aavaaz disappeared tomorrow and you had to go back to using other AI translators, how would you feel? How would it impact your life?

   I would feel disappointed. Honestly, I’m not sure I even want to imagine going back in time where Aavaaz doesn’t exist!

Aspirational & Future-Focused

1. How has Aavaaz changed the way you communicate or connect with people in different languages?

   It’s made me more comfortable using AI to communicate with others where language barriers exist – it’s allowed me to feel that AI can be trusted and used in situations where I may need to communicate with people in the future.

2. What would you say to someone who is skeptical about trusting AI translation, especially in sensitive situations and conversations?

   Don’t hesitate. I was once in your place, fed up with inaccurate AI translators and now I fully trust Aavaaz!

3. If you could describe Aavaaz in just one word, what would it be and why?

   Innovative. Never came across such a special AI.

Further fueled by Sara’s powerful words, the Aavaaz mission strives to continue innovating and challenging previous misconceptions about the quality of AI-powered translations. With precision, trust and inclusivity at the forefront, the strength in working alongside the community of Aavaaz Allies ensures real user voices are always heard – whether during development, in validation or throughout new product development. That’s the Aavaaz edge.