Deutsche Welle—a German broadcaster that was among the first to have a web presence way back in 1994—celebrates the 20th anniversary of that presence by doing something… rather unique. See their press release below to learn just what they’re up to:
Deutsche Welle reporting live from Westeros
Deutsche Welle (DW) Director General Peter Limbourg sees the need for reliable information on the current conflicts in “Game of Thrones”. Users worldwide have also been called out to help DW develop “Valyrian” and “Dothraki” as official DW languages.
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of DW’s first website, Germany’s international broadcaster has expanded its online reporting to include the continents Westeros and Essos. The focus should specifically deal with the current conflicts that have been made public on the series “Game of Thrones”. Limbourg sees DW’s role as being a reliable source of information: “The international bestseller from George R.R. Martin presents a multifaceted albeit notoriously subjective view of the events. The TV series from HBO is a global phenomena â`“ but the standard of reporting leaves a lot to be desired.”
DW has been a trusted source of news and information for more than 60 years. It has become a tradition at DW to use extraordinary anniversaries to provide a tongue-in-cheek look at what “worldwide” actually means. To celebrate 10 years online in 2004, DW expanded its range of online content to include the Klingon language.
Starting today, the new online special answers the most pressing questions from “Game of Thrones” at www.dw.de/game-of-thrones. Like what qualifies the Night’s Watch to be the arctic special forces? And what secrets are lost in a raven-based communications system?
In order to provide information among new target audiences requires certain linguistic skills. In the world of “Game of Thrones”, the most used languages are “Valyrian” and “Dothraki”. But these have just recently been made public here. New words are discovered and deciphered each day, with new rules and dialects that are discussed by fans.
“It’s that type of diversity that we want to highlight here,” says Limbourg. “That’s why you won’t find any complete articles in Valyrian and Dothraki, but rather interactive translation pages. Piece for piece, we will be completing a new version of the website and everyone can take part.”
DW has been online since 1994. It was the first German public broadcaster to go online and even outpaced international competitors like the BBC by three years. Today, dw.de is available in 30 languages â`“ not including Valyrian and Dothraki â`“ and has 33 million unique visitors per month.