The 78-year-old newspaper is using AI-powered translation to create its digital English edition.

‘Le Monde’ launched a new English language digital edition on Thursday, April 7, comprising translated versions of a diverse selection of articles produced by its editorial team. It marks an effort to broad-base and grow the paper’s subscription base, as well as offer “a French and European vision of current events to the English-speaking world.” The paper will use AI for translation from French to English. (Le Monde)

Le Monde and English

English pieces started to appear in Le Monde in 2015. Two articles appeared in connection with the paper’s SwissLeaks investigation into an international tax evasion scheme by an HSBC subsidiary.

Thereafter, the paper started publishing a varied selection of editorial content in English its website.

In January, an English column titled “The French Test,” written by Gilles Paris, commenced publishing from Monday through Saturday. Around this time, the paper started assembling a team for its English version.

The eight-member group now selects articles for translation, which is performed by international agencies using an AI tool.

These translations are then edited by native English-speaking journalists.

Goal: One million subscribers by 2025

Le Monde is targeting a subscriber base of one million by 2025.

“With this investment, our ambition is to extend the growth of our digital subscriber portfolio and to ensure that our international audience will eventually reach nearly a quarter of all our subscribers,” said Louis Dreyfus, chairman of the company’s board of directors.

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Image Credit: LeMonde