Afaf Mahi

Muslim, Student

I'm Afaf, a 19-year-old translation student from Naâma, Algeria. I study Arabic, French, and English, and I’m interested in how language can connect people across different cultures and experiences. Outside of my studies, I enjoy writing poetry, sketching, and exploring creative ideas through small art projects. I’m also interested in literature and psychology, especially the way people express meaning in different form , I believe translation is more than converting words. It’s about understanding people and helping ideas travel clearly between worlds and languages.

I’m inspired by the idea that each of us carries a small “verse” of the human story, something only we can add in our own way. For me, that verse has taken shape through translation. I’ve always been drawn to the spaces between languages, where meaning is not just transferred but reimagined. I once came across a line of thought in Dead Poets Society that stayed with me: that while some things are necessary for living, it is language, beauty, and expression that give life its depth. I think that idea shaped the way I see my path. I want to translate not just words, but the kind of meaning that makes people feel connected across cultures.

I believe that the greatest tragedy in the world is a story that goes untold because of a language barrier. In quiet corners of the world, silence is often forced upon dreamers, erasing their identities. My idea is that translation is an act of reclamation by giving words to those who have been silenced, we aren't just changing languages; we are giving people back their voices and their right to exist in the global conversation

I’m a 19-year-old translation student in my second year at university in Algeria, living in Naâma, where life feels quiet on the surface but loud inside my head. I move between Arabic, French, and English like I’m crossing invisible bridges all day long, and Spanish is waiting somewhere ahead of me like a promise I haven’t stepped into yet. I’ve learned that when you live far from the places where things “happen,” you start building your own classroom. For me, the digital world became that space, a place where distance doesn’t cancel ambition. My TED story isn’t about having everything figured out, it’s about resisting the feeling that I should shrink just because my environment is still and small. I use translation almost like a way of refusing silence, turning what I feel and think into something that can travel, even if I can’t. Outside of university, I exist in that in-between space of poetry, psychology, films that stay in my head too long, and random journal pages that feel like conversations with myself. I’m trying to rebuild after setbacks, focus on my studies, and slowly get better at the languages I love, especially French grammar, even when it feels frustrating. But underneath all of that, there’s this constant urge to understand people, stories, and emotions as if everything around me is something waiting to be interpreted. Joining TED Translators feels like my way of stepping into a bigger conversation. Not because I already belong there, but because I want to prove that even from a quiet place like mine, a girl who thinks too much and writes too much can still turn words into connection. I don’t see translation as just a skill, I see it as a way of carrying meaning across distances, and maybe even carrying myself out of the limits I grew up inside cause being with TED makes me feel included .

Beyond my academic studies, I am a creator at heart. I am an aspiring poet and artist who finds peace in sketching and digital journaling. I also have a deep love for the practical arts; I am a self-taught hair stylist and coloris a skill I often use to help my family express their own styles. Whether it’s through the precision of cutting hair, the patience required for babysitting, or the creativity of cooking, I find joy in the 'art of care' and the beauty of DIY transformation