OSINT: Searching the Internet in a Foreign Language (Virtual Course)

Open enrolment and in-house options available

This course is dedicated to helping public and private sector professionals make better use of foreign language content, regardless of their current level of fluency. The course begins with an introduction to the dominant languages on the internet and the types of challenges they present to researchers. From there, we will demonstrate how to set up your desktop and mobile devices to facilitate your efforts. Thereafter, we will elaborate on the principles and process of finding, interpreting and using foreign language content, including in non-Latin alphabets. We will also discuss the many search tools and browser extensions one can use to support one’s work. Overall, we'll help you breach existing language barriers and leverage a richer set of resources as part of your work.

The course is delivered in a single 3.5-hour online session. There are separate iterations of the course for Asian, European, African, and American audiences. Choose the iteration that best suits your time zone (SGT, CET, EST).

There are currently no dates planned for this course. Register your interest for future dates or enquire about in-house options.

Course Outline

Course Outline

Course Preliminaries

  • Browser setup
  • Mobile device setup

Working with Foreign Languages

  • Obstacles and opportunities
  • Language identification techniques
  • Lost in translation: the importance of attention to detail

Search Strategies

  • Research methodology
  • Search tools and strategies
  • Web-based translation platforms and extensions
  • Optical character recognition (OCR) tools
  • International naming practices
  • Research resources and source discovery
  • Case studies
There are currently no dates planned for this course. Register your interest for future dates or enquire about in-house options.

Course Details

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?

This course is intended for anyone wishing to make better use of foreign-language sources on the Internet. The course is recommended for public and private sector professionals, academic researchers, due diligence specialists and online investigators.

HOW YOU BENEFIT

On completion of this course, you will have the ability to:

  • Search the web using different languages
  • Use structured workflows to discover foreign-language content relevant to you
  • Apply a range of tools to tackle the problem of translation and transliteration

WHAT YOU RECEIVE

  • A full set of course slides in PDF
  • An index of recommended tools / resources
  • A course certificate on completion

COURSE FEE

EUR 300

COURSE PREREQUISITES

Proficiency in English and basic knowledge of the Internet suffices.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Please observe the following technical requirements:

  • You will need a desktop or laptop PC (Windows or MacOS)
  • You will need a mobile device with a working camera
  • Install Google’s Chrome browser
  • Install the Google Translate app on your mobile device