While we in the translation industry have already claimed this day on the Feast of Saint Jerome, the patron saint of translators – a Christian scholar and priest who was the first person to translate the Bible from Hebrew into Latin, it is an important milestone of honor to have this official recognition by the United Nations.

This declaration is much broader and deeper than simply respect for translators. “This resolution is about the underappreciated role of language in the life of our human society,” emphasized Andrei Dapkiunas, Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations.

International Translation Day has been promoted since 1953 by the International Federation of Translators, an international grouping of associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists with more than 100 professional associations affiliated across 55 countries.

The profession has transformed into an indispensable asset since those early days. Effective crisis communication and cross-cultural awareness have been triangulated and massaged for borderless audiences.  

Let’s look at some translations that have impacted history:

• The Bible - In 382 AD, Pope Damasus I commissioned St. Jerome to translate the Old and New Testaments into Latin from the original texts. For a thousand years, it was the only version of the Bible that most Christians ever encountered. The historical consequences are immeasurable.

• Greek philosophy - In the 8th century, a period of time when Europe and the Byzantine Empire had almost forgotten philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle and Plato, the Abbasid dynasty commissioned Arabic translations of the Greek scholars’ work, helping to preserve and share the knowledge across the Arabic world.

• Mars - In 1877, Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli began mapping the surface of Mars, which he referred to as canali. Canali was translated as “canals” by the English-speaking astronomy community, which implied advanced Martian civilization, inspiring early science fiction genre - H G Wells’ War of the Worlds, and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars.

• US President’s UN speech September 20, 2017 - An Iranian translator defended himself after being widely criticized for soft-balling US President Donald Trump's attacks on Iran in his maiden speech to the UN General Assembly. The translator said he had decided in the heat of the moment to spare his Persian-speaking viewers from the verbal attacks by the US president.  

We can never know the full impact the translation profession may have had or will have on our world. However, we can be sure that translation is a profession, such as any other, where we bestow great trust and responsibility on the translator and linguistic team chartered.

Happy International Translation’s Day –  since I love translators and hold deep respect for the profession, I say take the entire month !!

Happy International Translation’s Day

Go hug a translator today! 

… Stay tuned for the next Segment of HT Localization Presents Language Translations for Real Life Series… 

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This article was written by Rachanee Thevenet, Co-Founder of HT Localization.  Rachanee is an Asian-American expat living in Spain with her family.  She loves all things international including food, art, literature, culture, languages and people.  She has years of professional product marketing expertise and global expansion experience.

HT Localization, LLC. is a worldwide translation & localization agency providing a full range of professional language translation services, including social media localization, marketing translations, website translations, software localization, eLearning materials, documentation translations, etc.  With locations in the US, Spain, France, Zambia & Thailand, and coverage across all languages and most industries, HT Localization is well positioned to provide around the globe services for all translation needs.  

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