Egyptian translator Dr. Salah Helal, the Professor of German Literature and Philosophy at Ain Shams University's Faculty of Education, noted in his remarks the need for concerted efforts in translation in the form of a huge Arab project that includes specialists from all countries and is oriented to the translation work in the Arab world. This requires political and cultural will and financial support.
He stressed the necessity to support translators to perform the task to the fullest extent, adding that though publishing houses may provide some support, the translator remains the weakest link in the book production chain, even though they are the foundation of the translation process. Many publishing houses look for cheaper production costs and do not choose the right translator for the text. It also refuses to put the translators name on the cover of the book, even though they helped write this book in another language.
Dr. Salah Helal highlighted the problem of scarcity of funding, which prevents the translator from devoting himself to his project. "If translators devoted themselves to translation activity, they would enrich the Arab library with the books we need to bring about a cultural renaissance," he added.
He pointed out that translators cannot participate in international events and attend international conferences and book fairs unless invited by foreign institutions or publishing houses. He explained that the more experience a translator has, the more difficult the books he is assigned become without having a financial impact on him. This leads to the reluctance of senior translators to translate important books, in addition to the lack of interest in linguistic review and editing processes by publishing houses.
These issues do not only affect translators but also publishers. There is an urgent need for a huge, organized, and unified Arab project that organizes conferences, workshops, and grants for individual and group translation projects. He indicated the necessity to look at translation as collective work and not an individual one, and that developing artificial intelligence would allow translators to benefit from it.
For his part, the Kuwaiti translator Abdul Wahab Suleiman said that blogs and social media represent a suitable medium for publishing houses to discover translation talents. There are online translator communities and hashtags to serve translators and these media are good for the translator, even though they are linked to individual and non-institutional efforts.
Abdul Wahab Suleiman said that there are difficulties facing the translator, most prominently in dealing with academic terminology. There is no unified formula for these terms and there is no translation institution that unifies the terms. Another difficulty that academic books and scientific research translators have is that scientific sources and books are not available to anyone who wants to read them for free at a time when they are indispensable for the translator to understand the context of the work. He expressed his hope for the development of artificial intelligence to be at the service of the translator and to save them effort and time.
At the conclusion of the symposium, the emerging Pakistani translator Asiya Arif Siddiq said that wisdom and proverbs are the product of a series of life experiences that transcended eras, cultures, and languages. She added, "If we contemplate these wise gems, they convey a universal message regardless of their languages."
Source: Qatar News Agency