International Translation Day: Date, Theme, History, Significance, Quotes & Messages

International Translation Day: It is observed on September 30 every year to spread awareness about the translation profession and to pay tribute to the work of language professionals. It helps in promoting cultural heritage and mutual respect in our changing world. Let us read more about International Translation Day, 2021 theme, history, and significance.

International Translation Day: Date

According to the UN, International Translation Day plays an important role in bringing nations together, contributing to development, and strengthening world peace and security. This day provides a great opportunity to spotlight the important work of translators, interpreters, and others in the language service industry.

Theme:

History:

Do you know that International Translation Day is a recent entry into the calendar of world events? It is established by the International Federation of Translators (FIT). Celebrating this day annually is to pay tribute to the work of translators and the interpreters who break down the language barriers to make the world a slightly smaller place. This day is celebrated with a series of events, seminars, and symposiums across the world.

On 24 May 2017, the General Assembly adopted a resolution 71/288 to proclaim 30 September as International Translation Day after considering the role of professionals in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding, and development.

30 September was chosen because this date celebrates the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator who is considered the patron saint of translators. These celebrations have been promoted by FIT (the International Federation of Translators) which was set up in 1953. Even in 1991 FIT launched the idea of an officially recognised International Translation Day to show the solidarity of the worldwide translation community and also to promote the translation profession in several countries.

Significance:

Let us tell you that the translator and interpreter are two professions dedicated to one goal that is facilitating communication between people. Both interpreters and translators are at the junction point that impacts the development of business, science, medicine, technology, international law, politics, and a host of other areas. This will provide the ability for each of these in the world to learn from each other to the benefit of society as a whole.

According to UNESCO, cultural heritage as mentioned in this year’s theme does not end with “monuments and collections of objects”. It includes intangible cultural heritage such as knowledge, beliefs, and practices concerning people, nature, and our relationships with the universe. This not only helps in intercultural participation but also encourages mutual respect for other ways of life.

Therefore, International Translation Day highlights the role of translation to encourage the profession which helps in promoting an understanding of the intangible cultural heritage and mutual respect in our changing world.

International Translation Day: Quotes

• Translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture. ~ Anthony Burgess
• To have another language is to possess a second soul. ~ Charlemagne
• Translation is that which transforms everything so that nothing changes. ~ Gunter Grass
• If the translator does his job as he should, he is a benefactor of humanity; otherwise, he is a veritable public enemy. ~ Miguel Sanz
• Words travel worlds. Translators do the driving. ~ Anna Rusconi
• Without translation, we would be living in provinces bordering on silence. ~ George Steiner
• A translator is a reader, an interpreter and a creator all in one. ~ Bijay Kumar Das
• It is neither the best nor the worst things in a book that defy translation. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
• Translating is producing analogous effects with different implements. ~ Paul Valery
• The ideal reader is a translator. He or she can pull a text to pieces, remove its skin, cut it to the bone, follow each artery and vein and thence fashion a new living being. ~ Alberto Manguel
• Translating is always about making sacrifices; however, nothing essential should be sacrificed. ~ Enrique Diez-Canedo
• If the translator does his job as he should, he is a benefactor of humanity; otherwise he is a veritable public enemy. ~ Miguel Saenz
• Without translation, I would be limited to the borders of my own country. The translator is my most important ally. He introduces me to the world. ~ Italo Calvino
• The best thing on translation was said by Cervantes: translation is the other side of a tapestry. ~ Leonardo Sciascia
• If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. ~ Nelson Mandela
• The art of translation lies less in knowing the other language than in knowing your own. ~ Ned Rorem
• A translator ought to endeavor not only to say what his author has said, but to say it as he has said it. ~ John Conington
• If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream. ~ Rene Magritte
• The difference between the right word and the almost right word is really a large matter – it’s the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. ~ Mark Twain
• Translation is one of the few human activities where the impossible occurs by principle. ~ Mariano Antolín Rato

Wishes and Messages:

• Writers make national literature, while translators make universal literature. Happy International Translation Day!
• The translator is a privileged writer who has the opportunity to rewrite masterpieces in their own language. Happy International Translation Day!
• We wish all translators a Happy International Translation Day!
• The translator is the author’s accomplice. Wishing you a Happy International Translation Day!
• Translators are horses changed at the posthouses of civilization. Happy International Translation Day!
• Translating means having the honesty to stick to an allusive imperfection. Happy International Translation Day!
• Translators are the shadow heroes of literature, the often forgotten instruments that make it possible for different cultures to talk to one another, who have enabled us to understand that we all, from every part of the world, live in one world.  Happy International Translation Day!
• The translation is not an easy job but you are doing this job really very well..On International Translation Day, I want to extend warm greetings on your wonderful job.
• As you continue building linguistic bridges together, we wish you a Happy International Translation Day!
• The occasion of International Translation Day will always remind us that we have many talented translators doing an excellent job of translating content to help us reach the content of other languages.