International Translation Day (ITD) 2017 was celebrated under the theme of Translation and Diversity. Could you elaborate on how translation helps language serve as an expression of diversity and humanity?

The FIT proposed ITD in the 1990s and it’s been celebrated by us as an international translation day on September 30, the day of the feast of St. Jerome, but of course not every country has a Christian basis. So we’re very happy that in the same resolution, the UN General Assembly formally recognized the day and the important role played by translators and interpreters throughout the world.

Translation is important in promoting and fostering the ideas of people in different nations, and from different cultures inside those different nations as well. The UN and the European Union (EU) are very keen on multilingualism. We don’t just speak one language, but we are allowed to express ourselves in the language that we have at some other time. The UN recognizes six official languages, the EU 24, soon to become 26, which means that everybody is allowed to speak the language of their choosing, one that is preferably the language of their own culture and diversity.

Good translators will then be able to render this into another language in a fully understandable way. I think that’s the key to recognizing diversity. We can see how other people, who essentially aren’t very different to us, live their lives, understand various concepts and get about their everyday life. That’s one of the things I think that translation embraces. This resolution also embraces that we are different but also very similar,