Translation: The art of bridging language barriers

One couldn't be far wrong to say that translation is as ubiquitous in our daily lives as, say, the zipper or mushrooms.

For without translation, someone somewhere in the world might otherwise be unable to do a COVID self-test, a newly signed footballer from Japan may not initially understand what his German coach wants of him or an original Greek recipe will remain, well, Greek to you.

From signage at airports to nifty apps, translation helps us to not only navigate our way in foreign places but enables us to communicate with colleagues in multicultural workplaces that are now more the norm than the exception. 

Following the daily news, navigating diplomacy and politics or observing trials in international courts: Translation's significance in almost all aspects of life can't be underscored enough.

The world would be 'duller, poorer' without translation

In 2017, the United Nations officially declared September 30 as International Translation Day. The date was chosen as it is also the feast day of St. Jerome, a Catholic priest who translated the Bible and is considered the patron saint of translators.

Hailing from north-eastern Italy, he spoke an Illyrian dialect but is best known for translating the Greek manuscripts of the Bible's New Testament into Latin and for translating parts of the Hebrew Gospel into Greek. Jerome had learned Latin in school and was fluent in Greek and Hebrew, which he picked up from his studies and travels. He died near Bethlehem on September 30, 420.

More recently, in 2020, the European Commission (EC) launched the campaign "Discover Translation," encouraging people to consider translation work as a career option.

"Without translation, the world would be a duller, poorer and more unequal place, both economically and culturally, where only the 'happy few' with a knowledge of other languages would have access to goods, information and culture from other countries," the EC said.

Neruda, Nintendo, Netflix

Translation has also enabled us to enjoy books, songs, films, TV series, or computer games in foreign languages — fostering cross-cultural awareness and knowledge in the process.

How else could we have enjoyed the poems of the Chilean Pablo Neruda, the fairy tales of the Danish Hans Christian Andersen or sought wisdom in holy books like the Bhagavad Gita or the Bible?

In terms of songs, the original German Christmas carol, "Stille Nacht" or "Silent Night" was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2011 and is reportedly the most translated carol to date. 

Meanwhile, the Oscar-winning "Let It Go" from Disney's 2013 hit animated film "Frozen," has been recorded in 41 languages, including Flemish, Bahasa Malaysia and Vietnamese. Disney even put together a video showing this multilingual project that spliced together some international versions of the song being sung in French, German, Dutch and Mandarin among others. 

In the gaming world, Japanese company Nintendo's "Mario" and "Donkey Kong" made global inroads via translation — although gaming fans have highlighted slip ups in text over the years.

During the height of the COVID pandemic lockdown, people stuck at home turned to streaming services and gained access to new worlds through subtitled foreign language series and films from all over the world, from Iceland to India.

The South Korean series "Squid Game" soared to the #1 spot on Netflix's TV show charts in 22 countries upon its release on September 17, 2021. Having pulled in a staggering 1.65 billion hours of viewing in 28 days following its premiere, it remains the streaming giant's most viewed series, with the US produced English-language "Stranger Things" coming in second. 

From phrasebooks to bots

The methods of translating have also evolved over time — from scholars in ancient times laboriously reproducing text from the original language to the target language to phrasebooks and audio cassettes and discs that we could speak along with, to computer technologies like DeepL and Google Translate that assist human translators today. 

From literal translations, that are still often retained for historic, academic, scientific and religious materials, the art of translating has also evolved to now include interpretative and localized translations that adapt an original core message to the cultural context or realities of target audiences. 

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier