International Translation Day 2020: Know History, Significance, Theme For This Year
Every year, International Translation Day is celebrated on September 30 to raise awareness about the translation profession and bring awareness about languages that play an important role in the development of our society. It also aims to pay tribute to the work of language professionals.
According to the United Nations, “International Translation Day is meant as an opportunity to pay tribute to the work of language professionals, which plays an important role in bringing nations together, facilitating dialogue, understanding and cooperation, contributing to development and strengthening world peace and security.”
International Translation Day 2020 Theme
The theme of International Translation Day 2020 is “Finding the words for a world in crisis. FIT aims to highlight the significance of translators and interpreters in managing the situations on the International scale, National scale, and local scale.
International Translation Day History
On May 24, 2017, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on the role of language professionals in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding and development, and declared September 30 as International Translation Day. The day marks the celebration of the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator, who is considered the patron saint of translators.
As per the information on UN's website, "St. Jerome was a priest from North-eastern Italy, who is known mostly for his endeavour of translating most of the Bible into Latin from the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. He also translated parts of the Hebrew Gospel into Greek. He was of Illyrian ancestry and his native tongue was the Illyrian dialect. He learned Latin in school and was fluent in Greek and Hebrew, which he picked up from his studies and travels. Jerome died near Bethlehem on 30 September 420."
FIT (International Federation of Translators) promotes these celebrations which were set up in 1953. Even in 1991, FIT launched the idea of an officially recognised International Translation Day to promote the translation profession in several countries.