International Translation Day 2020

We have International Translation Day. But sometimes it can feel like translators, interpreters, and others in the language services industry are invisible. Seriously, how many times do you tell someone what you do, and you see a look of genuine recognition in their eyes? How many times have you flinched when someone used the word “translator” in a sentence like: “Can you put a translator on the phone for me?”.

Yet, without language professionals, the world would have serious issues. Think about this: two years ago, Forbes magazine published some amazing stats (now most definitely obsolete) about how much data we create, search, and use every day and how these numbers are growing, exponentially.

As people who work with languages, we understand that a considerable part of this data needs to take to journey from one language to another. Sure, we’ve got some help from machine translation and AI these days but let’s face it, without us translating, interpreting, editing, post-editing, proofreading, adapting, localizing, project-managing, and performing any number of other activities, things just would not be happening. Without us, worldwide communication would slow down to a glacial pace or, in many cases than we dare to admit, it would come to a grinding halt.

…Yet Our Work is Everywhere

People seldom think about it, but translation is everywhere and touches every single area of human activity. When I tell that to people I meet, they are sometimes puzzled, as if they have never thought about it. And maybe they haven’t. But you and I know.

We read a book and can tell it was translated. We recognize the translator’s mind behind subtitles on an Indie movie. We appreciate the difficulty of translating jokes or menus. We understand that without translators and interpreters, we would not be hearing about news and happenings from much farther than our own backyard.  We know someone labored on translating the user manual for the new vacuum. We make shake our heads over the questionable results, sometimes, but the next moment we are in awe of someone’s mastery. Like when watching interpreters in high-level diplomatic meetings. How would things go without them?

And what about our work in the pandemic? Language professionals have stepped up their game yet again. Translators have been meeting impossible deadlines and working in challenging situations. Despite the dire situation, interpreters are much needed in medical facilities and courts. Despite the danger and implications the new world has on how our work is done, we show up every day, thinking “if I don’t, who will?”.

A Day to Celebrate Language Professionals

September 30^th is International Translation Day. Declared so by the UN as the day to celebrate all language professionals. This is the day of the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator and patron saint of all translators. This year, FIT has dedicated the International Translation Day to “finding the words for a world in crisis”, understanding the important role translation and interpretation play at a time of crisis. And unless you have lived under a rock for the last many months, you sure know that we are not just finding the right words, we (as mankind) are also creating many new ones!

Our Tribute to You

Today, we at TLC want to pay tribute to all the language professionals. We are so very proud of sharing the passion for language with you. We marvel at your skills, your experience, and your professionalism every day. We pay tribute to your willingness to dedicate your lives to the study of language, new technologies, and continuous improvement. We appreciate you for taking on the responsibility of getting each message across languages and cultures, correctly. We take our hats off to you for the detailed, tedious work you do, and the phenomenal results you accomplish, one word at a time. And we thank you for the courage to take on new challenges during these difficult times.

Let’s Be Seen

We also want to do our part in helping others recognize and appreciate our profession. And you can help! Let’s all share on social media today and in the coming days and weeks why we do what we do. A sentence, a paragraph, or a simple share of someone else’s post. #internationaltranslationday #mywhy

Today is about us. Let’s let the world know why we celebrate!