The 1st conference on issues of translation and education between the Russian and Arabic languages kicks off

On November 23rd, the work of the 1stconference on issues of translation and education between the Russian and Arabic languages began at the Russian Cultural Center in Damascus.

The Syrian and Russian participants discussed the importance of the translator’s knowledge of the characteristics of the culture of the peoples of both countries, with the aim of avoiding possible errors in translation and working to revitalize translation from Russian into Arabic and vice versa.

In their interventions, the participants focused on the mechanism of translating abbreviations, vocabulary and expressions, and how to move the translation from being an individual act to becoming an institutional collective work.

In a statement to reporters, the Director of the Russian Cultural Center in Damascus, Nikolai Sukhov explained that the importance of the conference in introducing translators and specialists in this field from the two countries and exchanging their experiences and cultural products.

Sukhov said that the conference aims to strengthen cooperation between translators and the center and brings together senior specialists in Syria who are working to improve the translation work.

The Director General of the Syrian General Authority for Book, Dr. Thaer Zain Al-Dinsaid that translation is one of the most important channels through which mutual influences are made between peoples and nations.

Th Chairman of the Arab Writers Union, Dr. Malik Saqour said that the cultural relationship between Russia and Syria in translation dates back to the era of the Islamic conquests that facilitated the arrival of Arab Muslim merchants to Russia.

Dr. Raslan Alaa El-Din, who ran the first session of the conference, expressed his hope that the conference would form a step for the development of translation and raising its level and to expand the frameworks of cooperation between the educational institutions in the two countries.

The Syrian writer and historian Dr. Ahmed Daoud considered that there is an urgent need today for translation from Arabic into Russian.

The Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences at Al-Baath University Dr. Talal Al-Khalil explained that his interest in the conference comes from the necessity of cultural communication between peoples and discussing issues of teaching the Russian language and translation.

The conference activities will continue until November 24 and include dialogue sessions to discuss issues of teaching the Russian language to Arabs.

O. al-Mohammad/ Inas Abdulkareem