The Ministry of Culture launches the activities of (The Syrian National Experience in Translation)

The Ministry of Culture – the Syrian General Book Authority, in cooperation with the University of Damascus – the Higher Institute for Translation, the Arab Writers Union, and the Syrian Publishers Union opened the activities of the National Translation Symposium at Al-Assad National Library in Damascus.

Dr. Lubana Mashawah, Minister of Culture “Translation is a human, cultural and cognitive act, which carries in its strides achievements that have been made, projects that each of us is working on, pitfalls that we have overcome, and concerns and difficulties that we must find solutions to in order to achieve the message that we have dedicated ourselves to.”

She added saying  that  translation has a specific goal, and the recipient has  communicative needs,  his culture, and the extent of his knowledge of the other world are one of the factors on the basis of which the goal is determined, and since the benefit of translation is the goal, it was necessary to be careful in selecting the translation material.

Mushaweh concluded her speech by directing an invitation to all those concerned with the translation issue, individuals and institutions, not to be lenient in this section, and to choose what truly meets the needs and requirements of development.

Dr. Hussam Khaddour said to SyriaTimes “We are not talking about illusions; we are talking about promising facts and prospects because they have a realistic basis and we have the capabilities to achieve our goals”.

Today, we have an urgent need for an independent translation center to enable translation to perform its role

The existence of a union for translators is an urgent necessity to organize the affairs of the profession on the one hand and to defend the rights of workers on the other hand

Khaddour also stressed the importance of editing and its role in translation to produce the text in an integrated manner

There must be coordination between the Syrian General Book Organization and public and private publishing houses to produce a translated book that is not tainted by pitfalls, because sometimes we see some translators have a weakness in their mother tongue and this confirms the need to pay attention to the written language of the text to present the translated book in the best way

Dr. Jihad Bekfaloni, member of the Executive Office of the Arab Writers Union said to Syria Times “the symposium is an important step to raise translation to the required level, in addition to the importance of reverse translation from other languages into Arabic”.

Bekfaloni indicated that translation is improving greatly, and we have qualified translators to transfer masterpieces of literature and arts to and from Arabic to other languages.

Regarding the experience of the e-book, Bekfaloni stressed that this experience is good and effective and saves time and effort in obtaining the translated book. In the end, we encourage any means of transferring and exchanging ideas between peoples to spread culture of the world among peoples.

Reported by Sanaa Hasan