Sharjah, Nov 10th, 2012 (WAM)--The Emirates Publishers Association (EPA) has concluded its seminar titled 'Book Translation: Reality and Challenges', which was held on the sidelines of the Sharjah International Book Fair, currently taking place at Sharjah Expo Centre.

Held in the presence of Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, EPA President, and a number of Arab intellectuals, authors and publishers, and speakers, the seminar highlighted the reality of translation and the challenges facing translators in the Arab world, and provided suggestions on improving this vital sector, which involves culture and science transfer ? a necessity for the compressive development sought by the Arab world.

The seminar began with a speech by Dr Saleh Huwaidi, a critic and academic, who highlighted the importance of translation as a bridge between cultures, and a means of communication among nations, individuals and communities.

"The translation is not a mere window to look through to other nations? cultures, neither just a human activity, but a very important means for knowledge-sharing, mutual understanding and openness to others. The progress of nations will not be possible without communication with others and getting acquainted with their knowledge and cultures. Translation serves as a mirror through which nations can see and learn from each other. Translation is important for the rapprochement of peoples, and is also a decentralizing experience, teaching diversity and dialogue," Dr Huwaidi said.

Exploring the reality of translation and translators, Dr Yousuf Edabi, writer, academic, translator and publisher, said: "We have noticed through statistics that the status of culture in the Arab region is waning and consequently, the translation profession is worse off. Very few translations are driven by profitable and commercial motives. In addition, universities have been negligent in preparing professional translators, and today there are only a few translation centers and translators. Laws and legislation related to the professional work of translation are also lacking."Highlighting the crucial role of translation in the progress of nations, Dr Edabi recalled the historical story of Abbasid Caliph Al Ma?mun who used to pay translators in gold the weight of the books they had translated. "Paying translations works in gold by Al Ma?mun was a clear sign of his realization of the importance of translation in the progress of his state, and that Islamic cultural progress would not have been possible without embracing other cultures and science." "Without translation between the north and south, east and west, the world would not have been revived again," he stated.

Edabi shed light on some positive aspects of publishing in the Arab region, citing the UAE as example ? in particular the Kalima translation project, which has managed to translate more than 300 books.

He said Kalima is a leading and promising project that contributes to quality translations, especially in the field of children?s literature.

Edabi concluded his speech with a call to consider the establishment of a comprehensive translation center and to draw up strategies for translation to help in planning and publishing, with the aim of enhancing the entire sector.

Abdul Fattah Abu Al Sayyed, head of East and West Publishing and Distribution, Jordan, spoke about the challenges facing the industry and translations, in terms of translators, readers and publishers, as well as finance, the nature of translated books, and how countries are dealing with publishing.

Lack of interest in reading was the highlight of Abu Al Sayyed?s speech as he referred to the spread of illiteracy in the Arab world, shortage of printed books, and the problems of quality translators, the absence of accredited institutions, low financial return, lack of coordination between competent institutions, limiting translation to certain types of books, the problem of terms and the backwardness in lexical movement.

"Information transfer is purposeless and there is no accurate database quantifying translated works to Arabic except for the King Abdul Aziz Public Library, which contains 120,000 translated titles," Abu Al Sayyed explained.

Speaking about positive experiences, Abu Al Sayyed referred to landmark projects such as the Kalima and Trajim projects in Dubai. He stated that while there are translation centers in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, there is still an urgent need for a Grand National project in the Arab world to rise to the challenge and strengthen the role of translation as a means of nation building and development.

On his part, Bashar Shbaru, Chairman of the Arab and International Relations Committee at the Arab Publishers Association, highlighted problems facing translation in the Arab region.

"There are many obstacles that stand in the way of translation, among which is illiteracy, which has reached 40 percent, and the fact that less than 1,500 books are translated per year," Shbaru said.

He highlighted the importance of the freedom of thinking for the development of translation, as well as the need to foster the creativity of translators, similar to other sectors of knowledge.

Shbaru referred to many complex problems, including lack of translators in terms of quantity and quality, and the non-existence of academic centers ? one was recently established in the Arab League ? to graduate qualified translators.

He also pointed to the absence of Arab Language academies amid a state of confusion in transfer or use of terminologies and the subject of translation to the profit element, piracy and the absence of a unified Arab center that has accurate statistics on translators and translation works.

Shbaru warned against the limitation of translation to particular books and called for the importance of translating science books, especially considering that the progress of the nation would not be possible without scientific progress.

Speaking about the status of translators, Firas Al Shaer, journalist and translator, said the biggest problem of translation basically lies in the translator?s limited proficiency in Arabic ? the translator?s poor language skills will undoubtedly undermine the role of the translation in the transfer of knowledge. "Translation requires mastery and fluency in the two languages, the source language and the translated one, so that translators are able to convert written documents from one language to another with a high level of accuracy and efficiency," Al Shaer said.

He expresses a need to agree on different terminologies and foster research studies, and called on translators to shoulder the responsibility of completing translations to the highest possible standards.

Participants lauded the UAE?s leading role in translation initiatives, especially the Kalima and Trajim projects. They called for the creation of strategies to develop a comprehensive translation center in the Arab world so as to take the responsibility of setting proper mechanisms and databases that can quantify the books needed to be translated in compliance with the Arab world?s needs for scientific progress and development.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2012.