KALIMA signs agreement of cooperation with Italy's Carlo Alfonso Nallino Institute for the Orient.

ABU DHABI, July 28th, 2009: Abu Dhabi's translation project KALIMA signed an agreement of cooperation on Monday in Rome with the Institute for the Orient, the oldest research institution specializing in the affairs of the Arab and Islamic World based in Italy.

The agreement, aimed at translating the top Italian books into Arabic, was signed by Dr. Ali bin Tamim, Director KALIMA and Professor Claudio Lo Jacono, head of Carlo Alfonso Nallino Institute for the Orient.

KALIMA, a translation initiative by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), seeks to provide Arab readers with the latest publications in the international scene.

A number of Italian academics and ADACH representatives attended the signing amid a discussion about the importance of translation and its role in the convergence of civilizations, noting the significant and speedy contributions of KALIMA in the Arab World.

Dr. Ali bin Tamim, Director of KALIMA, said that in order to encourage global institutions of translation and to lure their participation in the translation movement in the Arab World, KALIMA has actively sought to establish international ties with the worlds leading scholarly foundations to develop the idea of translation into a process that takes place between two international institutions, seen as a crucial development which secures due attention for the concerns of Arab culture and the culture from which the translation is being made.

Bin Tamim said the actual choice of books from Italian is made by Arabs themselves on the basis of Arab tastes alone, noting that the participation in the process of speakers of the mother tongue ensures that their selection represents an expression both of Arab culture and the translated culture.

In order to realize this objective KALIMA has set out, on the basis of the pioneering scheme launched by ADACH with the support of Shaikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, to revive translation in the Arab world, to establish ties with the Indian Arab Cultural Centre, Johannes Gutenberg University, and the Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature.

Now the KALIMA translation project at ADACH has announced its cooperation with the Carlo Alfonso Nallino Institute for the Orient in Rome by signing a cultural agreement on similar lines. LIstituto per lOriente is the oldest specialized institute for research into the affairs of the Arab and Islamic world in Italy and was founded in 1921.

Since that time it has constituted the most important gathering-place for experts, scholars and students of the modern and contemporary Middle East. The Institute publishes a number of studies and scientific journals of which the most famous is the periodical Oriente Moderno (the Modern East).

In accordance with the mutual desire of the Institute for the Orient and ADACH-KALIMA to form cooperative ties in scientific and cultural spheres, these two organizations are presiding over the translation for the Arab reader of a group of valuable works from the fields of literature, art, poetry and thought. The selection includes stories and novels by contemporary Italian writers whose works have won respect and been translated into a number of languages; it also features poetical works from the most important Italian poets. Furthermore, in accordance with the agreement between the KALIMA project and lIstituto per lOriente, the list contains a number of studies which convey the state of contemporary academic learning in Italy and Europe. In the field of arts, however, initial work will focus on cinema and the principles of cinematic criticism.

Whereas a majority of past Arabic translations of Italian works took place through the medium of another language, such as French or English, the cooperation between lIstituto per lOriente and KALIMA will help to overcome this shortcoming and secure direct translation from Italian to Arabic without any second intervening language. They will achieve this through the involvement of a team of academic translators with experience and published works as well as the appointment of poets for the translation and editing of texts of poetry.

Dr bin Tamim foresees that this cooperation will contribute to Arabic literature by making significant translations from Italian culture, and that in particular it will lead for the first time to the translation of a group of representative and important books in Italian culture. This cooperation reflects one of the strategic objectives of the KALIMA project, which is to transform the nature of translation from the activity of an individual translator into a collective activity undertaken by two international institutions.

"We at the KALIMA project are implementing the desire of Abu Dhabi to revive translation in the Arab world and this revival is manifested in the creation of appropriate traditions of translation which move away from the unguided work of a lone individual to the planned activity of a group," said bin Tamim.

Professor Claudio Lo Jacono, Dean of the Carlo Alfonso Nallino Institute for the Orient and lecturer at the Oriental University in Naples, welcomed the cooperation between the institute in Italy and KALIMA project in Abu Dhabi and described it as of great cultural significance. The Institute for the Orient has worked for nearly ninety years at a world level for the recognition of Arab and Islamic culture in Italy and done so in a scientific and serious way. He considered it an honour to become involved in the translation into Arabic of valuable Italian works.

"It was clear that the cooperation between KALIMA and the Institute for the Orient would guarantee the success of this promising venture and contribute towards the consolidation of sincere friendship between the two countries in an atmosphere of mutual cultural respect," said Professor Lo Jacono.

For her part the lecturer in Arabic Literature at La Sapienza University in Rome, Isabella Camera dAfflitto welcomed the undertaking with the following statement: at the present time there is a great deal of talk about the dialogue between cultures, but when it comes to knowing the other the level of reciprocal translation remains small and limited. How can one speak of the dialogue between cultures when we dont translate in order to communicate what the other is thinking and writing? For this reason the translation project being overseen by KALIMA in cooperation with the Institute for the Orient in Rome is of great contemporary relevance. It lays down a sound cultural policy between two civilizations in which neither is superior to the other. They are two cultures and two worlds which continue to need a fuller exploration of each other at the level of cultural, artistic and literary production.

Dr Izz al-Din Inayat, lecturer at the Oriental University in Naples and also involved in the cooperation, regarded the collaboration between KALIMA and the Institute for the Orient as the reconstruction of cultural bridges between Italy and the Arab world which for various reasons had lapsed or been neglected despite these countries geographical proximity. Some have alleged that Italy is not enthusiastic about modern Western thought, but in fact it was the pivot of the Renaissance and one of the bases of the Enlightenment. Therefore Italy is indispensable for an understanding of that idea and its development into the present day. He commended this intelligent undertaking on the part of the KALIMA project which forms a cultural bond between Arab culture and the cultures of the world.

The philosopher and translator Dr Abu Yaarib al-Marzouqi observed: I have learnt with immense pleasure that ADACH and the KALIMA project have added a new element to its activity in extending channels of communication between peoples from ancient Eastern and Western civilizations. This has renewed the glory of the Muslim community which has been open to human heritage from the first moment of its foundation, drawn upon both Western and Eastern cultures, and preserved the human heritage which it inherited together with its own specific experience. The cultural and intellectual cooperation with the Carlo Alfonso Nallino Institute for the Orient in the field of cultural exchange will enrich Arab thought and deepen relations between the Arabs and one of the key nations of Europe. The cradle of the European Renaissance literary, scientific and even social and political was Italy and since the time of the great trading cities such as Venice and Genoa it has remained in contact with both East and West. The artistic, literary and scientific innovation of Italy counts amongst the most important tributaries of human thought. This is a blessed and bold undertaking on the part of those presiding over the two institutes. The fruits of this cooperation between the two sides will open up horizons of mutual knowledge and understanding. May god bless those responsible for such beneficial cultural work.

In a similar vein the lecturer and translator Dr Khalil al-Shaikh noted that the transfer of Italian literature and culture into Arabic was an advantageous cultural step and especially so after the loss of early pioneers in translation from Italian. One might point in this respect to Hasan Uthman who translated the Divine Comedy and Isa Naauri who translated many Italian works. KALIMA was now opening up a new field by transferring compositions from Italian without the intermediary of another language. This would benefit contemporary Arab culture and construct new horizons for Arab innovators and intellectuals.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2009.