UN honors translators for aiding dialogue, information flows across language barriers

The UN marked the seventh International Translation Day Monday with a nod to translators and interpreters  for keeping dialogue going and information flowing, and a call for greater focus on translation of indigenous languages.

The work of language professionals “plays an important role in bringing nations together, facilitating dialogue, understanding and cooperation, contributing to development and strengthening world peace and security,” the UN said.

The UN in 2017 established International Translation Day, choosing Sept. 30 to commemorate St. Jerome, a priest from Italy famed for translating the Bible into Latin from Greek. He died on the day in 420.

The 2024 theme, "Unveiling the Many Faces of Humanity," focuses on power relations and technologies in translation practices involving indigenous languages.

The six countries and three territories covered by Radio Free Asia range from monolingual North Korea to China, with 300 languages, Myanmar with 111, and Vietnam with 110. Tiny Laos has 86 languages.

Following are favorite sayings of RFA countries and communities.

Laos

ຢູ່ລາວ, ຄົນລາວປາກບໍ່ໄດ້ໄອບໍ່ດັງ

"In Laos, people can't speak nor cough" – meaning people can't speak, not even cough against anything, in particular the government.

Burmese

တံငါနားနီး တံငါ၊ မုဆိုးနားနီး မုဆိုး

"Near a fisherman one is a fisherman; near a hunter a hunter."

Vietnamese

Được voi đòi tiên (You have an elephant then you ask for fairy) is the Vietnamese equivalent of  “You can't have your cake and eat it, too.”

Korean

“쥐구멍에도 볕 들 날 있다” (There is sunshine even in a mouse hole.)
If you endure and overcome hardships, you will encounter good opportunities.

Mandarin

"拆东墙，补西墙" (To tear down the east wall to mend the west wall.)  The equivalent of “to rob Peter to pay Paul.”

Cantonese

持盈保泰 (Maintain prosperity and preserve stability.) Commonly used in Hong Kong in the face of economic uncertainty.

Tibetan

གསེར་ས་འོག་ཏུ་ཡོད་ཀྱང༌། འོད་ནམ་མཁར་ཁྱབ།  (Gold, even if buried underground, reaches the sky with its glare.)

You can never hide a good thing, deed, or person; its impact is always felt or seen.

Khmer

បានពីក្អែក យកទៅចែកតាវ៉ៅ (Getting from the crow to share with the cuckoo.)  This popular saying reflects the spirit of sharing in Cambodian society.

Uyghur

ھەقىقەت ئېگىلىدۇ ، ئەمما سۇنمايدۇ

Truth bends but doesn't break.