As we’re well into the era of progressing globalisation, it’s good to take an opportunity to display pride in our profession and realise how essential translation is in today’s business world.
What is International Translation Day?
International Translation Day is celebrated every year on 30 September on the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator who is considered the patron saint of translators.
In 1991 the International Federation of Translators (FIT) launched the idea of an officially recognised International Translation Day to show solidarity of the worldwide translation community in an effort to promote the translation profession in different countries (not necessarily only in Christian ones).
International Translation Day serves as recognition that translation services are not the same as being bilingual. The day helps our profession become seen as a verified, added-value and skilled service.
Here’s 5 strange and interesting facts you may not know about language:
- The Chinese language does not traditionally involve punctuation. Before the 20th century and more western influences, the concept of punctuation in Eastern Asian cultures did not exist at all!
- Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables contains one of the longest sentences in the French language 823 words without a full-stop!
- Spain translates more books per year than have ever been translated into Arabic.
- All pilots on international flights identify themselves in English.
- The longest published word in the English language is 1909 letters long and it refers to a part of DNA. (We won’t write it here as it’ll take a whole paragraph!)
- However, the longest word in a dictionary is just 45 letters – Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is “an artificial long word said to mean a lung disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand dust.”
And for a bit of fun…
It transpires that it’s not just people in the translation services industry that are obsessed with language! Weird Al Yankovic is the king of parody songs and in his latest imitation, he takes on the world of misspelling and grammar wrongdoings as he takes Robin Thicke’s, “Blurred Lines” and turns it into “Word Crimes!”
Enjoy…
