During the 3rd Arab Publishers Conference, Challenges of Translation in the Arab World Debated
5 Dariya News
Sharjah 03-Nov-2015
Initiatives that answer the challenges of translation in the Arab world were discussed at the 3rd Arab Publishers Conference which started yesterday in Sharjah.In a panel discussion involving experts in the world of translation and moderated by Dr. Parween Habib, Arab poet, academic and media researcher in the cultural and literary fields, panelists discussed issues such as the evolution of the translation movement and the governments’ role in supporting it.
UAE cultural and media personality Dr. Ali bin Tamim spoke about Kalima, the translation project of the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Cultural Authority that he once headed. “The project worked on supporting the publishing houses and on building relationships with the translators,” he said adding that the project involved translations from 13 languages and the signing of nearly 1,000 agreements out of which 850 books were already published .
Dr. Bin Tamim, who is the Media and Cultural Counselor at the Office of the Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the Secretary General of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award and the Editor in Chief of 24.ae news website, said that the reality of the translation in the Arab World suffers from non being continuous, from lack of funding and from the domination of ideology over the search for knowledge when it comes to the selection of texts. When discussing translation in the Arab world, Philip F. Kennedy, associate professor of Arabic Literature and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Comparative Literature at New York University said that the UAE is establishing itself as the capital of translation in the Arab world. Kennedy, who is also the editor of Library of Arabic Literature said that “there’s a dearth of translations from Arabic into English” adding that the project has a focus on pre-modern Arabic texts and making those little-known texts available to English speakers.
As the director of Literature Across Frontiers - a European Platform for Literary Exchange, Translation and Policy Debate, based in Wales, United Kingdom, Alexandra Büchler said that their project aims to support intercultural dialogue through translation.In addition to focusing on the translation of works of fiction into the various European languages, Büchler said that their organization holds conferences and seminars as well as training programs for translators and conducts research. She said that in a study that they conducted in collaboration with the Anna Lindh Foundation regarding the translation of Arabic texts into English in the UK she had the opportunity to gain some insight into this area. “There’s definitely more work that needs to be done,” she said.
Buchler added that what is missing is more coordination amongst Arab countries, developing local talent – the translators, a flow of information on who the important authors are and better mobility for translators so that they can internationalize their careers.
Speaking about his experience in the field of Chinese-Arabic translation, Ahmed El Said, Director of Bait Al Hikmah for Culture, Publishing, Media and Translation which operates in China, Egypt and the UAE said that most of the translation from Arabic is English-centric despite the fact that there are many other wide-spoken languages around the world like Chinese. “Forty percent of the inhabitants of the world speak either Arabic or Chinese,” he said. He emphasized the important role of governments and gave the example of the Chinese government which has developed a policy to support the translation movement of Chinese books. El Said said that the crisis of translation in the Arab world is summarized in three points: “What do we translate? Who translates? Who reads?” Translators in the Arab world have a main challenge, they are translating between two languages that they don’t speak. “I translate from Chinese, which is not my mother tongue, into Classical Arabic which is not a language that I use on a day-to-day basis,” he said adding that classical Arabic is going through a crisis and must be protected.
Under the spotlight
On the sidelines of the conference El Said held an open discussion with Zhang Khoi, Director of the International cooperation department at the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television in China. Khoi spoke to the visitors about the state of publishing in China and cooperation with the Arab world publishing industry. He said that cooperation is evident from the participation of Arab publishing houses in publishing events in China and the vice versa. He also added that due to market demands, the Chinese market has recently put an emphasis on digital publishing alongside traditional publishing.
In another discussion, Nour Al Hassan, Co-Founder and CEO of Tarjama, a leading translating agency based in the MENA region spoke to attendees about her experience in the field of translation and her entrepreneurial projects. Emphasizing the importance of specialization, Al Hassan said: “Our translators are for the most part specialized, they have to be interested in what they are translating,” she said. Al Hassan also discussed Tarjama’s future projects which include training women in the field of translation.
The Future of libraries in digital era debated at 3rd Arab Publishers Conference
International and regional experts debate issues facing public libraries and free content
How to protect the future of libraries in the digital age was the subject of a panel discussion at the 3rd Arab Publishers Conference at Al Jawaher Reception and Convention Centre in Sharjah yesterday (Monday). Organised by the Arab Publishers’ Association (APA) and the Emirates Publishers Association (EPA), the conference addresses a number of vital and important themes in the publishing industry including a session titled “A Look at Tomorrow’s Libraries”. The panel included Nick Stopforth, the Head of Libraries and Culture for the UK’s largest geographical Metropolitan Borough, Doncaster Council, Tariq Al Shalil, Vice President of the Saudi Federation of Libraries and Information; Gerald Leitner, Secretary General of the Austrian Library Association and member of many international expert groups for e-lending and development; Khalid Azab, Head of the Central Projects and Services Sector at the Bibliotheca Alexandria and moderator, Maryam Al Shenasi, President of Emirates Publishing Association.
Nick Stopfort begun by asking how we future proof our libraries in light of digital advancements when they are revenue poor and readers can access cheap books from supermarkets which makes free books from libraries less attractive and said the answer needs three pronged approach.“First we can use data from library management services, and track user behavior following how they use the library. We can learn from retailers who look at the user journey and promote material accordingly. Publishers want to learn what motivates a reader to go from one book to another and we don’t use that information currently.”Stopfort added that the second step was strategic partnership which takes library services in the UK out of their comfort zone, adding, “Most government services have gone online in the UK, everything a customer does needs to be online but no one is monitoring the digital user’s needs. People need to know where the resources are online and how to use them effectively, therefore someone needs to ensure that the user knows how to do this. We work with Google and banks to bring either investment in providing the hardware – or workforce volunteers, providing digital skills to train the user to do this.”
Gerald Leitner said that when we talk about the future of anything we are always on unsafe territory and quoted Winston Churchill who said, ‘It is hard to make predictions especially about the future’. Leitner said, “ Years ago they predicted the library would be obsolete, the death of books was proclaimed, books were a symbol of yesterday’s world, their time was up – libraries are no longer up to date. But 25 years later libraries are more vital than ever. Beautiful new library buildings are being built; there is no death blow to libraries.”He added that new concepts and philosophies are developing with new technologies that focus on the user wants and needs. He said, “Librarians and the function of libraries have changed enormously over the last 25 years. We make a contribution to the knowledge area, but the copyright laws restrain us from operating effectively.
Today libraries are hybrid, we offer material for loan and on the other hand, via the internet, we are offering access to e-books, journal articles, films and music given electronically from data bases.”Khalid Azab said, Management of information through storing it and giving it to the platform of computers raises the question of how to manage information on the internet through digital libraries to guarantee the accuracy of the information. He pointed out that the international federation of publishers started, through universities, to monitor this and put general policies to manage digital libraries.“We see this in the University of Alexandria in Egypt and also in Morocco. But we have a problem in Arab libraries. We need a browser in Arabic to give information clearly to the Arab readers. We also have copyright issues that faces the Arab reader that effects the education system in the Arab world as universities cannot publish university documents. said Azab.
Dr. Tariq Al Shalil, Vice President of the Saudi Federation of Libraries and Information said, “I want to talk about the transformation that took place in the publishing sector. The relationship between publishing houses and information institutions because the functionality of each party is becoming more vague day after day. Management of digital content is a new responsibility for government institutions and the level to which information is made available are new decisions that have to be made. This impact has affected the publishing houses that started to face issues when it comes to the unrestricted use of published information, providing this content for free is one objective but those institutions feel they should have some profit for providing this content, the questions is who is responsible for ensuring this profit, libraries government or publishing houses?”
In answer to a question from the floor regarding the future of libraries in light of piracy Al Shalil said, “Publishers need to be part of the service to give free information to people who cannot afford to get the information in academic libraries but the role of the publisher could be to give the service as a social service to the public. The concept of ownership is to make information accessible to the readers and there should be cooperation to make it available without negatively impacting the value of the publisher.”