As UNESCO celebrates International Arabic Language Day on December 18th, it is important to recall that translation constitutes a major pillar of dialogue, and has remained a major focus of UNESCO’s undertakings since its creation.

According to UNESCO, an analysis of the ways in which language translation has facilitated and nourished exchanges between countries, regions and languages allows us to understand, and to thereby better foster and promote intercultural dialogue.

In 1948, in the very early stages of UNESCO’s existence, the Organization took up the idea of creating a Collection of representative works – a sort of list of the literary heritage of humanity. The program ended about a dozen years ago, all while resting a major reference point for editors on the quest for reference texts to re-edit and translate into other languages. Upon consulting the collection, we come across 62 titles of works translated from Arabic into three vehicular languages (English, French, and Spanish): and more than thirty texts translated into Arabic.

The Translationum Index, created in 1932 by the Society of Nations and taken over by UNESCO in 1948, is the sole existing international repertory of translated texts in the world. Accessible online, the Index Translationum provides us straightaway with the most up-to-date up to date statistics regarding the evolution of translations around the world, ordered according to country, language, author, theme or year.

Further information on this topic is available on UNESCO’s website.

See Also

• Language translation facilitates and nourishes exchanges between countries according to UNESCO
  Translation is the act of rewriting a document, changing it into another language.
• The Arabic language in UNESCO translation programs
  As UNESCO prepares to celebrate International Arabic Language Day on December 18th, it is important to recall that translation constitutes a major pillar of dialogue, and has remained a major focus of UNESCO?s undertakings since its creation.