ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 29th Jun, 2021) The National Archives (NA) today launched the "First Virtual International Translation Conference," under the theme, : "Translation in the Digital Age between Modern Technologies and Challenges of the Historical Text."
In his speech during the conference, Dr. Abdulla Al Raisi, Director-General of the NA, stated that the NA is holding the conference as part of its strategic goal to provide comprehensive research and knowledge services.
He also highlighted the UAE’s keenness to support the translation sector, due to its belief that translation plays a key role in bridging gaps between countries and facilitating dialogue and cooperation while stressing the importance of translation in the coming 50 years, which will be as crucial as in the previous 50 years.
After welcoming the conference’s participants, Al Raisi noted that it will discuss the major challenges facing translation over ten sessions and affirmed the importance of its various topics, most notably machine translation, artificial intelligence, translation in the digital era, translating old documents and bridging linguistic gaps between archive transcripts using digital translation.
At the end of his speech, he thanked the conference’s organisers, participants and speakers, who include university scholars, and called on those interested to watch sessions aired from Abu Dhabi.
The virtual translation event brings together about 40 professors, researchers, experts and specialists in language, literature and translation studies from globally renowned universities and the specialised sectors interested in translation affairs. The conference research papers will discuss translation from many languages into Arabic and vice versa.
The National Archives is keen to hold this conference to affirm the importance of the role that translation plays in bridging the gaps between civilizations and peoples. The National Archives has realised the importance of translation in transferring cultures to and from Arabic and especially within the scope of its interests and its great role in preserving the history and heritage of the UAE and the Gulf region. Therefore, this conference will enable improving the quality of translation.
Participants spoke about translation and the inter-civilisational dialogue in the new millennium; globalisation mechanisms and translation methods in the digital age; translation and attitudes of Orientalism: Arabia and the Arabian Gulf in Western culture, translation and identity: the translation of oral history and popular narratives; challenges of translating local and colloquial dialects and subcultures; the dilemma of historical translation: ancient documents as a model and lost in translation: rendering Islamic culture into other languages and cultural problems in translation and interpreting.
