European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 16, Number 4 (2010)
The Impact of Translation on Language Acquisition and Knowledge Transfer in the Arab World Ahmed Gumaa Siddiek Dawadami Community College, P.O. Box 18 Shagra University. KSA 11911 E-mail:
[email protected] Tel: 00966559455198 Abstract This paper addresses the issue of foreign language education with special focus on the teaching of translation and its impact on language proficiency and knowledge transfer in the Arab World. Languages are the vehicles of thought and feelings among the human communities. The question is: where do we need to focus our teaching efforts of foreign languages? Is it useful to enable people to speak the language as native-like or is it more useful to people to be professional in translation so as to read and acquire knowledge in their own mother tongue? Translation played the major role in bridging the physical gap between all nations. It is also evident that speaking the foreign language does not help too much in the transfer of knowledge to human communities as translation does. Translation is considered by Lado (1975:25) as the fifth language skill. We believe that it is the most important language skill, as translation renders information to millions of people in their own languages. Learning a language alone does not qualify people that much to achieve development, but transferring knowledge via translation does; because translation enriches both the source and the target languages with new ideas and new linguistic features.
Keywords: Language education, Language Knowledge Transfer, Translation
acquisition,
Language
proficiency,
Introduction According to Allen (2004), translation is a notoriously thankless profession: there is absolutely no money in it; it involves a severe submersion of the self into another; the hours are long and you get about as much recognition for your efforts as the telephone repairman. Wortsman (2010) holds the same idea that he had all but given up translation, having been burnt in the past by a publisher who essentially cheated him. And his story goes as follows: [Translation] is such a thankless task. There was one review in particular of a past - and I might add, critically acclaimed - translation of mine, Posthumous Papers of a Living Author, by Robert Musil (originally published by Eridanos Books in 1987 and reissued by Penguin 20th-Century Classics), in which the reviewer noted everything from the rich complex style of Musil to the quality of the paper, the cover and even the cloth bookmark, but did not say a single word about the translation." But the taxi driver in New York has the most frustrating opinion about translation, if you would just be patient to read the following lines. In New York everything is smart and the taxi driver is well equipped with encyclopedic knowledge of people, places and languages. I told my friend Atiff AlBagher- a translator in the UN Headquarter in New York - who was to receive me at his home in Brooklyn- that I had a wonderful time with taxi drivers, who speak many languages and seem to be knowledgeable about all the whereabouts of New York City. Then Mr. Al-Bagher told me the story of 556
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 16, Number 4 (2010) one of his friends who happened to take a cab in this city and had some chat with the driver. The cab driver asked the man about his job. The man told him that he was a translator in the UN Headquarter in New York. Then the driver commented in a cold manner,"What an easy way for making money!" So the question is: is translation really an easy job? And moneywise, is it that rewarding? Unfortunately many people, even highly educated people hold the same belief of the taxi driver. This paper will discuss these issues from the writer's own point of view as freelance translator and teacher. Translation is a thankless job although it is one of the very high-stake and risky jobs in the world. It is similar to surgery or flying planes where the right decision, and only the right decision, is to take at very critical time to save human lives. The translator, and especially the interpreter, has to convey the right meaning, otherwise people will be lost in translation as we use to say, and then great misunderstanding would erupt between individuals and may go to communities. The surgeon has to come instantaneously to the very right conclusion about the disease in the specific area in the human anatomy and then he has to eradicate the disease immediately and for ever. The pilot has to decide if that flying machine is safe to take off, to navigate in the air and land safely. Any interruption in space will end in catastrophic and disastrous results, simply loss of hundreds of human souls. All three jobs demand high skills and full attentiveness, but people usually recognize and evaluate the job of the medical surgeon and the pilot while they deny and do not feel the physical, mental and psychological stress of translators and interpreters while doing their jobs. Those stories are significant that translation is considered a mean job because as translation involves a submersion of the self into another. But the fact is that translators were and still are the conveyers of knowledge from one language to another and from generation to generation. They were – among others-the builders of civilizations as they were concerned with the conveying of thought and wisdom through history and they will remain so.
1.0. The Significance & Objectives of the Research This article mainly targets the foreign language teachers and the syllabus designers, as culture manufacturers as well as decision makers. The objective of the paper is to shed light on foreign language teaching with special focusing on the teaching of translation. Translation is a communal practice from which the whole people can benefit via the translating of materials from the source languages into the target languages. This article emphasizes the importance of training translators as they are the most effective professionals who educate learners and language consumers in the entire fields of human knowledge.
2.0. Elements of Language Lado: (1975:25), divided language variables into two categories. He saw that Language is built of sounds, intonations, stresses morphemes, words and arrangement of words having meaning that are linguistic and cultural, but the degree of mastery of these elements does not advance evenly but goes faster in some and slower in others; and that we have four more variable; namely the degree of achievement in speaking, understanding, reading and writing. A fifth skill is the ability to translate, which should be [seen] as an end in itself and not as a way to test mastery of the language. Communication is a human feature whether it is fully attained through human languages or through body and sign languages. The later were primitive means of communication, although the sign languages have recently been developed to serve a considerable population of human beings with special hearing capabilities. Languages were/are means and vehicles of communication through which thoughts, were/are exchanged and through which feelings and attitudes were/are expressed. They were/are also means through which trade commodities: goods, services, human interests were/are handled between individual and communities. 557
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 16, Number 4 (2010) The needs of modern communities have changed from simple individualistic limited needs into this recent big global complex economy. The growth of needs is a result of the fast growth of population, as the rates of deaths are coming down and the rates of births going up. Efficient means of transportation: wireless, electronic internet and modern means of communication have facilitated the movement of people, ideas, commodities and services from one part of the earth to the other within very short time. Subsequently, these modern societies willingly or unwillingly have to get into physical contact to share and defend common interests on this planet. This contact accelerated the development of language implementation for practical use, from serving small limited needs to a wide range of human complex wants and aspirations. From here people began to cater for foreign language acquisition as a practical need to defend their own interests and to exchange feelings, ideas, service and commodities. Languages had always been means of communication and unity among one people of homogeneous nature, despite the differences of colour, race, religion or the place of birth. But languages as well were sometimes behind the causes of long disputes and discords among people as some historical events could show. Disputes erupt when different interests come into some sort of disagreement, and when a certain people want to empower their culture or economic power on others, as it was the case during the colonial era, when colonizers imposed their languages and cultures on the suppressed nations. But most of those suppressed people did not accept the situation and therefore they fought to defend their indigenous languages to survive. Language is the permanent address of man. It betrays his identity and serves as a reservoir of human oral and written heritage, for this reason – and for this reason only - language education is given and should be given much care today and in future. Language education is a big business today. The teaching of English makes a major support to the British and American budgets by providing the national income with millions of pounds and dollars from young men and women, heading west to improve their language skills and gain degrees from Europe or America. Definitely, they will have to pay billions of dollars, Euros or sterling pounds in addition to some Russian rubles for their education.
3.0. Language Barriers and Solution Tricks According to Crystal:(1996), people come to speak different languages because- historically-natural barriers such as large rivers, seas, deserts, and mountain ranges have prevented migration and reduced the flow between certain regions. But people now can easily cross from one side of the world to the other within less than a day by a jet airbus 380 that can fly from Singapore to London crossing 10,847 km, in a 14 hour- non-stop-flight. So, the geographical factor is longer that barrier. The radio, Satellite stations, mobile phone, cable and wireless internet access are available, covering every remote distance. These factors have practically diminished the physical challenges of distance between people. Communities that live in one geographical area often share the same ideas and feelings. These people may be of a homogeneous ethnic entity, so they find no difficulty to speak one indigenous language. But they may be heterogeneous, living in distant geographical units, but they share the same feelings towards one specific language as being sacrosanct such as the belief of Muslims in Arabic, Jews with the Hebrew and the Buddhists with the Sanskrit. So, socio-economic and religious backgrounds factors are effective in determining the language use within one specific community or another.
4.0. Overcoming the Language Barrier Man did not give up trying to overcome the language barrier. The main reason behind language planning is the triumph over the language barriers that stand between people who live in one place, speaking different codes; however, they find difficulty in contact. Man failed to totally overcome this 558
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 16, Number 4 (2010) problem, but succeeded- to some extent- by using some tricks to establish positive communication between individuals and groups. Let us now examine some of these tricks as practical human attempts to overcome the language barriers. 4.1. One Universal Language This trick was used to overcome the language barrier by recommending the use of one universal language such as English or Spanish, to be adopted - unanimously - by the international community as one single language of communication. However, this project was aborted because people feared the loss of their identity through the claim of superiority of one language over others. Language was/is always connected and closely tied with personal, political and social entity of the people throughout history. 4.2. A Man-Made-Language Another daring attempt was the invention of the Esperanto as a neutral man-made language invented in 1887 as an easy and practical means of communication. This language borrowed the main features of European languages, but with easy grammar and pronunciation. The inventor of the language Ludwick L. Zamenhof (1858-1917), who hoped - as the word Esperanto originally derived from Latin meant HOPE - to see the language as unanimously accepted as neutral means of communication between human beings. The Esperanto is now the working language of several non-profit international organizations such as the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, but most others are specifically Esperanto organizations. The largest of these, the World Esperanto Association, has an official consultative relationship with the United Nations and UNESCO. The U.S. Army has published military phrasebooks in Esperanto, to be used in war games by the enemy (i.e. non-U.S.) forces. But this project also failed for political, social and economic reasons, although it was recognized by million of advocates of speakers in the international community. (for more details please Google Esperanto in the Web) 4.3. Monolingualsim vs. Multilingualism Is man by nature a monolingual or multilingual creature? Crystal:(1996) answered this question by stating that people, brought up within a western society often think that monolingualism that firms a routine part of their existence is the normal way of life. But these people are wrong as he said because multilingualism is the natural way of life for hundreds of millions all over the world. This fact will determine that multilingualism is the main feature of human community, and should be the focus of language educators to recognize this fact to develop modern language education. This realization of language diversity should create positive understanding among human beings. Multilingual situation can develop for many reasons, although it is often the situation of the people's own choosing; but may also be forced upon them by other circumstances. According to Crystal:(1996), politics annexations and other political or military acts can have immediate linguistic effects. People may become refugees and have to learn their new homes language. Other factors may come from religion where some people wish to live in country because of its religious significance. There are other factors such as culture, when people want to learn about others. There are also economic factors where people leave their homes looking for better jobs and pay. They will have to adopt the language of the new homes and their ways of life. Natural causes such as drought, volcanic eruptions, fires famine cause major movements of people from one place to another. New language contact situations will emerge as people are resettled in their new places. The realization of multilingualism situations aroused many questions about language issue all over the world. It made individual person and government authorities aware of the fact of diversity to begin language planning. Diversity is not always a source of social clashes between people who live in one geographical unit. Nor, should it be a cause behind the clashes between civilizations as some 559
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 16, Number 4 (2010) people may think. Diversity can be a factor of unity and strength if the subject is wisely tackled through language balancing. Good examples can be seen in the case of Paraguay where Gujarati and Spanish, both have social and political status in the country, or as it is the case in Switzerland where French, German, Italian, and Rumantsch, has been touted as a successful multilingual society or even as a miracle of unity in diversity. Cheshire (1990:19). Also South Africa in its new indigenous ruling political system is another good example, where local languages were recognized and protected by law. The language balancing is not an impossible goal, but can be achieved through wise planning and management. Multilingualism or bilingualism situations are changing to increase in some places as it is the case in Sweden after the World War Two, while it is the opposite situation in the USA whereas new third generation of immigrants is becoming increasingly monolingual. Crystal:(1996) The language issue was and still is one of the main factors of national solidarity and unity everywhere in the world. It is as well, a factor of long discord and conflict between races since the dawn of history. This development led to language engineering ass language planning proves to be a thorn in the flesh of all who governs whether at national or local level. Crystal:(1996). So the modern state has to interfere in planning for language as it makes plans for its strategic nationwide projects. Language planning or language engineering as it is sometimes called, is a term introduced in the literature of languages in the 1960s. The significance of the term is similar in Guatemala as its in Ethiopia or South Africa, where the government intervenes to plan for the society its means of communication. It involves the creation and implementation of an official policy of how the languages and linguistic varieties of a country are to be used as Crystal:(1996) put it. This official policy is sometimes the responsibility of ministries, departments or academies affiliated to the government institutes or by individual persons. The planning is sometimes fully supported by communities, but might be faced with opposition due to religious, social, economic or political factors or due to hidden individual or governmental agendas 4.4. Translation One final good trick to overcome this barrier is through translation, where someone is required to play the role of middleperson, to decipher meanings from the speaker to the audience and vise-versa. However, translation was sometimes impractical due to availability of access to a translator or interpreter at the moment of the interaction, in addition to other problems that emerge from bad translation, which may sometimes lead to misunderstanding between individuals or communities. 4.5.1. Bad Translations Bad translation is due to: intentional and intentional factors. a) Intentional factors: it is where the translator tries to serve his/her own personal or/and national religious, political, racial and economic agendas by intentionally mistranslating or misinterpreting the text or the message from the source language to the target language. b) Unintentional factors are due to: • lack, insufficiency or inappropriateness of the translator's tools. This happens when the translator is poorly equipped with language command of the source or/and the target languages or when he is unable to use technical aids such as dictionaries, glossaries and translating machines. • complications that emerge from lack of the knowledge of the cultural and social background of the text or the message. • the misunderstanding of the context in the source language. • the nature of the text (e.g. scientific, religious or legal), • the degree of difficulty of the text and its translatability into the target language. • the inability of the translator to get the denotative meaning, which is the meaning beyond the lines of the text or the context. 560
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5.0. Language and Translation Education in the Arab World Language education witnessed some growth and improvement in most Arab world institutions. This can be noticed in the growth of schools that offer foreign language education in Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and other Arabs countries. The number of language graduates has multiplied many times and the market need for this profession has increased due to the growth of global interaction with the international business community. There is a growing interest at government and private levels in language education as this will help develop and improve the communication between the local and the international community in business, diplomacy, education and tourism. There is also a growing interest among the academic personnel where seminars, conferences and debates on language issues are frequently handled. International contests such as the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Translation and Sheikh Zaid Al Maktoum prizes began to attract outstanding figures in the field of translation, in addition to many other individuals who began to give attention to language education in general and translation skills in particular. But despite of all these effort from government and the private sector with this language issue, there is still inconvenience due to the poor outcome of graduates of these language schools. Most stake-holders: employers, government and private sectors are unhappy with the performance of these language graduates. Most of the complaints come from employers in the private sector, where market competition allows no place for poor performance in carrying out the business with low communication skills. It is a pity as Siddiek:(2010) noticed, the poor performance of custom and passport officers in some airports or seaports in the Arab world. These officers demonstrate very poor language performance when they are engaged with foreigners in daily routines at such very sensitive places. Through my own long teaching experience, I feel the poor performance of my students and the continuous deterioration of their performance from one year to another. This problem of language deterioration is a common feature in almost all Arab educational system, where we witness a fearful drop in students' achievements. But the foreign language education is easy to handle in a well – to do country like Saudi Arabia, where the government is very generous with its young men and women as well as the academic staff; as it frequently encourages them to have language courses abroad to improve their communication skills. Language education in Saudi Arabia in particular is given much care, as this country receives millions of Muslims during the Hajj season every year, from the four corners of the globe, in addition to a considerable number of additional millions of other foreigners from all over the world, who are permanent residents in the country as foreign expatriates. 5.1. Translation and Language Education Despite of all the efforts in the field of teaching languages, there is a deficiency in the teaching of translation as well as scarcity in the translation of materials from other cultures. It is a pity to realize that the Arab world has translated less than ten thousand books during the last 50 years while one country as Greece has translated ten times the amount of books translated in the Arab world during the same period. Zawi (2009). What is the reason behind this poverty in translation efforts? Lack of enthusiasm into translation of foreign materials in the Arab world is not only due to the poor teaching and learning of foreign languages, but it is the product of ill-feeling which inhibits the Arab personality-the false feeling of self-contained in creative thinking. According to Zawi (2009), "we Arabs believe that we are the nation of poets, so we feel there is no need to translate poetry. We also think that we are the nation who speaks the language of paradise – as some Muslim Arabs believe that Arabic is the language of the people of Paradise – hence, we do not need to speak other people's languages. We believe that we are the people who invented and exported the medical knowledge and wisdom to the outside world, so we do not need to import today what we had given yesterday." The teaching of translation courses in universities is not that satisfactory, as there is no well designed syllabus to facilitate teaching this subject. The materials used are not that authenticated and a bit far away from the practical needs of the learner and the market's need. The teaching of even simple 561
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 16, Number 4 (2010) introductory courses in translation is lacking in almost all secondary school education syllabus in the Arab world. This is evident in my own country Sudan, where the English language syllabus does not embed any translation tasks for the young learners in their textbooks or in their students' workbooks. We need to introduce and give boys and girls small doses of translation tasks to make them familiar with the differences in language structures and grammar, as well they will be able to acquire new techniques in writing and expressing themselves. In addition, they can develop building vocabulary where translation is the most effective method to help learners in this area of foreign language acquisition. 5.2. Translations vs. Language Proficiency We are all familiar with the four language skills that are listening speaking, reading and writing, but Lado ( 1975) sees that translation can be counted as the fifth language skill. We as language teachers cater very much for teaching the language skills as they appear in that order: listening, speaking, then reading and writing. We have to listen to the language so as to speak, and then we read so as to write. As a matter of fact these techniques are good to produce good language proficiency standard. Then with time we will improve our abilities to fully understand the small details of the language. Some of us would be in position to look like native speakers, but most of the learners will become foreign language consumers rather than producers. They would use the language in academic achievements to get their degrees, to have good paid jobs and make future career. They would buy the foreign books and read them. They would watch the foreign films in their original language and they would understand and enjoy them. They could be able to use the language in their travelling through the world and enjoy their time using the foreign languages efficiently in real life situations. This is all well, but here the language is used for only limited personal purposes. We as foreign language teachers will be thanked for our efforts to enable learners use the language professionally to get knowledge directly from its foreign sources with its all essence. These fluent language learners would enjoy their mastery of the language, but what about the other people who do not know these foreign languages and who have strong desire to learn and get knowledge from its original sources? From here we will begin to see the importance of teaching translation at schools and degree levels. 5.3. Some Asian Models: Japan & Korea Mastering a language does not provide good grounds for social and economic development in the society. If this is true the African Francophone and Anglophone states would have made the same progress as their old colonizers. But the Senegalese and the Moroccan although fluent French speakers, they have not made much progress similar to their old colonizers in Paris. The case is also applicable to the English nations in Africa such as the Ghanaian and Nigerian people who are fluent in English but they have not made similar progress as their old colonizers in London. The case is as applicable to the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch colonies who speak the language but they have little share in the development of modern human knowledge. But some nations did not take to learning the language alone focused on the teaching and using those languages in translating and transferring knowledge from those colonizing dominant cultures into their languages. The Chinese, the Koreans, the Japanese and recently the Vietnamese are good examples of such people, where translation has produced practical benefits to their societies in the transfer of technology and modern knowledge in almost every field of life. These people gave practical evidences that man can learn very well through his own mother tongue rather than he learns through foreign language, when used as means of instruction. These Asian people are not that fluent in using English or French as it is the case in Africa, but they are (fluent) in producing this highly advanced technology which we can see and use everywhere in the world. Now we can have this account of the position of translation in the Korean and Japanese community as examples. The Korean nation is making a tremendous share in the modern history. The 562
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 16, Number 4 (2010) Korean technology is everywhere at our reach from the simple toy for our children to the most sophisticated microchips in our highly effective and fast computers. The Korean as we should tell have not been long exposed to long western colonizing powers as it was the case in Africa and somewhere else. This made them conservative with their own Korean language whereas the African adopted the English, French and Portuguese as lingua franca and gave them official status in government and education. But how did this people (Korean and Japanese) come to contribute this hell of knowledge in these modern times? According to Eun-gyong (2010), historically, the English language education was first introduced to Korea in 1883, when the Joseon government opened an English language school in order to train interpreters. Since then, English has enjoyed the status as the most popular foreign language during the greater part of its existence in what is today South Korea. And according to a report by the Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI), Koreans spend about 15 trillion won ($15.8 billion) on English learning per year (ibid). Koreans also topped the applicant list of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) between 2004 and 2005 as about 102,340 out of the 554,942 applicants were Koreans. They also paid 700 billion wons toward English examination fees. Enthusiasm for English study has also seen a large number of children, teenagers and even adults going to Englishspeaking countries like the United States, Australia and Britain to study. Last year some 250,000 under 29 years old went abroad for studying. Choi (2010) says that, although it is generally thought that the status of interpreters in Korea was relatively low, a recently-televised Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) documentary, “History Special,” aimed at dispelling historical myths and misconceptions, shows that the opposite was true. The July 8, 2000 program focused on interpreters during the Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910), pointing out that the profession did not have a lowly status and that in fact members belonged to the middle class and were often extremely wealthy. So we can easily see in this statement the bright picture of those translators and interpreters. They were highly steamed in their society as well as they were well off as they were belonging to the middle class in society. Interpreters, according to Choi (2010), were not doing translation only, but were often responsible for managing and directing the numerous diplomatic missions to China and Japan. The positions were so coveted that fathers trained their sons and even grandsons to become interpreters, by hiring foreign live-in tutors. But the ultimate goal was to send their sons to a foreign language institution that specialized in training interpreters in one or more of the three major. No doubt this good piece of information would make the entire community of translators feel happiness and some satisfaction to see those people, not only doing the translation job but they were as well high diplomatic representatives of their countries abroad. The translation and interpretation professional like any other job can attract only good and fluent professional men and women. This suiation was positive for translators in Korea; they were not paid a salary, per se, but were granted royal authorization to conduct trade on their trips abroad. The situation was different in Japan as Japanese intellectuals were especially interested in foreign culture. Japan began to lay a foundation over a century ago, which ultimately resulted in its becoming the world’s second-most important economic power. Choi: (2010) adds that, in contrast, China and Korea, each for different reasons, were unwilling to accept Western culture, and that decision delayed their development in this era of globalization. The reason for Korea’s lag behind Japan in the quest for modernization was its inability to directly access Western science and technology. There were no interpreters absolutely anyone who could understand Western languages. This is to say, from the very beginning, Korea was disadvantaged compared to Japan and China. Translation has played an extremely important role in Japan from the early modern period to the present day. In a sense, translation represents the border at which different cultures meet, given that translation is the place where an idea present in one culture makes its way into another culture at the semantic level. Translation has also played an enormous role in the development of culture, especially 563
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 16, Number 4 (2010) literary culture; however, the cultural processes at work in translation still require additional study. (See http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/research/team/honyaku_e.html) These points have shed light on the role of translators and interpreters in the Asian community by studying the Korean and the Japanese models. It is worth mentioning that education in all forms, from the primary level up to university is carried out through the native languages of these people. Although they have this tremendous eagerness to study foreign languages but translation still is the most practical means for transferring and importing knowledge to the majority of knowledge consumers in their own local languages. 5.4. Translations in Europe According to Choi (2010) the status of any profession is determined by its place in a given society and the extent to which the members of that profession can easily be replaced. For example, a society needs janitors, and nobody will deny that they are indispensable. This can be applicable to the European communities that have made translation crucial in the building of Europe. Translators are the key that unlocks this tower of Babel. They contribute with modesty, courage and perseverance to the European ideal. They prove their talent and their creativity in expressing Community concepts in all European languages and disseminating the European message as widely as possible." The first sentence: translators are the key that unlocks this tower of Babel, is clearly describing the position of those people in the development, prosperity and democracy in their societies, where they contribute with modesty, courage and perseverance to the European ideal. A huge proportion of the budget of the European Union is spent on multilingualism, whereas the costs of translation and interpretation in the EU institutions account for not less than 1% of the total annual budget of the European Union (corresponding to approximately €2 per head of population). At the Commission, the annual costs for translation are estimated at €300 million – which is equivalent to about €0.60 per head of population per year and a modest price to pay for guaranteeing democracy and equal rights among citizens. See more details at (ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/publications/.../translation_history_en.pdf) As a translator you must have felt the happiness and satisfaction by reading this piece of information; that moneywise translation profession is highly rewarding in Europe. The figures are of great significance that translators are well rewarded and they are paid 1% of the EEC budget for carrying out this job. But the most significant is that, that approximately every citizen in the European Union pays at least more than half a euro to facilitate communication among the nations of the union and at the same time maintain and defend his/her own language and culture. Over the last fifty years, the number of official languages has increased gradually from four to twenty-three. When a new Member State joins the European Union, the Treaties are translated into the language of the country in question and this new language version is deemed “authentic” (that is to say, it has legal force) in the same way as the four original versions. Thus, the founding Treaties of the European Union now exist in 23 languages. (http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/indexen.htm) To conclude this we can see that the role of these people is undeniable through history. The recent story of this influential intellectual force is a good evidence for the importance of this profession in human development and in keeping the machine of culture and civilization go on, to achieve happiness to mankind on earth. We can see that the history of translation at the European Commission is first and foremost the story of men and women whose work helped to create the European Union. Union between the peoples of Europe would have been unthinkable without translation to build bridges. How, without translation, would nation states have reached agreement and how would European citizens have played their part in realizing such an ambitious project? visit ( http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/indexen.htm)
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European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 16, Number 4 (2010) 5.5. Historical Perspective of Translation in the Arab World This situation of translation in Europe is a good indicator that translation business in Europe is highly valued among European races. We have good evidence from history that translation in the Islamic renaissance during the Islamic empire made great share to civilization of mankind, by translating the great works of the Greek, the Romans, the Chinese and Indian wisdom into Arabic, and from Arabic those arts and scientific knowledge spread to Europe, to make a revolution that took Europe from the middle ages to the age of enlightenment. Translators were highly esteemed and honoured for their work in the great palaces of the Umayyads and Abbasids Caliphates. The Abbasid's House of Wisdom (Bayt Alhikma - bookstore) in Baghdad was mainly built as an academy where hundreds of scientist and translator work together to collect and translate the human wisdom into Arabic from many languages including Farsi, Aramaic, Hindi, Syrian, Greek Latin and Hebrew into Arabic. For more details visit (http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=667) It is no secret that even the most dominant languages such as the Spanish, the English and the French frequently take from each other and from other languages, as translation is one means for the intermarriage between human cultures. It is through the translation and not the assimilation only to speak and write other nations' languages, people can posses the tools of educational, economic, social and political progress. Translation can betray the degree of the taste of the reader who is targeted by that translation. At the same time translation can tell us about the degree of the basic concerns of intelligentsia, on which the society bets for its progress, its change and its development. Thus, if we want to measure the degree of the progress of any people in the world; or if we want to see the growth of one specific language or ideology somewhere, we have to assess how those people value the role of translators among them, Zawi (2009). It is no secret that any language that does not lend or borrow from other languages would soon be extinct. Translation is an exercise for any language to develop and communicate novel ideas or ways of expressing, feelings and serving satisfactorily the needs of the people. Languages need to inject their veins with new vocabulary and other linguistic features from other languages. Even the primitive Hutu in the desert of Kalahari or the primitive tribe in the tropicals in Asia can contribute in the development of human commutation. Zawi (2009) believes that, people may be economically self sufficient but they will not be selfcontained in artistic and literary products. Even great economies like America, Britain, German, France, Russia and Japan-with their huge human mental energies-exert great efforts to import and take loans of knowledge from others. This is simply because every nation needs to discover other human achievements what-so-ever development that nation has achieved. This kind of exploration in other nation's achievements would save us from this backwardedness in the Arab world. So if the Arabs want to surely enter history, they will have to reconsider the reality for the need of translation within their communities. 5.6. The Way Out If we want translation to play a vital role in future developments we have to engage ourselves in national and regional projects. So, we have to make a rigid evaluation of the whole situation in the field of language education in our schools and professional institutes. The assessment should include the revision of the objectives of learning of the foreign languages in our schools, and the revision of the teaching methods. We also need to revise the programmes and check the means of the follow-up, and finally we have to set good criteria of evaluation of these programmes. We also need to establish an accurate database for the translated materials from other languages as well as from Arabic into other languages. This database will enable us to reflect the real image of ourselves and make the other people see us as we want to be seen. We need to know exactly the number of Arab professional translators because this influential power is the machine with which we will be able to carry out the job professionally and make the 565
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 16, Number 4 (2010) change. We also need a reliable database about foreign translators. We have to encourage translators and interpreters with satisfactory incentives to make the profession attractive and inviting for the future generation. We have also to realize the crucial and critical role of the community of translators in the progress of educational and socio-economic development of societies. They are to be frequently rewarded, to encourage creative individuals in this field. It is a good beginning that some progress is taking place in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates in addition to other official private and governmental initiatives. Foreign translators should also be encouraged for their job, as they introduce our culture to others. We have to recognize the role of the old frontiers of translators who enriched our culture with borrowed loans from other nations. We have to feel grateful for those nations who lent us some of their human products in the fields of arts, science, philosophy and wisdom. (Zawi: 2009). The education of translation should begin with the young learners from the very start of their education at the primary level up to the tertiary level of education. The impact of language teaching through translation is of immediate result in both language proficiency and knowledge transfer. Through translation classes and translation programmes learners can quickly acquire the vocabulary of the language and realize the syntactic and grammatical structures of the source language. This knowledge will enable them to compare the linguistic features of both the target and the source language; and through translation also a physical contact can take place between the entire human communities to exchange feelings and ideas.
6.0. Conclusion Foreign language education is very important in this fast global economy where business, international relation, effective diplomacy and efficient education are all vehicles for socio-economic development. Therefore, if we have to establish positive communication, foreign language education should be our aim to attain these goals. But language teaching and learning alone do not benefit our people if it is not accompanied by translation projects and serious efforts for teaching and learning translating from other languages. Translation is the fastest and the most secure vehicle for the transfer of human feelings, wisdom and philosophy from people to people. Translation is the conveyor belt of human knowledge from one generation to another. Through translations the language elements move as loans (give & take) then these loans maintain languages to grow and survive. Both the sources and the target languages benefit from translation from and into by the exchanging of new ideas and new ways of expressions.
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