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Translation has created its own notion of truth and purpose, opined Dr Ovidi Carbonell Cortes, of the University of Salamanca in Spain, yesterday. He was delivering the keynote address at the fourth annual Translation Conference jointly organised by Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) Translation and Interpreting Institute (TII) and Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing (BQFP). |
Delegates from over 20 countries are participating in the conference.
The conference focuses on the theme “Texts in contexts: new cultural constellations in translation studies.” Dr Amal al-Malki, executive director, TII; and Hanouf al-Buainain, director, BQFP; welcomed the guests.
Dr Cortes said that translation is a negotiation of the text and the text has its own purpose. Analysing global perspectives on Arabic-Spanish translation, Dr Cortes dwelt on the influence of Arabic in Spanish language and how widely Arabic was appreciated in Spain.
“Arabic culture and language are very much appreciated in Spain. There are many instances of Arabisation of Spanish names. Many Spanish people were Arab historians,” he said, adding that Spanish -Arabic translation had direct relation to European colonisation.
Al-Malki said that academic panels were included for the first time in the conference. She said: “We bring new concepts and ideas in translation and interpreting and make others understand how important they are in such a globalised world. It is a festival for scholars, translators and students from around the world who will be engaged in a lot of fruitful discussions on various aspects of translation.”
She also hinted that many students from TII were participating in the conference and from next year students’ presentations also would be part of the conference.
Among the new additions to this year’s conference are the panel discussions and the author conversations that represent the intersections of academia, literature, and translation.
Samuel Shimon will describe today the past and present states of literary translation based on his experience as founder and editor of Banipal Magazine, which publishes literature in translation. Workshops in poetry, literary, audio-visual, and media translation will continue until the end of the three-day
conference.
