The influence of interpreters on history
The previous post addressed the impact of translators on history. This article focuses on the special influence of the interpreters. Unlike a translation that deals with written text, the interpreter translates orally. Today, the profession of interpreters is highly developed and divided into sub-fields and specializations – consecutive and simultaneous interpretation with business specializations, accompanying […]
Translation and culture
There is a romantic beauty in the translator’s role in connecting cultures, openness to new world, transferring knowledge and technology that enables progress. Knowledge that shapes myths, symbols, norms and ideologies is deeply engraved in societies separated from each other by both physical and temporal distances. When the translator in the ancient world was exposed […]
The Language Revolution
Two revolutions have taken place in the field of language – the revolution of the language evolution and the revolution of language research in the academic world, which has occurred in the recent years. How can we explain the cultural evolution of human beings that evolved from a state similar to primates without language to […]
The Toledo School of Translators
The invention of writing has added the dimension of memory to language, and the possibility of preserving culture and knowledge for future generations. Translation from language to language enables us to harness the wealth of knowledge gained across cultures and advance forward on the shoulders of the past. In the year 1085, Alfonso VI conquered […]
Endangered Languages
Languages enable humans to integrate sounds into voices to express meaning. The creativity of humankind has resulted in the creation of a huge diversity of languages reaching about 7,000 languages. Half of the world’s population speaks about 50 languages and the other half speaks all the other languages with a third of theses languages spoken […]
The Translation Movement
Usually the word “translation” means the process of changing verbal or written content from one language to another. But the word translation is also used more generally as a process of conversion from one form to another. In the technology-related world, for example, one format can be translated to another or from one frequency to […]
Lingua Franca – English?
The term Lingua Franca originated from a nickname for European people called “Franks”, a nickname given by the Arabs to European people in the Middle Ages (Franks was earlier in history associated with 3rd century Germanic tribes, but in the Lingua Franca context it’s associated with the Arab nickname). Lingua Franca developed during the Middle […]
Septuagint – The Greek Bible Translation
The most translated book in the world is the Bible. The first known translation of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) is called the Septuagint and is a Greek translation. This translation has tremendous importance in the analysis and study of the Bible and even in the preservation of the Hebrew text. […]