New UN Day honours unsung heroes who ensure diplomats are ‘on the same page

Recognising the unsung heroes behind international diplomacy, the United Nations celebrated – for the first time – International Translation Day, paying tribute to the work of the language professionals who play a vital role in facilitating dialogue and understanding among peoples and nations.

The simultaneous issuance of UN documents in the six official languages of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish is made possible by UN translators who, transpose content from the original texts into their main language.

Katherine Durnin, head of the UN English translation service, explained to UN News how her work ensures that Member States are using the correct texts during their discussions, thereby contributing to the overarching goals of the Organization.

"We ensure that when they are debating any subject, they all understand the same message, enabling their discussion to move forward in the language they know," Ms. Durnin said.

"In that way, they can reach the proper agreement because with the translations they are all on the same page," she added.

In declaring the International Day earlier this year, the General Assembly affirmed that "professional translation, as a trade and an art, plays an important role in upholding the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, bringing nations together, facilitating dialogue, understanding and cooperation, contributing to development and strengthening world peace and security."

Ms. Durnin noted that this recognition has lifted morale "amongst translators, interpreters, editors anyone who works on documentation."

"We play a behind-the-scenes role and we understand that," she stated. "The idea of being a translator is that someone doesn’t actually know that the text they are looking at is a translation; we are supposed to be invisible."

The celebration is meant as an opportunity to pay tribute to the work of language professionals, which plays an important role in bringing nations together, facilitating dialogue, understanding and cooperation, contributing to development and strengthening world peace and security.

Transposition of a literary or scientific work, including technical work, from one language into another language, professional translation, including translation proper, interpretation and terminology, is indispensable to preserving clarity, a positive climate and productiveness in international public discourse and interpersonal communication.

Thus, on 24 May 2017, the General Assembly adopted resolution 71/288 on the role of language professionals in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding and development, and declared 30 September as International Translation Day.