UNESCO and KSA will use translation to bridge cultural divides

 UNESCO and KSA will use translation to bridge cultural divides

                                                Source arabnews.com

RIYADH: To create the UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures, the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies and the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation recently inked an agreement.

Audrey Azoulay, the director general of UNESCO, and Princess Maha bint Mohammed Al-Faisal, the secretary-general of the centre, signed the agreement.

Dr. Moneera Al-Ghadeer will serve as the chair's director, and it will be formed with the help of the Saudi Arabian Commission on Literature, Publishing, and Translation.

It will support the expanding demands for cultural diversity, inclusive and fair education, and interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences. By encouraging partnerships between academics with expertise in translation, culture, intangible heritage, the humanities, and artificial intelligence at the local, regional, and global levels, its thematic concerns will open the door for cutting-edge research in the field of cultural translation.

Al-Ghadeer stated: "The Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission generously supports the establishment of the UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures, which aims to progress at the same rate as the thriving translation movement in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The translation movements that occurred in the multilingual and multicultural cultures of the Umayyad and Abbasid eras, as well as the Andalusian age, are remembered by the UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures. Some of the largest translation undertakings in history were carried out during these times of civilisation, particularly the translation of scientific and cultural works from the old Eastern languages into Arabic.

Al-Ghadeer continued, "Cultural ties among the Southern countries also reached a critical point during this early phase, facilitating the flow of information from the Greeks to the Arabs and back to Europe, so fostering the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment. We can argue that the world has undergone significant transformation as a result of this philosophical tradition of translation.

The UNESCO chair will use the legacy of old Arab civilisation to develop a future vision, according to Al-Ghadeer. According to the chair, translating cultures is a continuous process that involves information distribution, communication both within and across cultures, translation, and transmission.

It will reevaluate 21st-century translation techniques, technology, and knowledge transitions. The UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures will integrate geolinguistic diversity as well as theoretical and philosophical thought from a variety of cultural viewpoints by taking a global rather than Eurocentric viewpoint.

Additionally, a Translating Cultures Lab has been set up. The organisation will produce theoretical research on cultural translation that is comparative and focuses on Saudi Arabia and the Arab world.

"It will also investigate cultural exchanges among Global South nations concerning the themes and languages of the chair," Al-Ghadeer stated.

Source arabnews.com