People celebrating International Translation Day

Happy International Translation Day!

Imagine it’s the 30th September. That shouldn’t be too difficult. It’s a Tuesday, so you’re probably at work, the weather’s reasonable, dry and quite balmy for the time of year, and it’s only flippin’ International Translation Day!

That’s right. As firm believers in fashionably late, Linguistica International is here just a week on from the main event to spread a little Translation Day cheer. So party hats on please and goodie bags at the ready as we celebrate International Translation Day in style.

First, a little history

Before things get out of hand, let’s step back in time to the inaugural International Translation Day. It’s 1953 and International Translation Day has just been established by the International Federation of Translators (FIT), making it one of the more recent entries into the calendar of world events. In 1991, the FIT launched the idea of an officially recognised day to show the solidarity of the translation community and promote the translation profession.

The date of International Translation Day, the 30th September, was chosen to coincide with the feast of St. Jerome. This Christian scholar and priest was the first person to translate the Bible into Latin from the original Hebrew, making it accessible to a much wider audience. For these services rendered, St Jerome is universally acknowledged as the patron saint of translators.

Some other international celebration days

We thought we’d take a quick look at a few other international days of celebration to add a little context.

• Today (8th October) is simultaneously Pet Obesity Awareness Day, World Octopus Day and Bring your Teddy Bear to Work Day
• Yesterday was International Bathtub Day
• Tomorrow will be Mouldy Cheese Day

So that should give you some idea of the gravitas of International Translation Day, which is why we’re making such a fuss!

Translation Day party games

For all you aspiring translators, here are a few translation party games that can help to improve your foreign language skills.

Sporcle offer a range of free translation games, from foreign language basics to deciphering a range of badly translated movie quotes. There’s something for every level of language ability, from beginners to language experts.

Of course, there is a huge difference between being bilingual and working as a professional translator. At Linguistica International, the quality of all our translations is assured by the use of professional mother tongue translators with at least five years’ language experience and relevant translation qualifications.

Fascinating translation facts

Did you know that:

• A typical professional translator will translate between 300,000 and 1,000,000 words per year!
• The Bible is not the most translated book – at least in full. A 2011 Jehovah’s Witnesses publication “Listen to God and Live Forever” has been translated into more languages.
• Pinocchio, written by Carlo Collodi, has been translated from the original Italian into over 240 languages.
• Bilinguals are often found to be more creative, better problem solvers and better planners than monolinguals.
• 99 percent of Latvians can speak two or more languages, compared with just 18 percent of Americans.
• Papua New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse country, with 830 indigenous languages.
• A total of 3.457 billion people speak the world’s ten most popular languages. That’s almost half the population of the planet, despite the fact that there are over 6,000 different languages and cultures across the world.

Stay tuned to the Linguistica International blog as we pack our party frocks away and get back to business in the coming weeks with more translation hints, tips and critiques. For more information about how we can help your business, please get in touch with our friendly translation team today.