Every 30 September, we celebrate International Translation Day (or ITD). Few people know this day even exists, so I’m going to tell you a little bit more about it.
Why is it on 30 September?
First question: why this date? Well, this is because 30 September is Saint Jérôme Day. And Saint Jérôme is considered the patron saint of translators! That’s right! Why, you may ask? Because he is knownas the “official” translator, or rather second translator, of the Bible. In his day (in the 4th century), existing translations of the Bible were terribly bad. So, he was asked to retranslate the Ancient Testament (from Hebrew) and the New Testament (from Greek) entirely. This translation, known as the Vulgate, was written between 390 and 405 AD, and remained the official translation of the Bible until the 20th century. It was also the first book ever printed by Gutenberg in 1454!
How long have we celebrated International Translation Day?
The FIT (Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs / International Federation of Translators) has celebrated this day since its creation in 1953. But the idea of an international translation day officially recognised and aimed at demonstrating the solidarity of the translators’ community worldwide and promoting translation across countries only appeared in 1991.
Recognition from the UN
In 2017, the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted resolution A/RES/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, to be celebrated in all the countries of the UN network.
ITD 2018
This year, the theme of the IDT is: “Translation: promoting cultural heritage in changing times”. This is going to be interesting!
Camille Gondral 