DOHA: In an unfortunate situation some translators with lack of skills are just rendering a form of letters into another form of letters, according to an expert.
Lack of good understanding of the source language (English or Arabic) is one of the major challenges in the translation field in Qatar, said Dr Salah Basalamah (pictured), Associate Professor, Postgraduate Studies & Research Programme at the Translation and Interpreting Institute (TII) of Hamad bin Khalifa University.
About the challenges in the translation industry in Qatar, Dr Basalamah said with Qatar hosting major conferences and events which bring thousands from foreign countries and many people coming here for employment translation plays a major role.
“When you see offices offering translation, they are really a mess. It’s really unfortunate to see that some non-Arabic speaking people are translating into Arabic because they are able to read the Arabic letters.
“So this sort of situation is leading into different things. It’s affecting the quality of work and at the same time is lowering the status of the translator. The translator is becoming a person who is rendering a form of letters into another form of letters, it doesn’t mean the meaning of the words are taken into account. For a very low price you can get the translation done, where it could have been better done through Google translation,” Dr Basalamah told this newspaper.
TII provides translator and interpreter education, high-level training in a range of languages, and quality translation and interpreting services of the highest international standards.
The institute provides training and qualifies people who seek to improve their translation and language skills. “What we would like to do is kind of promote a culture of professionalism and accuracy, quality and something really needed with the aspirations of the country in the face of the world,” said Dr Basalamah.
In a new move the TII recently introduced Master of Audiovisual Translation focuses on the translation of audio, visual, or audiovisual material. This includes the dubbing and subtitling of movies, television shows, and other videos.
Speaking about the importance of audio visual translation Dr Basalamah said: “Today we are in multimedia age, the image needs to be there, it’s not enough to have just text.”
“Qatar is leading in providing services to people with special needs. Audio visual translation is one that offering the services. It’s not only for people with hearing difficulties but also the visually impairment people,” he said.
The Peninsula
