Doha: Intellectuals and translators from several Arab and foreign countries appreciated the State of Qatar’s roles and continuous efforts in sponsoring culture and literature, which facilitates communication among civilisations and international understanding, through the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding.
In exclusive statements to Qatar News Agency (QNA) on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the eighth edition of the award this evening, they stressed that the award contributed to increasing the works translated from and into Arabic from various languages of the world, and also contributed to achieving competition in improving works translated from and into different languages.
Iraq’s former Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Hassan Nazim hailed both the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding and the International Conference on Translation and Problems of Interculturalisation as important wings to support translation in the Arab world.
For his part, Egyptian translator and former head of the National Centre for Translation, Shukri Mujahid, said that the most important characteristic of the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation is that it motivated the quality of translation, as it spread the culture of perfection and quality. He also hailed the award’s integrity that made it gains the trust of translators from Arab countries and the world.
Representative of Lebanon’s Arab Network for Research and Publishing and winner of the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding in the Achievement category, Qassem Mansour extended thanks to the State of Qatar for this valuable award, which is a moral and material award. He added that the award motivates translators into further perfection, highlighting his institution’s interest in translating books that deal with contemporary issues.
Turkish translator Suner Duman, who claimed the third-place award, noted the importance of the award in supporting translation from Arabic, pointing out that he presented several translations, the most important of which was the translation of Ibn Taymiyyah’s Treatise on Juridical Politics.
Jordanian translator Youssef Hussein Bakkar, who claimed the award in 2020, hailed the award as one of the biggest and best, saying that it maintained its high level, accuracy and integrity, which encourages translators from worldwide.
Romanian translator George Gregory, Professor of Arabic Language at the University of Bucharest, winner of the Achievement Award in the Arabic-into-Romanian Translation category, said he translated the meanings of the holy Quran along with many of the most important religious, philosophical and linguistic Arabic books. He added that the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding is one of the most important Arab projects in support of Arab culture, explaining that the award is very important for translators in Romania because the award encourages students to learn Arabic.
Turkish translator and academic, Muhammed Haqi Sochin, winner of the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding in the Achievement category, said the award encourages translators because it covers different languages, creating competition for translators.
