The United Nations marks International Translation Day every year to honour the work of language professionals.

Guwahati, 30 September: International Translation Day is celebrated every year on September 30, on the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator who is considered the patron saint of translators.

International Federation of Translators (FIT) has been promoting the celebrations ever since it was set up in 1953.

In an effort to promote the translation profession in different countries FIT launched the idea of an officially recognized International Translation Day in 1991 in order to show solidarity of the worldwide translation community.

On May 24, 2017 The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution declaring September 30 as International Translation Day to recognise the role of professional translation in connecting nations.

Besides the FIT, several other organisations like International Association of Conference Interpreters, Critical Link International, International Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters, Red T, World Association of Sign Language Interpreters etc had also been advocating for the cause. Since 2018 The American Translators Association has celebrated International Translation Day (September 30) by publishing a series of social media posts to spread information and educate the public about the role of professional translators and interpreters.

The celebration for this year has even a greater cause as in May, the United Nations unanimously adopted a resolution recognising the role of professional translation in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding and development. The theme this year is “translation and diversity”. This is an opportunity to display pride in a profession that is becoming increasingly essential in the era of progressing globalization.

As we know that languages are structured differently it is important to understand that neither translation nor interpreting involve the transfer of words, they transfer meaning, which is done as truthfully as possible while taking into account the cultural and linguistic dissimilarities.

This is why for a translator or interpreter knowledge of two or more languages is not enough. It also entails the knowledge of the subject matter and training in the necessary techniques.