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A ‘Translation from German to Arabic’ seminar, which was held recently at the Frankfurt International Book Fair, discussed the difficulties facing translating into Arabic from the experience of the Kalima Translation Project at the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi.
The seminar was presented by Saeed Hamdan Al-Tanaiji, Director of Programme Management at the National Library Department, translator and journalist Mustafa Al-Slaiman, Klaus Reichert, Professor of English and American Literature at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, and Stefan Weidner, writer, journalist and translator.
At the beginning of the seminar, Al-Tanaiji explained that Kalima is a pioneering translation project, which has succeeded in creating direct links with international publishers and writers to translate titles in Arabic from all fields of knowledge.
With more than 1,000 titles translated from 13 languages, the project not only offer various translations into Arabic, but also contributes to the development of the Arabic publishing industry. Ten years ago, the number of publishing houses specialised in translation was miniscule, whether in Egypt, Lebanon or Kuwait, and work was limited to the translation of literature.
However, the Kalima project introduced the translation of various publications concerned with science and arts, while protecting intellectual and literary rights for all parties.
Al-Tanaiji said: “Over the past years we have been driven to deliver these books to all the Arab countries, and thanks to the efforts made to catalyse our activity in the media and on social media platforms, we were able to do so after witnessing the demand of translated books. In general, Arabic publishing faces the problem of purchasing-power disparities between countries, which contributes to the increased demand on Kalima’s publications in Arab countries, which we measure through our participation in various Arab and international book fairs and through direct demand.
“For our part, we try to create direct co-operation with the local agents in Arab countries and to reduce prices, while we are currently working on developing of e-books to overcome distribution obstacles and high cost.
Al-Tanaiji pointed out that Kalima is a non-profit enlightening cultural project aimed at furthering the translation industry in the Arab world, and also provides supporting to publishing houses through the Jusoor (Bridges) initiative and others to support translation and translators and reward them, which encourages translators to be perfect their skills and work.
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