Yemen comes at the bottom in translation movement, academics

Mr. Ahmed al-Sharabi and Dr. Masood Amshosh in a symposium; titled “scientific translation in Yemen” at al-Afifi

What has been translated into Arabic during the past twenty years did not exceed 4000 books, which is a poor statistic compared to Japan which translated 1700 scientific books in one year, according to the Vice-Dean at College of Arts Faculty, Aden University, Dr. Masood Amshosh in a symposium titled “Scientific Translation in Yemen” held last Tuesday at the al-Afif Cultural Foundation.
 

He added that Yemen comes at the bottom on a list of Arab countries in the translation field. He said the reason for this problem is the exclusion of the translated products from any awards, in addition to the lack of academic institutions recognizing these products.
 

He talked about the Arab renaissance project, which has its basis in Egypt, when Muhammad Ali had given an interest in science and translation on all subjects from Western languages into Arabic. Mohammed Ali didn’t only send students of modern science to the west, but he established the language school to supervise on translation of some scientific books into Arabic.
 

Dr. Amshosh discussed the difference between the scientific and literary translation. He highlighted the difficulties in both translations, especially the literary one.  Additionally, e presente a general idea of the experience of Aden University in scientific translations.
 

Amshosh also spoke about the Arabs’ problem with the indoctrination of science, rather than the production of it, despite the significant number of creative and innovative Arab minds.
 

He called for establishing a language center for translation, like those that exist in some arab countries.  He expressed his hopes to raise the level of translation, as well as activating the role of universities in Yemen.
 

The critic Mohammed Naji Ahmed made a comment in the symposium calling for the teaching of other languages in addition to the native language for children. A step which will further the translation field.

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