Issue 80 - August 2011

How much communication occurs through translations in the Med?

Cultural dialogue with and within the Mediterranean has been much talked about recently. But how much do we actually know about the existing players, networks and facilitators that can carry this process beyond well-intended policy statements?

Next Page has just published a series of reports on the state of translations of Arabic and Turkish from and into 12 East European languages. Each study presents the general publishing/translation situation in a given country and then focuses on the translations from Arabic and Turkish published in it over the last 20 years, including historical context, translators’ issues, funding and other factors that influence the dynamics of translation. For the first time ever, comprehensive bibliographies compiled from different sources are presented.

Five years ago, when we published the first Lost and Found in Translation report, it highlighted some general issues of relevance in the field of translating into Arabic. Now, with this series of focused translation studies, we look into very particular language combinations and examine in-depth the translation flows between them.

The current studies are a continuation of our earlier efforts within the Encounters program, as well as a component of the first mapping of translation in the Mediterranean, led by Transeuropéennes and the Anna Lindh Foundation (Euro-Mediterranean Programme for Translation) since 2010, in partnership with over 15 organizations from all over the Union for the Mediterranean.

Ultimately, this extensive groundwork will lead to the formulation of general and specific recommendations to policymakers at the European, national and regional levels, which will be published by Transeuropeens later this year. For an Arabic-language summary of the results, click here.

For more information, comments or to make additions to bibliographic data, please contact ygenova@npage.org

Anna Lindh Foundation Network Meeting in Sofia

At the very end of July, the second annual conference of the Bulgarian National Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF) took place in Sofia. Next Page, which joined the network in the beginning of 2011, attended and actively participated in the event.

Scheduled at the height of the summer vacation period, the meeting did not attract as much local and international presence as hoped. The program, however, included some notable talks. Eleonora Insalaco’s presentation of the ALF’s Euro-Med Intercultural trends report for 2010 opened the conference by highlighting some of this large project’s key findings. In addition, participants had the great opportunity to listen to Dr. Ahmed Naguib, the Egyptian political activist from Tahrir Square. He gave an inside account of the 18 days on Cairo’s main square and also spoke about the current political situation in the country and the many difficulties and challenges Egypt now faces.

Yana Genova of Next Page introduced some of the foundation’s projects that have been implemented in the Euro-Med region, focusing on the continuity between them over the last seven years, as well as on the challenges faced. The results of our recently published reports on translation flows between the languages of Eastern Europe, Arabic and Turkish provoked passionate debate, which was later continued over the coffee breaks.

2010 Annual Report is now online!

Next Page’s 2010 Annual Report is already available on our web page and can be downloaded here.