Addis Ababa, 30 September 2022 (ECA) - The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with its multilingualism partners and diplomatic missions in Ethiopia hosted an event to celebrate International Translation Day on 30 September 2022 at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa. The event was aimed at promoting multilingualism as a core value of the United Nations and mainstreaming it into the UN secretariat's activities.
In opening the session, ECA’s Acting Executive Secretary, Antonio Pedro underscored the valuable contribution language professionals make to the international community: “Language professionals build bridges between people, cultures and countries. They make the inaccessible, accessible. They help the misunderstood, to be understood. Through their work, they protect the world’s linguistic and cultural diversity.”
Mr. Pedro highlighted the important role of translators and interpreters at multilingual and multicultural organizations such as the United Nations for effectively communicating and enabling the accomplishment of the organization’s objectives and mandates.
The celebratory event brought together a range of high-level speakers, ambassadors and heads of Permanent Missions.
Nazrul Islam, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Ethiopia, and Permanent Representative to the African Union (AU) and the ECA explained the complexities of being a language professional, stating “in all the years of working in multi-regional diplomacy I have seen how difficult it is for translators and interpreters to translate into different languages. You are not just translating into a language; you are also conveying the speed, meaning, background and importance of the whole issue.”
To convey the value of multicultural communication, Evgeny Terekhin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Ethiopia demonstrated live, the process of consecutive interpretation.
Chief Education Sector Specialist for Higher Education and Information and Communications Technology at the UNESCO Liaison Office to the AU and the ECA, Abdoulaye Salifou, pointed out the significant role of communication in promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stating that “There will be no development, social cohesion and peace without an effective communication strategy between stakeholders. An error in communication in translation can be the origin of misunderstanding and conflict. Therefore, the cost of translation is not just financial it is also social.”
In closing Nita Deerpalsing, Director of the Publications, Conference and Knowledge Management Division at the ECA expressed immense gratitude to translators and interpreters for the commendable helping humanity to understand each other, support each other and advance human development.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org