The participants of the seminar.
DOHA: The Committee of Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding held a seminar on Monday on importance of translation in transfer of knowledge, culture and communication between peoples. The seminar was held in cooperation with Executive Education Excellence Center at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
A number of panellists participated in the seminar and discussed issues including “growing impact of world cultural awards”, and highlighted the importance of literary awards. They noted that awards draw attention to the importance of translated work based on specific criteria, including the distinction of work and its cultural, artistic and social importance.
Emphasizing the importance of the awards as a tool of soft power, Dr Abdulwahab Al Effendi, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Doha Institute, said some countries became famous because of the awards they offered as “it plays an important role in raising the cultural level and country’s reputation among world nations”.
Dr Hanan Al Fayadh, the Award’s Media Consultant talked about the efforts of Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation in building bridges of cooperation between academic works in translation.
She highlighted the important role of translation in the history in advancing the nations and comparing their current reality with the world’s translation in relation to the other, which has become a prerequisite for achieving existence.
“The Award is interested in learning about human thought through the knowledge of what has been produced by civilizations in order to promote humanity and promote a climate of peace in the time of controls and armed conflicts,” she added.
Other panellists emphasized the unity of knowledge is aimed at expanding the understanding between peoples in support of peaceful coexistence. The translation can be used also as a communication tool if it takes into account the cultural context of communities.
