Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAlister
Word of the Day: Translation
The word “translation” comes from a part of the Latin root that means to transfe’, literally carry across. We usually think of translate in terms of languages, but it can mean any form carried over to another, like pesos to dollars or books to movies.
During the early Christian church, translation referred to the practice of exhuming a saint and moving the body to a more holy place. In 14th century Italy, St. Catherine of Siena was translated five times with the result that her headless body is in a Basilica in Rome, her mummified head and thumb in a reliquary in Siena, part of her left hand is in a monastery church in Rome and her right foot is in a Venetian basilica. Lost in translation?
These days we celebrate International Translation Day on Sept. 30 to recognize language translators and their dedicated work. Language can be any structured form of communication and an estimated 7,000 human languages are currently in use. These include Braille, a language based on touch for the visually impaired, American Sign Language, based on sight for the hearing impaired, and click languages, a group of languages found only in Africa in which clicks are used for consonants.
Esperanto was created as a common international language with an estimated two million Esperanto speakers worldwide. Even Klingon, from the television series “Star Trek” is considered a language because it developed into usable communication complete with its own vocabulary and grammar. If you need any proof of the power of television, just consider it is now estimated there are more Klingon speakers in the world than Welsh speakers.
