Unsung and anonymous, we owe SO much to the world's multilingual translators...
the human firewall between war and peace, chaos and communication.
They toil tirelessly behind the scenes, repairing the rails towards real understanding and entente. NO machine can or will be able to do what they do.
The role of the translator in mediating source ideas across cultural and national boundaries places him or her in a unique position in particular for understanding a range of development issues. Translating narratives from the global South is an invaluable source of knowledge about unfamiliar languages, indigenous cultures and experiences, and is immensely useful for gaining an understanding of non-European societies. Moreover, translation can also have a critical influence in politics and can act as an agent for reconciliation or social integration. Translations can therefore have a distinct effect on how global and human rights issues can be conveyed and communicated.
http://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue14-perspectives4
