SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)
Disseminating the UAE’s rich heritage – from oral traditions and poetry to historical records and maritime culture – to wider global audiences was in focus on International Translation Day, marked annually on September 30.
The occasion highlights the role of translation in protecting linguistic diversity and ensuring that people can access knowledge and services in languages they understand.
This year’s theme, “Linguistic Diversity and Language Rights”, carries the subtitle “The Power of Being Understood”. It focuses on translation, interpreting and terminology as essential tools for linguistic inclusion, equality and participation.
Speaking to Aletihad on the occasion, Professor Saddik Gohar, Translation expert at the National Library and Archives (NLA), said translation helps bring the UAE’s history and heritage to global audiences while preserving its cultural meaning and identity.
“Translation can play a fundamental role in making the history and heritage of the UAE part of the global cultural conversation.”
However, Prof. Gohar stressed that heritage translation requires cultural and historical understanding, not linguistic accuracy alone.
“It allows international readers to encounter Emirati heritage on its own cultural terms rather than through simplified or externally imposed representations.”
A Bridge Between Preservation and Dissemination
Digitalisation can expand access by bringing translated Emirati heritage to global museums, databases and educational platforms.
“Translation represents a bridge between preservation and dissemination: it preserves the integrity of Emirati heritage while enabling that heritage to speak to the wider world.”
Prof. Gohar said translating Emirati cultural content requires balancing global accessibility with the preservation of cultural identity. “The central challenge in translating Emirati cultural content is to achieve accessibility without cultural erasure.”
He said culturally specific references to pearl diving, falconry, desert life, hospitality and oral poetry often require more than literal translation. “The translator consequently acts not as an invisible linguistic technician but as a cultural mediator.”
Preserving Arabic originals alongside translations and using multilingual digital tools can also widen access without replacing the source culture. “The highest achievement of translation is therefore not sameness but equivalent understanding without the loss of identity.”
Intellectual and Cultural Responsibility
Prof. Gohar said AI can significantly expand access to multilingual archives by supporting translation, transcription, metadata generation and search. “AI should expand the translator's capabilities, not eliminate the translator's intellectual and cultural responsibility.”
AI can expand access to archives and cultural heritage by processing large multilingual collections, including millions of pages, photographs, recordings and historical documents.
Tools such as optical character recognition, speech recognition, transcription, machine translation, metadata generation and multilingual search can make these collections easier to discover and access.
Human translators remain essential for historical terminology, dialects, cultural references and sensitive concepts that AI may misinterpret. “AI can provide scale, speed and discoverability; translators provide interpretation, judgement, cultural knowledge, ethical responsibility and accountability.”
For archives, he said combining both could greatly improve access while protecting accuracy. “AI can help open the door to vast collections, while human translators ensure that what lies beyond that door is represented accurately and responsibly.”
Marking International Translation Day, Prof. Gohar said this year’s theme, “The Power of Being Understood,” highlights translation’s role in ensuring cultures are understood and preserved.
“Being understood is much more than having words translated.”
He said the day recognises translators as key contributors to cultural understanding and heritage preservation.
“Translators should be regarded as participants in cultural preservation and knowledge production, not merely as service providers.”
His message for the day was that translation can broaden a culture’s reach while protecting its identity.
“Translation does not diminish the identity of a language or culture; when practised responsibly, it gives that identity a wider audience.”