International Translation Day: cooperation between cultures
Historians and anthropologists assure that the development of civilizations has been possible thanks to contact with other peoples. This is how it was from the tribes of Prehistory and, later, in the first civilizations of Antiquity: Sumeria, Syria, Egypt and, of course, Greece and Rome. In other words, it is dialogue, respect for other cultures, cooperation between societies and trade that promotes the advancement of humanity, and not confrontation or, in the worst case, war.
In that ancient time, even before the invention of writing, there were no machine translation applications. There was not even a language in common use that facilitated this understanding, commercial and cultural, as has happened in different phases of history with English, Spanish, French or, previously, Latin, which, in the end, became in a language that originated several languages used today, the Romance languages.
Therefore, the importance of the translators, who were part of the expeditions, whether political or commercial, was of crucial importance. We can therefore assure that translators have been one of the pillars of the development of civilizations and of understanding between peoples.
The first translators
Due to the aforementioned important work of translators and interpreters, not only the professionals of the union should celebrate International Translation Day, but also everyone who defends dialogue between different cultures. Not surprisingly, even today, when a step backwards occurs in a society, as has just happened in Afghanistan, translators are the first to become the target of those who remain anchored in the Middle Ages.
If we talk about the translation of texts, the pioneer is Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who commissioned the translation of the Holy Scriptures from Hebrew to Greek. This task was carried out by 72 wise men, hence it is known as the Septuagint, the Seventy Version or the Alexandrian Version, since it was part of the Library of Alexandria, which Ptolemy II, known for supporting the arts and sciences, wanted to take care of and worked hard throughout his life to increase his catalog.
