A popular excerpt by Nelson Mandela says, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” Well, this is how important communication is to all of us. Words to our hearts hold more meaning and are cherished than just words merely spoken to our heads.
What are the impacts of translation?
According to Ethnologue, there are 7,151 languages currently spoken in the world today. With so many languages, it would have been practically impossible to sell a product globally. This means that, without effective translation, sales opportunities would have been very limited.
Translation has also seen an improvement on employee safety across many sectors of production in the world. For instance, in the U.S., U.K, and other huge economy countries, most workers are non-natives. Ensuring that proper and efficient communication is carried out to all employees through translation has been found to eliminate illnesses, injuries and fatalities in the work place.
Why is translation important?
Essentially, translation is a way of communicating ones culture and belief to other people in a language that they will understand. In reality, if we all spoke one language then our different cultures and beliefs would be lost.
Effective translation has also helped in sharing great ideas and useful information. Through translation, many people from different cultures and ethnicities can for instance read and understand the Bible which has been translated in over 531 languages.
The importance of translation for globalization
Most of the countries in the world are tirelessly working towards going global. To achieve this goal, translation has played a very significant role. Different nations, companies and people with totally different languages and cultures have successfully done huge projects and businesses together.
Of course, the effects of translation in globalization spread far and wide while flying high on the wings of Information Technology (IT). In fact, translation through IT has enabled more and more companies to communicate directly to their target audiences regardless of where they are in the world.
What role is translation playing in our world culture?
As a matter of fact, translation is not just a switch from one language to another. Rather it is a bridge that connects cultures, believes and languages between people. It is in actual sense a peacemaker that illustrates the differences and the peculiarity of other cultures in a more understandable and tolerable way.
In conclusion, translation is in itself a culture. Translators must therefore understand the culture from which they are translating as well as the culture and language into which they are translating. This will ensure that a translator makes translations that go to the heart of the targeted audiences hence creating a positive impact worldwide.