Machine translation, terms translation and challenges of translation under discussion
The National Library and Archives Highlights the UAE Image in Historical Translations
On Day 4 of the Second International Translation Conference entitled “Translation and Preservation of the Memory of the Nation: The Image of the UAE in Cultures, Literatures and World Intellectual Heritage” that was held by the NLA, research papers and academic studies discussed the importance of translation in the UAE history. They highlighted the writings of the traveler Wilfred Thesiger about the emirates he visited where he met the Founding Leader Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, aspects of the UAE image in the eyes of European travelers, and challenges of translation and machine translation at present as well as the importance of translation in enriching cultures.
Three successive academic sessions tackled 18 research papers of the most significant and recent studies on translation and its relationship with other sciences and knowledge. The sessions focused on the UAE image in other cultures and foreign texts translated from various languages.
On Day 4, the conference started with the first session entitled “The Emirates in the Eyes of Others: Issues in Translation and Thought” chaired by Dr. Aisha Balkhair, Research Advisor at the NLA. Professor Yahya Mohamed Mahmoud Ahmed from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the UAE University, presented a research paper entitled “Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger and his Translation of the Emirati Bedouin Heritage in the Mid-Twentieth Century” while Dr. Samar Mounir from Ain Shams University, Egypt, gave a paper entitled “German Vision of the UAE: The Image of Emirati women between Past and Present: An Overview of “Women in the United Arab Emirates between Tradition and Modernity- The Emirate of Dubai as a Model”. Dr. Youmna Azmi Abdel Rahman from the Spanish Language Section of the Faculty of Al Alsun, Ain Shams University, Egypt, presented a study entitled “The Image of the UAE in Spanish Literature: Cultural Diversity and Emotional Conflict in “Letters from Dubai” by Asunta Lopez”. The first session concluded with a paper by Dr. Hosni Mallitat from the Arab American University in Ramallah, Palestine, entitled “The Emirati Translation Achievement: The Role of Kalima Translation Project in the Development of Arab Culture”.
The second session entitled ‘Machine Translation Challenges and Cultural Entanglements between Different Languages” was chaired by Mr. Abdullatif Al Sayyadi, Research Expert at the NLA. It began with study entitled “The Role of Semantic Space in Solving Machine Translation Problems: Construction and Description of a New Applied Technical Model” by Professor Labidi Bouabdallah and Dr. Haitham Zeinhom Morsi from Mohammed bin Zayed University for Human Sciences. On the other hand, Dr. Emad Khalaf a translator from Sharjah gave a paper entitled “Machine Translation between Arabic and Persian: An Analytical Study and Criteria for a Better Translation” and Dr. Elham Mahmoud Mohamed Badr from Ain Shams University, Egypt, presented a study entitled “Machine Translation and its Role in the Digitization of the Arabic Language: Improving the Quality of Machine Translation from Hebrew to Arabic - (Leaked Words from Yiddish to Hebrew as an example”. In a related context, Dr. Atef Abbas Abdel Hamid Ahmed, Information Technology and Electronic Archiving Consultant, UAE, delivered a paper entitled “Handling Linguistic Rrrors in Machine Translation: An Empirical Study on “Google Translate”. In the same context, Dr. Shahira Zarnaji from the University of Mohamed Khider in Biskra, Algeria, made a critical analytical comparison study entitled “The Dangers and Slips of Machine Translation - The Arabic Translation of Virginia Woolf’s Novel (Mrs. Dalloway) as a Model”. Dr. Alarabi Al-Hadhrawi from the College of Arts and Human Sciences of Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco, concluded the session with a study entitled “The Cognitive and Technological Dimension of Translating Scientific Terms within Literary Studies”.
The third and last session of Day 4 entitled “Translation and Creativity in the Post-Globalization Era: Great Aspirations and New Translation Theories” was chaired by Dr. Hazaa Al Naqabi, Head of Governmental Archives at the NLA.
This session started with a research paper entitled “Problems of Translating Proper Names from Japanese to Arabic” by Professor Maher El-Sherbini from the Department of Japanese Language at Cairo University, Egypt. Then, Dr. Ahmed Abdel Moneim Aqili, Professor of Modern Literature and a Member of the Emirates Writers Union, presented his study entitled “Translation and its Important Impact on the Cultural Movement and the Teaching of Arabic language”. After that Dr.
 Nahid Ali Awwad Al-Tanani from Ain Shams University, Egypt, delivered her paper entitled “Translating Children’s Literature in the Arab world is a Gateway to Openness to other Cultures in the Globalization Era”. The study of Professor Alameed Abdel Salam Issawi from the University of Manouba, Tunisia, answered the big question of “Why does the Translation of Terms Encounter Pitfalls?”. The last two presentations were a paper entitled “Translation, Creativity and Globalization: Challenges of the Translation Industry in the Twenty-First Century” by Dr. Mohamed Helmy Abdel Wahab from the German Research Institute in Cairo, Egypt, and a study entitled “Authentication as a Condition for Creativity: The Theory of Translation according to Taha Abdel Rahman” by Professor Tariq Shamma from Binghamton University in New York, USA.