SILA 2024: Writers and translators call for unified scientific terminologies to facilitate Arabic translation

ALGIERS – Several writers and translators emphasised, during a conference held on Friday at the 27th edition of the Algiers International Book Fair (SILA), the importance of unifying terminology in the humanities and exact sciences to facilitate the translation of books and other works into Arabic.

At the conference, titled “The Issue of Translation in the Humanities and Exact Sciences,” held at the Africa Space, writers and experts in the field highlighted that in order to advance the translation sector, which is a vital means of knowledge transmission and a key intercultural bridge, translation institutions, university institutes, and publishing houses must support and assist translators’ efforts.

In this regard, writer and translator Mohamed Sari addressed the issue of terminology unification, considering it “a key element in the specialised translation process, whether in the humanities or the exact sciences.”

Meanwhile, translator and mathematician Nadir Teyar raised the question of translating terminology in both scientific and technical fields as well as in the humanities and social sciences, emphasising the rules to follow in the process.

Drawing from his own translation experience, Teyar explained that “scientific translation from foreign languages to Arabic is not easy due to the lack of a unified terminological dictionary.” He added, “In fact, the translator of scientific works faces two main challenges: on the one hand, terms that have never been translated into Arabic before, and on the other hand, a variety of linguistic names that differ from one Arab country to another but refer to the same new scientific concept.” Therefore, he stressed the need for Arabic language academies and translation institutions across the Arab world to work towards the unification of terminology in scientific and technical fields to ease the work of translators.

For his part, novelist and translator Brahim Tazaghart reiterated the need to strengthen translation from an institutional perspective, recalling the main stages of his experience in translating to and from the Amazigh language.

Poet and translator Achour Fenni also discussed the pedagogical and communicative criteria necessary for the translation process, whether in the sciences and technical fields or in the humanities. He stressed the importance of “terminological unification,” reminding that “translation is not just a simple artistic and technical transposition from one language to another, but it also has a communicative and interactive dimension.”

The 27th edition of the Algiers International Book Fair will continue until November 16 at the Pins Maritimes Exhibition Palace, with the participation of 1,007 publishers from 40 countries, including 290 Algerian publishers, who are presenting more than 300,000 titles to the public.