By Abdulfatah Babatunde
A Qatari-based foundation, Sheikh Ahmad Award for Translation and International Understanding has sought collaboration with the Voice of Nigeria on the promotion of language translation for a deeper international understanding.
Head of the Media Team of the foundation, Dr Anan Al-Fayah, made the request during a bilateral meeting with the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, Mal. Jibrin Ndace, on Thursday, in Lagos.
TheNewsZenith gathered that the foundation organises awards annually to promote the translation of Arabic into major languages of the world and vis versa.
Al-Fayah, a former Head of the Department of Arabic Language at Qatar University, said the media team came to Nigeria to introduce the Award known as the “Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding”.
According to her, it is a global award for the promotion of the translation of languages across the world.
“It will amaze you to know that the Hamad Award is recognising a language like Yoruba this year.
“The award is set up to help languages promote their cultures. This enables the world to know what the culture of a particular language stands for.
“That is why they are taking all these languages across the world so that we can promote them.
“Every culture has its own history and peculiarities that demand that the world should know about. And that is why Amsh is taking them and promoting them together.
“We want to promote peace in the world by promoting understanding among cultures and languages. By so doing, people can understand one another as well as the Arabic language.
“And that is why we have been promoting translation from Arabic to English and from English to Arabic so that we can understand ourselves,’’ Al-Fayah said.
The team leader further explained that the award “wants to show that we shouldn’t just focus on one language. It should be two languages; from one language to another and that is the ideology behind the award.
“Translation from Arabic to English and Arabic to French and vice versa is already popular in the whole world and it is the first category of our awards.
“But we believe that there is more than just English and Arabic. We still have other cultures that we need to bring up.
“ And that’s why we’re taking up languages from different parts of the world annually to add to what we do.
“So, in the second category, we want to promote the translation of works in Yoruba to Arabic and Arabic to Yoruba.
“This category, which begins this year, will focus on achievements over some time in the field of translations.
“What we mean by achievements is someone translating a big volume of book from Arabic to Yoruba. like translating Quran to Yoruba or any Arabic book to Yoruba.’’
Read Related News:
Nigeria, Qatar sign multi-sectoral agreements
Qatar presents new initiative to end Israel-Hamas conflict
Video: VON’ll unleash positive narratives about Nigeria – DG
Qatar releases 3 Iranian prisoners – Iran’s envoy
OBTranslate, WALS partner on AI, languages research
She recalled that in past, the award had covered many languages, including a language in Nigeria. And that is the Hausa language.
“The winner of that Hausa award is Muhammadu Thanni, who translated Sahih Buhari Hadith from Arabic to Hausa language.’’
Al-FAyah hinted that the worth of that award is $2 million which is shared among all categories of winners.
Responding to his visitors, the Director-General VON remarked that Allah created languages for human beings to know and understand themselves.
“Therefore, we will support any foundation, individual or organisation that focuses on ensuring that languages survive.
“We like to thank you for choosing to promote one of the Nigerian languages, the Yoruba language.
“So, for choosing Yoruba, you have chosen rightly, one of the major languages in Nigeria to partner with.
“I’m also happy that you have also spoken about Hausa, which is another major language that
“I want to also tell you that Igbo is another major language in Nigeria and I want to encourage you to promote translations in Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo languages and vice versa,’’ Ndace said.
He noted that any institution that is focused on translating and working with Nigerian languages, would enjoy tremendous support from VON.
“I’m also happy you talk about languages being the carrier or conveyer of our cultures. I’m also happy about your conviction that language deepens peace around the world.
“At VON, we broadcast in eight languages, four local and four foreign languages.
“The Four local languages are Hausa, Yoruba Igbo and Fulfulde and the foreign languages are English, French Arabic and Swahili.
“You are coming at a time when myself and my team are focusing on deepening relationships with nations and organisations like yours.
“This is because we believe that we need to be very intentional about building our stories.
“And telling our stories requires that all languages which we will be using to communicate must be handled by experts. That is the people who understand the language.
“You should see VON as your home. See it as your platform for letting Nigerians and the world know about the good works you are doing.
“As a public platform, we are very determined, intentional in creating truthful, deliverable narratives about our national values to the entire world,’’ he said.
Do you have a flair for Citizenship Journalism? Share story(ies) of happenings in your area with The NewsZenith on WhatsApp: 08033668669 or thenewszenith@gmail.com
