Today is international translation day - words matter!

Struggling with a text? Searching for a word? Dictionary not giving you the meaning you yearn for? Take a break and celebrate today is international translation day! When a colleague congratulated me at tea-time today I learnt that this day is celebrated every year on September 30th and has been since 1991. This is also St Jerome's day - the patron saint of translators.

The South African Translators’ Institute (SATI) offers this further information about the day:
International Translation Day offers an opportunity to draw attention to the importance of translators and interpreters in the world. These language practitioners often remain invisible and unacknowledged, yet their work makes a huge contribution to communication and interaction in all sorts of spheres, particularly in today’s globalised world.
The theme for 2008 is “Terminology: Words Matter”. In the South African context, the development of terminology in the African languages still has a long way to go. Some very good work is being done, but there is little coordination of the efforts. Language practitioners at the coalface are often faced with having to come up with suitable solutions on their own. What can be done to remedy this situation? The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) is holding a Standardisation of African Languages Terminologies Conference on 25 and 26 September — perhaps some innovative ideas will be forthcoming.
I'm particularly excited about the theme being "terminology: words matter". We're about to get going on beginning ot put our terminology project at work online over the next few months, so this helps to motivate me. Anyway I must remember to take my colleagues a present tomorrow.

Some of the blogs are talking about the day too:
Translating is an art
Thoughts on Translation
Holiday for Everyday
Contraduções