A ‘Translation from German to Arabic’ seminar, held recently at the Frankfurt International Book Fair, looked at the difficulties facing translation into Arabic from the experiences of the Kalima Translation Project at the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi.

The seminar was presented by Saeed Hamdan Al-Tanaiji, Director of Programme Management at the National Library Department, translator and journalist Mustafa Al-Slaiman, Klaus Reichert, Professor of English and American Literature at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, and Stefan Weidner, writer, journalist and translator.

Al-Tanaiji explained that Kalima is a pioneering translation project which has succeeded in creating direct links with international publishers and writers to translate titles in Arabic from all fields of knowledge.

With more than 1,000 titles translated from 13 languages, the project not only offer various translations into Arabic, but also contributes to the development of the Arabic publishing industry. "Ten years ago, the number of publishing houses specialised in translation was miniscule, whether in Egypt, Lebanon or Kuwait, and work was limited to the translation of literature," he said.

Mustafa Al-Slaiman said that the Arab book market in general is in dire need for books for children and young people, because the available works are very poor in terms of content and quality, despite the abundance in products. "There is a lack in satisfying the knowledge requirements of Arabs like others in the world, for example when the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature is announced, he fails to find translations of his works," he added.

As for how Kalima chooses books to be translated, Al-Slaiman said that works are chosen after developing personal relationships with writers and critics and based on discussions on these books, or the titles that draw the attention of members of the Kalima Selection Committee.

The project used to support Arabic publishing houses to have its books published until it became capable of publishing its works later on. There are programmes and contracts developed by German and Arab publishing houses to preserve the rights of publishers, translators and authors.

Klaus Raichert highlighted some elements of the translation arts and the obstacles faced by translators.

He said that when translating into German, the history of its language and literature is invoked in the memory, which is imperative as a translator presents one culture through another, taking into account the variations between languages and their characteristics Translating Semitic languages into European languages creates many obstacles for translators, as they must invoke the Quran, Hadith, old poetry and the heritage of the East, including the Persian language. "When translating into Arabic, a similar issue arises, which is a major challenge when transferring texts from German to Arabic," he added.