Globalization and Civilization

The “unsung heroes of Globalization” or Civilization would have been impossible without translation

Do you know who you are?

Do you realize that without you civilization would have been impossible?

The Ancient Greeks TRANSLATED Ancient Egyptian science (mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, medicine, etc.) and gave birth to modern civilization

The Japanese heavily TRANSLATED from Chinese

The Romans from Ancient Greek

The Arabs from Latin and Greek

The words of Jesus were TRANSLATED from Aramaic

(And thanks to the miracle of translation, literally millions of people in the US today believe that Jesus was actually called Jesus and that he told his parables in… English)

The Reformation amounted to no more than a gigantic TRANSLATION exercise from Latin

etc., etc., etc…

You translators have always been agents of progress, fulfilling an extraordinarily valuable civilizing mission

Without you, the world would just grind to an halt or turn in circles, like the snake that bites its own tail

No renewal, no external contacts

Nations would indulge in abject narcissistic, incestuous relationships

and the World would be irretrievably lost in “cultural masturbation”

A sad state of affairs, really

So why be so modest and unassuming?

Why keep a “low profile”?

Why allow yourself to be undervalued?

Because of you, people can afford NOT to learn each other’s languages and still communicate

You have been called the “unsung heroes of globalization” but you are much, much more than that

You certainly are among the movers and shakers of this world

Whatever your current income is, you deserve more, much more…

Now, do what it takes to get what you deserve, simply because you deserve it

Let’s give the last word to Borges: “Translation is a more advanced stage of civilization.”