International Translation Day is observed on September 30th every year to pay tribute to the tireless work of translators all around the globe. Just about every international business or organization relies on language specialists to clearly message their ideas and to help with interpersonal communication.

They are required to let managers communicate with their workforces, help advertisers get their message out to the local population, and to help negotiate international peace deals. Translators are even important for the advancement of human rights in certain countries. And that’s why we think that this holiday should be observed by anyone who depends on a translator or who works as one.

The History Of International Translation Day

This holiday was first adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on May 24th, 2017. this resolution declared the 30th of every September as International Translation Day, a day to recognize the work done by United Nation translators as well as translators in other industries.

This holiday falls on the same day as the Feast Day of Saint Jerome. That’s not an accident because this saint was a priest and a scholar who is credited with delivering the first translation of the Bible. He translated the Bible from Hebrew into Latin.

Some Fun Facts About Translators

Even though they don’t get the credit they deserve all of the time, translators perform an important job that needs to be done. To highlight that point, we’ve listed some of the fun facts that we’ve learned about these language professionals below and we hope that everyone reading today finds them to be not only informative but also fun.

• There are over 7,000 languages in the world today.
• The languages most often targeted for translation are English, French, German, Italian, and Russian.
• Approximately 5% of all books released from 2000 to 2010 were translated into Chinese.
• The most widely spoken languages in the world are English, Chinese, Spanish, and Hindi.

Observing International Translation Day

This holiday is an easy one to celebrate. It can be done by people taking the time to thank a translator that they know or by thanking all translators collectively on the Internet using the hashtag #InternationalTranslationDay. It’s also a good day for people to learn a new language or even to look into becoming a translator themselves.