Saint Jerome’s link with International Translation Day

It may surprise you but even we -translators- have our international day! It takes place on 30 September and takes root in Saint Jerome’s life.
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https://www.un.org/en/events/translationday/

Saint Jerome's life and its importance for translators  

Jerome was born around 347AD in the village of Stridon (now in Slovenia or Croatia). Baptized around 365, he became a Christian priest a decade later and was afterwards appointed Pope Damasus I’s, personal secretary. Damasus made Jerome responsible for creating a new Latin version of the Bible after the saint noticed many errors in the existing version translated from Greek.   Jerome produced – after more than 40 years– what was viewed as a better "error-free" Latin version named Vulgate. He used the Bible’s Hebrew text that he considered the closest to Jesus’ original message. Vulgate means common text as the priest used a poor in quality Latin to make the Bible understandable by everyone. Jerome died in 420 but his work stayed the official edition of the Bible- used for subsequent translations into other languages- for over a thousand years (until 1530).  Thanks to his work, he was officially named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Boniface VIII around 1298. Jerome was canonized around 1588, which is probably when his official feast day – 30 September- was marked.  Due to his translation of the Bible, he is mainly considered the patron saint of translation. However, he is also said to give patronage to librarians, archivists and students.  A fun fact about Saint Jerome is that he is often represented with the red habit and red hat of a cardinal, even though the function was created after his death.

 Detail from an alterpiece c.1467 by Carlo Crivelli, National Gallery, London

      (https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/21214836483)

Why should Saint Jerome matter to modern translators?

• By advocating for the use of the original Hebrew text rather than the more reputable Greek translation, Jerome gives precedence to primary sources rather than second-hand sources as the best translation sources. This question of sources is indeed an important one as it is where the translation process begins.
•  Faced with criticisms after using a Hebrew source, Jerome alluded to the necessity of balancing “verbum e verbo” translation (“the word from the word”, or literal translation) and “”sensum exprimere de sensu” translation(“to express the sense from the sense”, or free translation). One of the struggles of translators is indeed to know when they can get away from the text and when they cannot.  Moreover, Jerome remarked on his translating strategy that he gave up “sense for sense” translation especially where “ubi et verborum ordo mysterium est” that is to say ‘”in those places where even the order of the words is a mysterium”. In other words, the saint seems to refer to the problem of adapting a word that does not have an equivalency in another language: is it better to find an equivalent or to leave the word in its original language and explain it in parenthesis? As far as he is concerned, Jerome used neologisms and left words in Hebrew. Moreover, the word mysterium has no official translation, which only seems to emphasize the point.

International day’s creation and its operation

https://www.fit-ift.org/international-translation-day/

             
              As mentioned, Saint Jerome’s Day is not new and has been celebrated by translators and interpreters for years on the days and weeks nearest to 30 September. Indeed - since its creation in 1953 -the International Federation of Translators (FIT-IFT) always encouraged the celebration of Saint Jerome. It was not until 1991 that FIT-IFT launched the idea of an International Translation Day to join forces in promoting translation in the members’ countries and display pride in the profession.  However, it was only on 24 May 2017 that the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution which recognizes 30 September as UN International Translation Day. The day is to be celebrated across the entire UN network in order to recognize the “role of professional translation in connecting nations, and fostering peace, understanding and development”.

 https://www.sft.fr/fo/public/menu/archives_news/news_fiche&newsId=2484

How does it work?

•   Internationally, the FIT-IFT annually choose a unifying theme and then hold a competition to design a poster that FIT-IFT members will be able to use to promote the day. 2019’s theme was Translation and Indigenous Languages. 
• Locally, each Translation Federation choses which actions are to be held. For example, in France, the SFT (Society of French Translators) - counting around 1 600 professionals- decided to hold a decentralized programme - from 21 September to 12 October -with 13 events open to the public in cities such as Lille, Paris and Montebeliard. In Grenoble, the SFT held an escape game followed by pre-dinner drinks on 30 September.

Written by Anaïs P.

Sources:

https://www.rosettatranslation.com/patron-saint-translation/

https://www.sft.fr/fo/public/menu/archives_news/news_fiche&newsId=2484

http://fr.lpj.org/2014/09/30/fete-saint-jerome-30-septembre/

http://lapremiereporte.canalblog.com/archives/2006/10/19/2944970.html 

https://www.societetraduction.fr/journee-mondiale-de-traduction-fierte-dune-profession/

http://jpdiacre.over-blog.com/article-30-septembre-saint-jerome-saint-patron-des-traducteurs-112199186.html

https://www.un.org/fr/events/translationday/

http://wiki.proz.com/wiki/index.php/International_Translation_Day

https://www.fit-ift.org/fit-timeline/

http://saintdujour.info/saint-jerome/