The professional holiday of translators has been celebrated since 1991, when the International Federation of Translators declared September 30th as International Translation Day. On the day chosen for the holiday, we remember not only all representatives of this profession, but also its founder – St. Jerome. St. Jerome (Eusebius Sophronius Jerome, 347-420 AD) – a Christian theologian, born in Dalmatia (present-day Croatia), lived in Antioch, where he spent several years in the desert as a strict ascetic, later in Constantinople, Rome, and Bethlehem. Having studied grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy, and having learned Greek and Hebrew, he worked in Rome as the secretary of Pope Damasus I. In addition to his commentaries on the Old and New Testaments, letters, theological, and historical works, he is best known for his translation of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. His translation, also known as the Vulgate, was published in 1546 recognized as the only correct Latin translation of the Bible.
On May 24, 2017, the United Nations adopted a Resolution on the Work of Professional Translators to honor their contribution to better understanding among peoples, closer dialogue, and peace and security in the world.
Some incredible facts about translations and languages
The person who knows the most languages in the world
This is Canadian linguist Alexander Arguelles, who lives in White Rock, British Columbia. He is a certified polyglot, holding the Guinness World Record (1985) for speaking the most languages in the world. Guinness World Records confirmed that this Canadian can communicate in at least 60 languages.
The four most complicated languages
For native English speakers, the most difficult languages generally include Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean, due to their distinct writing systems, complex grammar, and tonality.
The three most translated authors
UNESCO has created a data collection program called Index Translationum. This database is made up of a list of all the translated books in the world. According to this database, the works of these three authors are the most frequently translated into other languages: Agatha Christie – 7233 translations, Jules Verne – 4751 translations, William Shakespeare – 4293 translations.
The most translated document in the world
It’s no surprise that the most translated work of literature is the Bible, which has been translated into an estimated 2,932 languages. However, the most translated document would be the 6-page Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted by the United Nations back in 1948. At last count, it has been translated into 370 languages and dialects, from Abkhaz to Zulu.
Longest one-word sentence
"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." According to William Rappaport, a linguistics professor at New York University, the word "buffalo" is used 8 times in a row in the sentence is a grammatically correct English sentence that demonstrates lexical ambiguity, using the word "buffalo" in three different ways: as a proper noun for the city of Buffalo, New York; as a plural noun for the animal (bison); and as a verb meaning "to bully" or "to intimidate". The sentence can be understood as: "Bison from Buffalo, which bison from Buffalo bully, themselves bully bison from Buffalo".
The most expensive translation
The most expensive language pairs to translate in America are English-Japanese and English-Korean, with an average cost of $0.57 per word. For example, translating a one-page document from English to Japanese or Korean would cost around $143 – a truly impressive price for a translation service!
Song covered in the most languages by one artist
The song covered in the most languages by a single artist is Suneet Haran's "Grateful For Love," which features lyrics in 398 languages, according to Guinness World Records. This achievement is the record for the most languages featured on a music single.
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/114997-most-languages-featured-on-a-cd-single
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