The results of King Abdullah Translation Award contest were announced Saturday at an event hosted by Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of the Board of Directors of King Abdul Aziz Public Library and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of King Abdullah Translation Award. The award has focused on enhancing closeness between cultures and encouraging translation since its inception five years ago. The award money was recently increased by King Abdullah from SR500,000 to SR750,000 while the individual merit award was increased from SR250,000 to SR500,000. Dr. Abdul Kareem Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Zaid, general supervisor of the library said 700 participants from around the world submitted their works in 45 languages. The nomination for the sixth session for the award is to start on March 1 and end on July 31. The award for translation efforts by agencies went to the Kalima Project by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. The project started in 2007 and has translated over 500 works in languages such as: French, English, German, Indian, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Korean and Kurdish in fields such as science, sociology, education, philosophy, religion, arts, psychology, history and geography. The award for translated works from other languages into Arabic in the field of natural science was shared by several winners: Dr. Muhammad Salamah Al-Harasha and Dr. Waleed Muhammad Khalifa for translating Fathi Habashi's book “Metals from Ores. Introduction to Extractive Metallurgy”. The book is very important for researchers in mining and chemical engineering. Dr. Muhammad Al-Alfi and Dr. Redwan Al-Saeed also won for their efforts translating “Computer Networking” by James Kurose and Keith Ross. This book is important for university and postgraduate students. The award for humanities from other languages into Arabic was shared by two winners: Dr. Mohi Deen Ali Hameedi for translating “Clinical Linguistics” by Louise Cummings from English into Arabic. The book is a basic reference in the field of linguistics. Dr. Fadil Jatkar won the award for translating “The Passion of the Western Mind” by Richard Tarnas from English into Arabic. The work offers comprehensive academic discussion for the development of the Western mind from the time of the Greek until post-modernism era. The award in the humanities from Arabic language to other languages was shared by several winners: Dr. Nematallah Ibrahim, Dr. Abdul Hakeem Arfouf, Dr. Akmal Janouf, Dr. Abdul Hameed Ziryouf, Dr. Jahanghir Nematouf and Dr. Abdul Wahid Alyouf for translating “Prophet's Biography” by Ibn Hesham into Uzbek language. Renowned translators who translated works from English into Arabic and vice versa were then honored by the Board of Trustees. These translators included Mona Baker, translation professor at Manchester University and Dr. Dolinina Arkadivinia, Russian professor who translated famous Arabic poems into Russian language.
