Banyan, Chairman of the Saudi Board of the Scientific Society for Languages and Translation, has revealed that only 1,260 books were translated from the day of the inception of the Kingdom in 1930 to 2005. Addressing a workshop in Riyadh earlier this week entitled the “Reality of Translation and its Future: Towards Setting up a National Commission for Translation and Arabization” and organized by the King Abdul Aziz Library, Al-Banyan described translation in many Arab countries as “very poor” due to the limited number of specialists capable of translating scientific and technical work, as well as a lack of formulation of the profession when compared to other careers. “To be added to this are the conflicting opinions about translation as a profession governed by rules, theories and applications, plus its modest financial rewards and benefits compared to other professions,” Al-Haza said. “Furthermore, there is the belief held by some scientists that translation leads to a lowering of students' and researchers' standards of competency in foreign languages.” Al-Haza backed proposals for the creation of a national commission for translation and Arabization with a recognized legal status and an independent budget.
