“Translation in the World Bank Group” ...a symposium at the Faculty of Al-Alsun

The Graduate Studies and Research Sector at the Faculty of Al-Alsun, Ain Shams University, organized a symposium entitled “Translation in the World Bank Group,” under the patronage of Prof. Salwa Rashad, Dean of the Faculty, and supervised by Prof. Ashraf Attia, Vice Dean of the Faculty for Postgraduate Studies and Research, lectured by Mr. Mahmoud Ibrahim, Head of the Arabic Translation Department at the World Bank, in the presence of a number of department heads, faculty staff, teaching assistants, and graduate students.

During his opening speech, Prof. Ashraf Attia, Vice Dean of the faculty for Graduate Studies and Research, said that today is witnessing rapid technological development in various fields, and translation today is witnessing an unprecedented boom in the field of using technological applications that assist the translation process, which saves a lot of effort and time, especially in light of the acceleration of events and the need to make decisions as quickly as possible.

He explained that the college administration is developing its curricula to keep pace with the labor market, and that the Faculty of Al-Alsun at Ain Shams University is one of the important pillars for preparing a qualified translator for the labor market at the highest level, as it is unique from its counterparts in the Middle East with a postgraduate program specializing in written and interpretation translation and translation technology.

Also Mr. Mahmoud Ibrahim, Head of the Arabic Translation Department at the World Bank, discussed several topics, the most important of which is introducing the World Bank Group and its affiliated organizations, the characteristics of translation at the World Bank, economic and legal translation strategies, and how to benefit from the job opportunities offered by the World Bank Group, pointing out the importance of using assistive software in translation. The translator must be intellectually developed and familiar with various fields of knowledge, pointing out that the work environment worldwide has become witnessing fierce competition to obtain jobs, pointing out the presence of a large number of graduates from the Faculty of Al-Alsun in prestigious positions in these organizations, in addition to a large number of interpreters in various United Nations offices.

In his speech, he reviewed the establishment of the World Bank since 1944 and the various activities carried out by the international bank, pointing out the importance of the translator being fully aware of economic and commercial topics to ensure accuracy of translation and the correct choice of vocabulary.

He reviewed a number of terms, how to translate them correctly, and the errors that the translator may make, noting the importance of adapting terminology to be consistent with the text and context. He reviewed the differences between journalistic translation, website translation, and written translation using technological applications.

He provided an explanation of some machine translation programs and how to use them to help the translator complete the translation of texts and official documents at the World Bank with extreme speed and accuracy. He explained that the last ten years have witnessed a tremendous development in translation technology and the formation of a wide base of terminology thanks to the tremendous technological development. Indeed, we are facing an era of speed in Disseminating and translating information.