Pretoria - The Department of Arts and Culture is on Friday hosting an event to celebrate International Translation Day.
“South African translators will celebrate International Translation Day to acknowledge translation as a vehicle for social nation building and cohesion, and to create awareness among citizens of language rights as part of their broader democratic rights,” said the Department of Arts and Culture.
The country’s Constitution determined the fundamental language rights of all South Africans. It provides for the 11 official languages and sets out the obligations of all levels of government in terms of the promotion and equal treatment of all these languages.
Translators, terminologists and other language practitioners will use International Translation Day to celebrate the adoption of the legislation and the role played by their profession in providing access to information that assists in ensuring the health, dignity and freedom of all citizens.
One of the department's major achievements in the field of language has been the adoption of the Use of Official Languages Act, 2012.
“This Act requires all national departments, public enterprises and public entities to adopt language policies and establish language units to ensure that members of the public can access government information in the official language of their choice.
“The adoption of such an Act at national level will give further impetus to the adoption of language legislation by all provinces and municipalities,” she said.
Another notable achievement was the adoption of the South African Language Practitioners' Council Act, 2014.
This Act regulates the language profession in areas such as the accreditation, training and employment of language practitioners.
It will also ensure that government, the private sector and members of the public who make use of language practitioners receive professional service.
“For language professionals, it will mean that they will receive proper training, their profession will be protected, and they will receive recognition for their skills when they are employed,” said the department. –SAnews.gov.za
