As every translator knows, Saint Jerome, the patron saint of translators, is best known for his translation of the Bible, the Vulgata. His friend Saint Augustine took exception to certain aspects of Jerome’s Bible translation, Jerome was not a happy camper and heated exchanges ensued.
The correspondence between the two shows that saints are seldom saintly, but more importantly, how much translation is the translator’s creative work, to be hotly defended.
We are still fighting for the recognition of audiovisual translators as authors in many countries. It is vital because this recognition helps support quality translations and standing up for good quality translation is more important than ever. Media has such an influence on our daily, spoken language that good translations assist national languages in remaining viable even with the wave of English pouring into every corner of Europe.
If we are serious about encouraging European cultural diversity, quality audiovisual translations for media content must be available in every European language.
