Search | UNESCO

What is Intercultural Dialogue

Intercultural Dialogue ICD offers an opportunity for meaningful engagement for participants who are committed to global values and willing to consider different perspectives As a transformative form of communication ICD can contribute to increased acceptance of others thus satisfying the goal of a peaceful coexistence between various cultures and identities To learn more check out the knowledge hub which provides explanations on core concepts and publications

Translation: From one world to another

A component of our shared humanity

It is a littleknown world hardly limited to its literary dimension translation is a tool for promoting languages a discreet part in the economy and a vehicle for ideas But it is also a domain in transformation shaken up by the advances of artificial intelligence Perhaps above all it is the means for each civilization to access the other

Do translators need to resemble the authors they translate?

To render an authors voice with justice That is the role of the translator But does this representative task demand a certain resemblance with the author If so to what extent While the issue is not a new one it recently became subject to heated debate Other than fueling discussions between propagators of universalism and defenders of diversity it raised the complex question of legitimacy in translation

In Mexico, drawings to translate words

Published in 2021 the book Intraducibles Untranslatables illustrates a series of words from indigenous languages without equivalents in Spanish

Barbara Cassin: “We must resist the globalization of languages”

Each language carries a singular vision of the world explains French philosopher Barbara Cassin who defines translation as a knowhow for dealing with differences

Don Quixote: From Castilian Spanish to Mandarin and back again

A century ago a first edition in Mandarin of Don Quixote appeared translated by the selftaught Chinese scholar Lin Shu This very creative version of Cervantes work reinterpreted for Chinese readers is now translated into Spanish a great example of literary hybridization

Humour: A real puzzle for translators

Cultural by essence humour is not easily translated from one language to another To maintain the spirit of the original joke the translator needs to show a great deal of inventiveness

“At the United Nations, language should not be a barrier”

For Lama Azab a French and Arabic interpreter at the United Nations headquarters in New York since 2016 impartiality and the ability to adapt are essential qualities for this demanding job

Putting African science in the dictionary

Many technical terms do not have an equivalent in African languages depriving parts of the population of scientific knowledge and its impact in society Researchers and experts from the entire continent have decided to do something about this by enriching the vocabulary of several languages

Subtitling: Behind the scenes

If digital platforms have revolutionized the distribution of films and series in foreign languages translators have hardly benefited from the publics enthusiasm for international content as the pressure on deadlines and wages increases

The translator, an endangered species?

Since the first public machine translation experiments in the 1950s we have not stopped predicting the triumph of machine over human Yet more people work in the translation industry now than ever before Having become very efficient and accessible to most people online translation systems have not killed the profession they have transformed it

Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are

Our interest in food shows no signs of waning This is obvious from the proliferation of books programmes films and series on the subject and chefs being treated as celebrities This phenomenon of gastrolatry reflects the profound changes that are shaping a new world food order