Despite having an international, and in some cases even national, background by allowing different communities to communicate and understand one another, the world of translation and interpretation very often puts aside one of the biggest continents that has an exceptionally large number of languages and dialects spoken: Africa. When especially Europe and North America have been at the top of the ladder for a very long time, when it comes to international events organized around translation, Africa is only starting to organize such events at a bigger scale.
Even if Africa is home to numerous talented translators, the fact that, at last, there is a decent recognition of their job and that efforts are being made to promote it, shows that there is a strong will to close the very important gap with the rest of the world.
Being far behind in the global translation industry (representing less than a single percent), Africa is on a new path towards a better image of its intercontinental translation industry as well as its role on the global scene where international cooperation and communication are at the forefront of current situations.
1. Translation and Interpretation in Africa: against the backdrop of global standards
How is the African continent doing in terms of translation and interpretation? Well … in a world that is building international relations more and more at various scales, if there is one continent that is struggling to keep up with the pace in the translation and interpretation industry, it is Africa. While these industries are very much concerned by international cooperation and relations between people since they allow communities as well as professionals to communicate, the gap with global standards is definitely substantial. According to TranslateMedia, the year 2020 saw Europe and North America having the two biggest shares of the Global Translation Industry with 49.4% and 34.8% respectively with Asia coming right behind with 12.9%. From this point, the percentage is becoming minimal as Oceania represents only 2% and in the last position is Africa with an incredibly thin 0.3%, just overtaken by Latin America and its 0.6%.
It goes without saying that we could have talked about these two continents, but the efforts made recently by Africa are not insignificant as we are going to discuss later. At a first glance, it may not be surprising to see Africa at the bottom place, because very often Africa struggles to match global standards but when we come to think of it, what is the reason behind that? This continent is a real treasure for languages and dialects. There are several languages spoken in Africa that are spoken in Europe or in the rest of the world. French is spoken in 26 countries that make up “Francophone Africa” with Gabon, Ivory Coast and Senegal for example. Portuguese is the official language in six countries that include Angola, Mozambique and Cabo Verde. Finally, Arabic is also spoken especially in Northern Africa from Morocco to Egypt as well as Somalia in the Horn of Africa.
However, this gap has been recently slightly filled in the past three years and the reason for that is the fact that the population has better access to the Internet. In 2020, 63% of the entire African population could access the Internet in their own language. The language services within translation business, especially when it comes to online websites, have increased in the past five years. The work of translation has exploded and become more “official”; the same goes for interpreters, and these two jobs are terribly necessary inside Africa itself as many neighboring countries must trade in order to keep a positive development curb on this expanding continent.
2. The Africa International Translation Conference
Organized by the East Africa Interpreters and Translators Association (EAITA)’s chairperson Alfred Mtawali, an accomplished professional, the 1st Africa International Translation Conference took place in Nairobi, Kenya, on the 18th and 19th of February 2019. About 19 countries were represented at this event by experts, translators, interpreters and consultants all gathered to share assets and skills at the Azure Hotel in Nairobi.
The goal of having such an event is to promote and enhance the professional development of language professionals through learning and networking opportunities in a meeting with major players of the language industry. The topics engaged ranged from conference interpreting and networking to technology and neurolinguistic perspectives of interpretation, as well as the evolving tools and general trends in the industry. Experts from countries outside of the continent such as the United States, Brazil or Romania also took part in the event in order to bring a worldwide perspective to the event.
The conference also aimed at speaking about ethics and integrity in the world of translation, highlighting the different challenges of the profession and ensuring a deeper recognition of and respect for professional translators. Finally, the goal for the coming years is to develop and create new perspectives for the younger generation willing to choose translation and interpretation as their future job.
The closing of the conference turned into a true celebration with Alfred Mtawali encouraging the crowd to sing with him, creating a festive atmosphere with singing and dancing.
The 2nd Africa International Translation Conference was held in Tanzania, in February 2020.
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