The report refers to the issue of translation as a way of interacting between civilizations through the transfer from one language into another for the purpose of achieving scientific and cultural objectives. The report complains that Arab countries have not learned from the lessons of the past and "the field of translation remains chaotic." The number of translations remains small; in the first half of the 1980s the average number of books translated per 1 million people in the Arab world during a 5-year period was 4.4 while in Hungary it was 519 and in Spain 920. The number for Israel is approximately 380.
It looks like English speaking countries have something in common with Arabic ones.
In the New York Times today, Fortress of a Monglot Nation mentions the imbalance of translation into and out of english. The review praises Tomb for Boris Davidovich [link to the book here on babelguides]: "stitching fiction to history with uncanny precision".
Susan Sontag won the German Booksellers Association's prestigious Friedenspreis peace prize. Find an analysis of the America/ Europe relationship in her acceptance speech.
A rabbi poses the amusing yet disturbing question "If the Bible had not yet been translated, would it be accepted by any English-language publishers today?" in this article.
