RIYADH, 16 November — The dean of King Saud University’s College of Languages and Translation has welcomed a decision to set up an international center for translation in the name of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd by saying it will open up numerous job opportunities for Saudis in the public and private sector.
“There is an acute shortage of translators and interpreters in ministries and other government departments,” Dr. Abdullah Al-Homaidan told Arab News.
Dr. Al-Homaidan, who returned from Algiers after attending an international conference on foreign languages, said the center could also play a useful role in bringing out an Arabic/English dictionary of scientific terms for the Arab world, besides translating great literary classics.
He noted that there was also an urgent need to render some important government publications and legislative works into English for the benefit of foreigners interested in Saudi Arabia. Such a move will go a long way toward promoting transparency in governmental operations — one of the requirements of WTO membership.
Pointing out that there will be a great demand for Saudis as translators and interpreters, he cited the experience of COLT, whose graduates are absorbed by the public sector as soon as they complete their studies.
“The ministries of information, interior, Haj and Awqaf as well as Islamic affairs are among a number of government organizations that have provided employment opportunities to our graduates,” Dr. Al-Homaidan said.
He referred to COLT’s plans for setting up language labs where students will learn computer-aided translation techniques. “The lab will train them as translators and interpreters. There will be three kinds of interpretation — bilateral translation, consecutive interpretation and simultaneous interpretation.”
He said two professors from the French University of Standhal (Grenoble) would be coming in March next year to identify the scope for cooperation in the setting up of a machine translation lab. Both of them are supervising machine translation projects in other parts of the world.
“I am confident that with all these measures, COLT will have a competitive edge over other institutions in the Middle East,” Dr. Al-Homaidan said, adding that the college would be recruiting a team of computer programmers to help them train their staff.
