winning Saudi Aramco World magazine published by Aramco Services Company (ASC) has reached a new milestone in its history with articles from the last March/April edition available online in two foreign languages – Chinese and Spanish. Until now, the magazine was solely an English language publication. The translation initiative, strongly supported by ASC President Ahmed Al-Zayyat, reaffirms the commitment of the magazine to be a global publication dedicated to broadening the knowledge of the cultures, history and geography of the Arab and Muslim worlds and their connections to the rest of the world. Saudi Aramco World has 165,000 subscribers worldwide and is frequently sought out by educators as a resource and teaching tool in the classroom, according to a latest press release of Saudi Aramco. The magazine's dedicated website has many interactive features, including virtual walking tours and podcasts, and an extensive, publicly available digital photo archive with images available for download. The addition of the article translations represents a step change in the publications' outreach to its readers. Icons of the flags of China and Spain are highlighted in the upper right hand corner of the screen and appear for articles that are available in those languages. Readers click on the icons, which takes them to their language of choice. While two languages are initially available, plans call for two more to be added with the upcoming May-June issue – Japanese and Korean. “This initiative is in support of Saudi Aramco's growing focus on business in the Far East, and in alignment with ATP, which calls for us to strengthen our global presence and distinguish ourselves as a leading energy company,” said the editor of Saudi Aramco World. He added that there are preliminary discussions under way about publishing printed editions of the magazine in different languages, as well as possibly expanding the number of languages.
