RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Culture, represented by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, announced its initiative titled "Tarjim," which is aimed at enriching Arabic content and enhancing cultural exchanges between the Arabic language and other major languages around the world. The initiative is one of the first initiatives that the Ministry of Culture announced during the launch of its vision and programs last year. The Riyadh-based commission established in February this year aims to streamline the publishing industry, develop a creative environment and create investment opportunities. In 2019, Minister of Culture Prince Badr Bin Abdullah announced the establishment of 27 initiatives under 16 newly established commissions, including the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission. The "Tarjim" initiative coincides with the celebration of the International Day of Translation that falls on Sept. 30 every year. The initiative aims to enrich the Arabic content with materials translated from the world's major languages that are of scientific and literary values. It also seeks to introduce high-quality Arabic literature to the world, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Another objective of this initiative is to serve researchers and learners in the Arabic language by providing translated materials of high value and of scientific and literary importance, and to support international cultural exchange efforts. The initiative comes as an embodiment of the Commission's conviction in the importance of the translation process and its role in opening greater horizons for cultural communication between peoples, transmitting human knowledge and keeping pace with the movement of culture, ideas and global awareness through mutual interaction among Arab readers and global culture with different trends and creative and intellectual paths. The initiative seeks to restore the influential role that translation played in the history of Arab civilization, when the early Muslims translated the jewels of Greek philosophy into the Arabic language that contributed to preserving the first basic creations of human consciousness and then transferring them to the new world. The initiative will work on translating the most important contemporary intellectual productions, including the latest international scientific and intellectual articles, and making them available for free to Arab readers, in addition to its main roles in translating reference books and literature to and from the Arabic language. The "Tarjim" initiative embodies the commission's keenness to achieve the Ministry of Culture's goal of making culture a lifestyle by providing a vital cultural environment for knowledge exchange in which society interacts continuously with contemporary global culture. The initiative will also contribute to achieving the third level of the Saudi Vision 2030 by enhancing and enriching the Arabic language content.
