The Faculty of Arts at An-Najah University successfully concluded the Fourth International Conference on the Role of Translation in the Dialogue of Civilizations which was organized earlier at the Martyr Zafer Al-Masri Auditorium at the Old Campus on October 12^th.

A large number of researchers and experts in the field of translation from the different countries around the world participated in the Conference and presented several work papers on related issues and topics. The participants called for the establishment of the Palestinian Translation Body, activate the role of Arabic language academies in the field of translation, translation of folklore and continuing to hold this conference on a regular basis.

On its first day, the Conference consisted of three sessions. In the first one, Professor Basel Hatem from the American University of Sharjah in the UAE presented a work paper titled “The Ubiquitous Nature of Style in the Translation of Literary and Non- literary Texts”, while Professor Christiane Nord from the University of the Free State in South Africa presented a work paper titled “Text Typology and Skopos Theory”.

Dr. Mohamad Elgeadi, Chairman of the International Committee for Language Rights and Dialogue in Spain, presented a paper titled “Translation, a Tool of Civilization and Dialogue in the Arab-Islamic Culture”.  Another paper titled “A Short History of Palestinian Literature in French Translation” by Dr. Richard Jacquemond from the University of Provence in France.

The second session featured four papers including: The “Translation as a Mirror of Civilization” paper by Dr. Heidemarie Salevsky from the Orkan University in Istancbul, “Palestinian Literature, History, the Islamic Civilization and the Israeli Orientalism” by Professor Omar Mahameed from the Liptzik Educational University, “Incoming non-Arabic Terms Used in the Colloquial Dialect Spoken in the Palestinian Village: A Means of Communication between Civilizations” by Dr. Idris Jaradat from Sanabel Center for Patrimonial and Popular Studies, and “Image of the East in the Russian Periodicals and Publications in the 19^th Century” by Dr. Libidinskaya Tatyana Nicolayvna from the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg in Russia.

In the third session, four papers were presented also including: “From Telling Ourselves to Telling about Ourselves” by Dr. Jamal Asady from Sakhnin-An-Najah University, “The Role of Salman Natoor in Translating Hebraic Literature into Arabic-selected Items” by Dr. Nader Qassem from the Arabic Department at An-Najah University, “Dialogue of Cultures and the Role of Translation through the Works of Malek Bin Naby” by Dr. Maha Atmeh, Head of the French Department at An-Najah, “Lexical Problems in Arabic-English Subtitling” by Dr. Mohamad Thawabteh from Al-Quds University, and finally “How Arabs once Translated Scientific Terms and Transferred them into the Arabic Language” by Dr. Ata Abu Jbin.

The second day of the Conference consisted of two sessions. In the first session Professor Basil Hatim from the American University of Sharjah in the UAE presented a paper titled “In the Beginning was the Text, and it is by their Texts that You Know Them”. The Next paper was presented by Professor Oleg Peresypkin, Former President of the Palestinian-Russian Organization-Professor of the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow and Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Russia, titled “Activities of the Palestinian-Russian Organization, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”.

Other papers included: “The Role of Karmel Journal in Translating International Literature” by Dr. Abdel Raouf Kharyoush from the Arabic Department-Al-Quds Open University in Nablus, “A Comparative Study of Machine Translation and Human Translation” by Dr. Khaled Dweikat, “Textual Analysis: Translators’ Tool” by Dr. Omar Najjar, Head of English Department-Al-Quds University, “Arabs Translators’ Chief Adel Zoayter” by Dr. Shamekh Alawneh, “Methodological Basis for Translating Literary Works” by Dr. Tareq Aissa read by Mr. Bassam Aghbar, “Salma Al-Jayyousi and Prota Project” by Dr. Madiha Atiq read by Mr. Saher Salman from Souq Ahras University in Algeria, “The Role of the Social Digital Networks in Upgrading the Translation Movement and Activating the Dialogue of Civilizations” by Morsi Moshri read by Mr. Mahmoud Joudeh from Hasiba Bin-Bou Ali University in Algeria.

In the concluding session, the results and recommendations of the Conference were presented and discussed.