Doha, Qatar: The Indonesian Embassy in Doha, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Qatari Forum for Authors, organised a book launch and signing event at the 32nd Doha International Book Fair (DIBF) recently.
The first book is “Apa Kata Butiran Pasir,” a translation of the Qatari fable “Madza taqul ar-rimaal” written by Dr. Sama Al Hajri and has been translated by Choris Wahyuni into Bahasa Indonesia. It beautifully conveys the effort to take care of the environment.
The second book, “Persahabatan Damar Karung,” written by Nindia Nurmayasari has been translated into Arabic by Abdullah Asmawi. This book explores an Indonesian tradition and children’s friendship.
Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar H E Ridwan Hassan, expressed his deep appreciation for the involved parties, recognising that the process of translation involves much more than simply exchanging messages between languages. He also emphasised the complexity and importance of this translation work.
“This shows us that Indonesia and Qatar share mutual interests in literature, just like in any other sector. Translation is probably the best way to create a bridge of understanding between two nations, as well as its cultures.”
The envoy added: “I believe that translation work is much more complex than merely transferring messages between languages. It needs in-depth cultural understanding, mastery of languages and their linguistic aspects, translation theories, a lot of practice, and other related stuff so that can convey messages with better delivery and minimum mistakes. Thus, I appreciate the work of all parties involved. I hope this work will become a pioneer for the long-term cooperation of Qatar and Indonesia, especially in terms of translation and literature.”
“As the theme of this DIBF, “With reading we rise,” thus, I hope we could rise together and expand our horizon with such a translation work,” the envoy concluded.
