The United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 71/288 on the role of language professionals in connecting nations and fostering peace, understanding and development, and declared 30 September as International Translation Day. The Day is an opportunity to pay tribute to the work of language professionals, which plays an important role in bringing nations together, facilitating dialogue, understanding and cooperation, contributing to development and strengthening world peace and security. Transposition of a literary or scientific work, including technical work, from one language into another language, professional translation, including translation proper, interpretation and terminology, is indispensable to preserving clarity, a positive climate and productiveness in international public discourse and interpersonal communication.

FORUM: International Translation Day 2020 ''UN interpreters adapt to new work modes during COVID-19''.

When the Coronavirus pandemic brought New York City to a halt, United Nations interpreters ran into big trouble: their booths and equipment were no longer accessible. This story documents how these professionals have been responding to new challenges COVID-19 added to their already daunting job of providing simultaneous interpretation in six UN official languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

CAMPAIGN : The role of language professionals.

Statement by the United Nations Secretary General on International Translation Day 2020, September 30th.

An essential factor in harmonious communication among peoples, multilingualism is of particular importance to the United Nations. By promoting tolerance, multilingualism ensures effective and increased participation of all in the Organization’s work, as well as greater effectiveness, better outcomes and more involvement.

Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are the six official languages of the United Nations. English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat and are used in day-to-day professional exchanges.

The balance among the six official languages has been an ongoing concern of the Secretary-General. Numerous activities have been undertaken, from 1946 to the present, to promote the use of the official languages to ensure that the United Nations, its goals and actions are understood by the widest possible public.

The mission of the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM) is to provide high quality meeting and documentation services to all Member States in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi, and wherever international conferences and meetings are held by the United Nations, in the official languages of the Organization. DGACM plays a key role in fostering multilingual dialogue and cooperation among United Nations Member States, international organizations, intergovernmental bodies, and civil society.

In collaboration with DGACM, the Department of Global Communications -- which strives to promote global awareness and understanding of the work of the United Nations through media such as radio, television, Internet and print -- will continue to make every effort to comply with the highest standards of multilingualism, and to raise the public profile of the United Nations as a multilingual organization.

UN Secretary-General

Translation at the United Nations

The United Nations is one of the world's largest employers of language professionals. Several hundred language staff work in UN offices in New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi, or at the United Nations regional commissions in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Beirut, Geneva and Santiago. Translators are one type of language professionals employed at the UN.

UN language specialists include:

• Editorial and desktop publishing assistants; Editors; Interpreters; Précis-writers; Production editors and desktop publishers; Translators; Verbatim reporters

United Nations translators handle all kinds of documents, from statements by Member States to reports prepared by expert bodies. The documents they translate cover every topic on the United Nations agenda, including human rights, peace and security, and development. New issues arise every day. UN documents are issued simultaneously in the six official languages of the Organization (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). Some core documents are also translated into German. This multilingual documentation is made possible by United Nations translators, whose job is to render clearly and accurately the content of original texts into their main language.