Many aspects of the modern world are based on international communication. Advances in technology and transportation have allowed us to maintain business and personal relationships with people across the globe as well as share stories and media with them.
Much of the communication we have with other countries is a direct result of hardworking professional translators. Some of us take these translators for granted, which is partially why Mexico has just established a Spanish translation award to honor them.
The award is named after Spanish-born translator, poet and author Tomas Segovia who passed away in 2011. The prize is mainly meant to honor those that have done outstanding work in bringing the Hispanic literary history to other languages, as well as expanding the history with translated international work.
Recipients Will Win a Cash Prize and More
The focus of the award will alternate every other year between those that have translated Spanish work into other languages and those that have provided Spanish translation for international work. The first award will be for a Spanish translation.
Each recipient will receive a $100,000 cash prize, partly sponsored by Mexico’s most prominent publishing house, Fondo de Cultura Economica, and his or her acceptance speech for the award will be published. The Tomas Segovia award was established by the National Culture and Arts Council in Mexico.
Tomas Segovia Prize is Appropriately Named
Tomas Segovia, for whom the Spanish translation award is named, should serve as an inspiration to Spanish translators around the world. After living through the Spanish Civil War and settling in Mexico in 1940, he translated Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and Victor Hugo’s “Dieu”.
These works, among others, allowed Spanish-speaking people to experience literary history. In that way, Segovia greatly contributed to the Spanish language by introducing international styles. He was also a text editor with a special interest in cinema and cultural studies.
The unsung heroes of translation might finally get their time in the spotlight thanks to the new Tomas Segovia Spanish translation award in Mexico. Professional translation is a major part of the expansion of a culture’s ideals, identity and literacy.
The Importance of Translators
Hopefully the award will inspire even more literary enthusiasts to delve into the world of translation and expand their minds and culture. Without translators, we would have little contact with our international counterparts, and many of the literary works we still refer to today would never have been introduced to us in the first place.