TRANSLATORS AS INTERMEDIATORS

The community of ants, unimaginably, is very organized and complicated. Since it is built on networking, every member of this community has a job to fulfill. This shows that networking and communication are very significant not only in the community of ants, but also on a large complicated scale which is the community of humans. Humans also have their complicated community and in order to communicate and interact, they have their only way of communication which is the Language.

The importance of communication either in the community of the ants or in the community of the humans is that it helps build relationships with people from different races, ethnicities, and cultures all over the world. By nature, humans can never live without communication, as it is also the method of transferring knowledge, culture, and science. When communication becomes impossible, for a reason or another, life stops and here the role of translation appears.

Translators are intermediators between various kinds of people who do not speak the same language and cannot communicate or understand each other. Their role is based on networking, just like ants. It is widely known that the community of ants is considered as one of the most successful and efficient communities because of many reasons. They are divided into main and sub groups and each one of the members knows that it has a very specific task to do. Moreover, they always keen on performing their work in an organized and cooperative way.

Studies show that they cooperation with each other is the secret of their magnificent success, because at the end, all of the members, from the leader to the follower, have one purpose, which is to welfare of the whole community. This would not have been achieved unless they are cooperative. People, whatever their work is, and translators, in particular, also have to learn from this community to develop and benefit themselves and their societies as well.

Translators can learn many valuable principles from the ant’s colony. They should embrace the spirit of the team work and cooperation. They should be patient, flexible, helpful, punctual, and smart. As a part of Modlingua community, I noticed that this is what Modlingua, under its highly-qualified leadership, is trying to entrench; a community of professional, cooperative, and helpful translators worldwide who can share their experiences for the sake of the mutual benefit because cooperation is the key of success.