Message of the Universal Esperanto Association on the occasion of International Translation Day, 30 September 2025
To translate is to bring languages, cultures and people closer to one another. It is in this spirit that we celebrate International Translation Day, at a time when we need to strengthen our ability to understand one another and to recognize our common humanity. Translation and interpretation are, along with the search for community of language, paths for peaceful coexistence.
We particularly welcome this year’s theme of the International Federation of Translators: “Translation: Shaping a Future You Can Trust.” Every language, including those least commonly spoken, has its own humanly created approach to reality that merits attention and preservation. Only human intervention can faithfully carry meaning from one language to another, even if there are many technological aids to doing so. Languages are created by people: translation and interpretation depend on human judgment.
With International Translation Day, the United Nations honours translators and interpreters, expressing support for their important, but often invisible or even disrespected, work of bridging the languages of the world. Translation and interpretation are a path to the equal treatment of all languages, and thus of all people – because everyone has a fundamental right to free expression, and to be heard and understood, in his or her mother tongue.
Languages play a fundamental role in cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue, and education. Through languages, we can strengthen collaboration, build more inclusive societies, preserve our cultural heritage, and gather political will. However, all of this can occur only if also accompanied by dialogue across differences of language. Multilingualism means that everyone can speak and think in their own language. Translation makes it possible to acknowledge other languages and cultures and at the same time reassess one’s own.
On this special day, we again express our support for multilingualism as a core value of the UN, we salute the international organizations of translators and interpreters, and we reassert our goal to advance, also through the International Language Esperanto, understanding and esteem among the peoples of the world. Let us remove the walls of misunderstanding, distrust and discrimination, so that people can see and hear one another as brothers and sisters in a rich and harmonious world.
Long live linguistic diversity; but also long live contact and understanding across languages and peoples – though translation, interpretation, and also the International Language Esperanto.
Tim

