I do not know if there is a very detailed chronological record of the appearance of all the arts and crafts in the world, but if there is one, translation will certainly appear at the top of the list. From that moment until now, the means used and the scope in which this work takes place have undergone many transformations, but the basis and the result follow the same assumptions.
Today I talk to you about the scope of the translator's work and how translation is present in our lives in so many situations and in the most varied manners. Although some voices reduce this work to a secondary position, translation covers very different areas and claims its importance in a discreet yet very specific way. We witness the result of the translator's work, for example, every time we read the translation of books by foreign authors, every time we watch films with subtitles or every time a child watches certain dubbed cartoons. Pretty much in the same way as we counted on the work of this professional every time we read the user manual of our car or an appliance, when we confirmed the dose of analgesic in the medication package insert, or when we searched for the version of a company's website in our native language. Just like when we worked with directives, legislation and regulations from several foreign entities, or even when we took the opportunity to try a certain on-line game.
I now ask you a question: Did you feel the translator's presence at any of these moments? Possibly your answer will be no and I take this opportunity to explain that translators are prepared to give substance to ideas and concepts and also to convey specific information with all the necessary rigour or to convey emotions and states of mind with the required sensitivity from one language to the other and always under a near invisibility cloak.
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