Many thousands of people tune into the translations of various languages when watching MTA or even when listening to the speeches being delivered in Jalsa Salana.
However, have you ever wondered just how tricky and difficult translation can be?
Here is first-hand experience from a British born Missionary, who has been translating many speeches from Urdu to English:
“Simply put, Urdu is a beautiful language. I have in fact spoken basic Urdu from a very young age, courtesy of my beloved mother coming from a Pakistani background, but my learning curve really kick-started during my time at Jamia Ahmadiyya U.K and due to an in depth approach to the study of the books of the Promised Messiah.
In terms of translation, I have again been doing it as long as I can remember, having a father who could not speak Urdu, and a mother who had grown up in Pakistan, I found myself playing and indeed fulfilling the role of translator on many an occasion!
Translation work, it has to be said however, is incredibly difficult. Not small colloquial sentences or chit-chat, I mean translating a scholastic personality such as our present Ameer-ul-Momineen (atba) or the fourth Khalifa’s works. The sheer volume of vocabulary and intricate sentence structure can be at times hard to understand.
Translation is a blessing; it truly creates an awe at the creation of Allah. That the mind is able to understand and then convey a message in a completely different form for the betterment of others, SubhanAllah. It is one of the most challenging yet rewarding tasks, and the feeling of finishing just an hour-long Dars-ul-Quran is almost incomparable! (Except to maybe a 3 hour Jalsa address!).
This blessed task is a huge opportunity, and holds incredible importance.Just as the language of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) was selected as Arabic, now the language of his messiah has been chosen as Urdu. This by itself highlights its importance and the utmost need for its conveyance.
Just as the Arabic of the Qur’an of God has been translated extensively, so too now are the words of God emanating forth from the mouths and hearts of the men of God that we are blessed with in our community.
It is my belief that one of the ways in which the divine revelation and promise from God that “I will cause thy message to reach the corners of the earth” is being fulfilled, is through the scores of blessed translator volunteers in this Jama’at, that are blessed with the opportunity of serving the Jama’at to the utmost of their capabilities.
But something we should all remember, is that all of this is only possible due to the grace of God and the undeniable prayers of Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya.”
