23 April, World Book Day

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Is sponsored by UNESCO and celebrated in more than 100 countries across the globe, but did you know that the idea itself – and the very first Book Day – is a Spanish invention?

The Valencia-born writer Vicente Clavel Andrés came up with the original idea for celebrating Book Day (“Día del Libro” in Spanish) in 1923. Approved by the Spanish King Alfonso XIII three years later, the first Book Day was celebrated on 7th October 1926. In 1930, the date was changed to 23rd April in recognition of several important historical figures, including Spain’s St. George, who is said to have saved a princess by slaying a dragon while mounted on a white horse. The dragon’s blood gushed into a rosebush, and the future saint offered one of the red roses to the princess. St George is the patron saint of Catalonia, and his saint’s day has been celebrated there since 1436. In the past, tradition dictated that lovers would exchange gifts – a red rose for the woman and a book for the man – but it has evolved, and today books and roses are exchanged among lovers, family and friends.

Coincidentally, Miguel de Cervantes died on the same date (the original date set for the celebration, 7th October, was actually his birthday) as did Shakespeare, kind of (more on that later), making his birthday the perfect day for celebrating books not only in Catalonia but across the entire country as well.

In 1995, UNESCO designated 23 April as World Book and Copyright Day, choosing the date because it was on this date that Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. Other prominent authors, such as Maurice Druon, Haldor K. Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo, were also either born or died on that date. It’s worth noting that, although Cervantes and Shakespeare did die on the same date (23rd April 1616), they did not die on the same day. At the time, Spain was using the Gregorian calendar and England was using the Julian calendar. Consequently, Shakespeare’s death actually occurred 10 days after Cervantes’, on 3rd May of the Gregorian calendar.

Each year, UNESCO and international organisations representing publishers, booksellers and libraries select the city that will serve as the World Book Capital for one year, effective 23 April each year. This initiative converts the one-day celebration of books into an ongoing activity for the entire year aimed at encouraging the culture of reading, enriching the city by extending the cultural and geographic influence of books for its residents. Madrid was the first city to receive this honour, in 2001. This year, the city chosen is Tbilisi, Georgia and, in 2022, the host will be Guadalajara, Mexico.

For many people, this past year has been one of isolation and loneliness. In many places around the world, schools have been closed, people have been forced to work from homes or in highly stressful circumstances, they have been unable to visit family members; at certain times even walking outdoors has been prohibited. The mental toll of being forced to live alone or in overcrowded conditions without the normal social contact or activities we are accustomed to can only be quantified once we are allowed to resume our old lives.

Yet, for centuries, books have been a door to the outside world for millions, a bright light in the midst of darkness. They are a powerful tool to fight isolation and loneliness, strengthen ties among people, grow our horizons, stimulate our minds and boost our creativity. And it seems that people are realising this; according to UNESCO, the number of books read this past year has doubled in some countries.

This April – and all year round – take some time to read a book on your own and/or with your children. Read aloud together with housemates. Share the joy of exploring new topics, opening minds to other countries, peoples and ways of life. Learn about the world around you or let your imagination run wild with fantasy and escape to imaginary lands far from the worries of today.

As the renowned US author Mark Twain said, “Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else”. Wherever you may be, you can be – at least for a brief moment — wherever you want: read a book!

Happy World Book Day!

Let’s celebrate International Women’s Day

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History

El International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March around the world. Serving as a focal point for in the movement for women’s rights,it’s a day when women receive the recognition they are often denied for their achievements without regard to their differences, whether these may be national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. This year, women have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as health care workers, innovators, community organisers, caregivers, and as some of the most exemplary and effective national leaders in combating the virus. The crisis has served to shine a light on both the importance of women’s contributions as well as the disproportionate burdens they carry.

A brief history

The very first Women’s Day observance was calledNational Woman’s DayHeld in New York City on 28 February 1909, the march was organised by the Socialist Party of AmericaAfter that, Women’s Day was celebrated on the last Sunday in February in the United States. Sunday was chosen because organisers wanted to make sure that working women would be able to attend.

In 1914, International Women’s Day was held on 8 March in Germany, possibly because that day was a Sunday. The theme was women’s right to vote, which German women did not gain until 1918.

In London, there was a march to Trafalgar Square planned in support of women’s suffrage on 8 March 1914. The suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst On 8 March 1917, women textile workers began a demonstration and strike in Petrograd, the capital of the Russian Empire, demanding peace and bread. The protest eventually spread across the city, igniting the February Revolution, which – together with the October Revolution – made up the Russian Revolution.

After it was officially adopted as a national holiday in Soviet Russia in 1922, Women’s Day was mainly celebrated in Soviet bloc countries.

The day remained predominantly a Soviet-bloc holiday until about 1967 when it was rediscovered by second-wave feminists and the daughters of American Communists who remembered having heard of the holiday. The day was revitalised and brought back as a day of activism. In the 1970s and 1980s, women’s rights group were joined by leftists and labour organisations in calling for equal pay, equal economic opportunity, equal legal rights, reproductive rights, subsidised childcare, and the prevention of violence against girls and women.

In 1975, recognised as International Women’s Year, the United Nations General Assembly began celebrating March 8 as International Women’s Day. In 1977, the United Nations General Assembly invited member states to establish 8 March as the UN day for women’s rights, and world peace.

This year, the UN theme for International Women’s Day is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”, highlighting the impact that girls and women worldwide had as health care workers, caregivers, innovators and community organizers during the COVID-19 pandemicThis year’s hashtags are #IWD2021 and #ChoosetoChallenge.

Colour

Historically, purple has been associated with efforts to achieve gender equality. Purple, green and white were the colours used by the Women’s Social and Political Unionthe organisation that led Britain’s women’s suffrage movement in the early 20th century. For the suffragettes fighting for the right to vote, purple represented loyalty and dignity, green stood for hope, and white for purity. In the 1960s and 1970s, feminists brought back the use of purple to represent the women’s movement as a tribute to the suffragettes.

Why it’s important, and not just for women

Over the past century, women have gained many rights, including the right to vote, the right to serve in public office, and more. Despite this overall progress – and exceptional progress made towards gender equality. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2020 rankings the ten countries with the least gender gap are Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Nicaragua, New Zealand (which was, incidentally, the first self-governing nation to give women the right to vote, in 1893!), Ireland, Spain, Rwanda and Germany

Nevertheless, the same report finds that none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children. According to the report, at the current rate of progress, gender parity will not be attained for 99.5 years.

Women’s human rights are fundamental rights, and they cannot be subordinated to cultural, religious or political considerations. Gender equality is essential for the achievement of human rights for all people.

Laws in many countries continue to institutionalise second class status for women and girls with regard to nationality and citizenship, health, education, marital rights, employment rights, parental rights, inheritance and property rights. All of these forms of discrimination against women are entirely incompatible with the empowerment of women.

In the past fifty years, humankind has achieved extraordinary feats, including landing on the moon, discovering new human ancestors, and photographing a black hole for the first time.

In the meantime, 2.7 billion women are prevented from accessing the same choice of jobs as men due to legal restrictions, less than 25 percent of parliamentarians were women, and 1 in 3 women still experience gender-based violence.

The COVID-19 epidemic has exacerbated this disparity: Women play a disproportionate role in responding to the virus, including as frontline healthcare workers and carers at home. School closures and the increased needs of older people have meant that women’s unpaid care work has increased significantly. Because women disproportionally work in insecure labour markets, they are also harder hit by the economic impacts of COVID-19. And because nearly 60 percent of women work in the informal economy, they are at increased risk of falling into poverty.

What we can do to celebrate today and every day on the path to equality

We must not allow these facts and figures to discourage us. Women and women’s rights have come a long way since those early marches more than a century ago. There are many actions that we can take – not just on Women’s Day, but every day – to continue to empower women. Here are a few:

  1. Support women-owned businesses. By supporting businesses owned by women, you are helping to contribute to equal economic empowerment, representative products and services and a stronger economy overall.
  2. Advocate for gender equality in your workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected women, who are more likely to lose their jobs than men. Progress toward gender equality means creating inclusive environments.
  3. Share your thoughts. While the pandemic has prevented marches and gatherings, there are other ways to share that love and energy. Making a bright poster for your window, recommending a favourite female artist or singer to a friend, or reading a women-centred book to a child are all positive actions designed to raise awareness.

El International Women’s Day (IWD) is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and set future goals. Today, and every day, we must continue to press for gender equality, and not just because it benefits women. The fact is that equality benefits all, regardless of their gender.

GLOSSARIES – THE TRANSLATOR’S BEST FRIEND

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You may not have realised it, but you use some very specialised vocabulary at work every day. Whether you have a restaurant or a petrol station or you or you manufacture bags or gears, your trade talks in a way that outsiders probably do not understand. And when it comes to technical industries like aviation, motor manufacturing and even watchmaking, the jargon gets even more complicated, which means that translating your technical specialised texts is more complicated.

Sometimes it is extremely difficult – not to say impossible – to find a translator who understands the technical aspects of your business. Large translation agencies may claim to specialise in absolutely everything under the sun, but all translators are offered jobs about which they know nothing by these agencies, and told to just get on with it.

When you choose a specific translator, then you will certainly get an honest answer about whether they are qualified to translate your abstract on brain surgery or the inner workings of a manometer. Once you have found the right person, with the biggest reference library the world has ever known – the internet – and perhaps a little input from you, a diligent translator will find a way to give you the result you need, and a thoroughly satisfactory result can be achieved. 

However, technology is more than a source of reference materials. Modern translation software allows us to create translation memories that reminds us of how we have translated technical words and terms in the past, and it is easy to create glossaries with items that the client has approved as we go along. Once you have found a trusted translator and built a long-term relationship, you will see the benefits of these tools in both the quality and speed of work that we are able to produce.

Using a glossary guarantees greater consistency and accuracy from document to document. What’s more, if your regular translator not available for some reason, these materials are invaluable to the person taking their place, saving time looking up words and asking for explanations.

If you have a very specialised business and you need translations, you can create your own glossary for your translator to convert into an automatic termbase using special software. This can be an explanatory glossary in one language, or can even be bilingual or trilingual, showing the terms and words in both languages. 

Whether you need technical, legal, business, marketing, medical or any other type of translations, creating a glossary or termbase termbase or asking your translator to do so will save you time and money, and will ensure that you receive the accurate, well-written texts you need.

Learn a new skill for a stronger mind

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We all want to live longer, happier, and healthier lives, but reaching a ripe old age fit as a fiddle takes effort and work. As well as caring for our bodies and minds, mainly by means of physical exercise and healthy eating, doctors and psychologists agree that the best way to avoid cognitive decline in adulthood is by developing new mental and physical abilities.

Surveys* have shown that a stunning 50 per cent of adults over the age of 40 do not learn information on a weekly basis, but being able to survive as an independent adult in today’s constantly changing world entails keeping up with a world that changes each day, particularly in so far as technological advances. Healthcare providers are moving towards remote appointments, online billing and shopping are now standard, and entertainment is moving online. This means that a failure to learn these skills fosters functional dependence. We simply have no alternative but to embrace the modern world and all the complications that come with it.

Learning a new skill is a natural four-stage process. The first stage involves you acknowledging that you do not know something. Imagine you get a puppy, and you do not know how to house train it. If you do not realise that this is something you have to learn, you could end up blaming the puppy.

Stage two is conscious incompetence. You know you need to learn or want to do something, but you do not know how to do it. Imagine your friend bakes a delicious cake and you really want to make one yourself. This desire and awareness can give you the momentum and motivation to learn. You will probably make a few mistakes during this stage, but it is all part of the great learning experience. I once sent blank pieces of paper around the world on a fax machine (I was putting them in the wrong way up) and on another occasion, I made a coat and sewed the sleeves on back to front!

In stage three, you have learned what you need to do, but it does not come naturally, at least not yet. You are now in the conscious competence stage. This is similar to when you have passed your driving test, but you still have an L in the rear window of your car. You can drive, but every trip is an adventure! A lot of language learners get stuck in this phase. Language students know what to say, understand a lot of what is being said, but still find speaking to be quite a struggle. They have to listen very closely to follow a conversation. Many people give up in the conscious competence stage because they do not believe they can progress and get where they want to go.

Lastly comes stage four, which is unconscious competence. Your skill is now automatic. Also, now you are in stage four, it can be difficult to explain and teach learners how to acquire your skill because it is now second nature and you must try to put yourself in their shoes.

It’s never too late to gain a new skill or hobby, so, what would you like to learn to do?

* Source: 2017 AARP Cognitive Activity and Brain Health Survey.

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