Women Who Connect the World with Words: Celebrating International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day Celebration

“I would venture to guess that Anonymous, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.” – Virginia Woolf, prominent British author.

We Are We, We Are She

Happy International Women’s Day!

Due to this day and the meaning of its celebration, take a moment to think about the influential women in your life.

Think about what you have learned from them, what you appreciate about them, and what you respect about the women who have gone before and made this world what it is today, in all its pain and beauty, its truth and knowledge.

Here at JR Language Translation Services, we would like to highlight the valuable contributions of the women who have supported our translation company through their hard work. To achieve our growth, we had the support of many women translators, interpreters, project managers, localization engineers, marketers, and salespeople.  Our exceptional and dedicated team of women has made, and continues to make, a significant contribution to our success.

International Women’s Day is held on March 8th each year. The first official International Women’s Day was not observed on that date but on March 19th, 1911. A hundred years later, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, declared March National Women’s History Month.

International Women’s Day is recognized today as a holiday in many nations, including Uganda, Laos, Cuba, and Armenia. In some areas, like Macedonia, this celebration is combined with Mother’s Day. People celebrate by honoring and giving gifts to the women in their lives, especially mothers and female relatives.

International Women’s Day Facts

The history and development of International Women’s Day have not been easy.

The holiday was first linked with socialist ideals and women’s issues, then moved to a primarily feminist agenda. It has been commonly associated with protests and sociopolitical efforts for women’s rights. Such was the case in Russia in 1917. That March, women gathered in protest against WWI and gender inequality, marching in the thousands. Despite death threats from the Czar-headed government, more women joined the cause until the right to vote was granted.

Each generation of women reaches new milestones and has a unique identity that joins the multicultural, multinational, and multilingual tapestry of women across time and distance. As the women continue their journey through history, new chapters will be written, and the importance of inspiring young girls not to be limited by gender or preconceived misconceptions is essential.

Women have a role to play in supporting every individual, regardless of gender. However, it is imperative to continue the quest to help girls and young adults who did not have the same luck in getting an education and/or growing up with good role models to aspire to better life opportunities.

Women in Translation

The translation industry has a long history of women pioneering companies and language services. Historically and today, career options for women are highly limited in many societies worldwide. For literate women, translation presents an opportunity to use their skills to better mankind. However, their work is almost always published anonymously, and many translations are still uncredited.

In this language services blog, we will recognize the names that represent this commitment to communication and to connecting the world. Read on for a few of their stories.

• Sacagawea was an indigenous North American woman of the Shoshone people. Best known for guiding the Lewis and Clark party through the Louisiana Purchase, she spoke Shoshone, English, and Hidatsa. Her linguistic, interpersonal, and environmental skills enabled the expedition to survive and reach its destination, the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Oregon.
• Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, the Marquise du Châtelet, is responsible for the comprehensive translation of Isaac Newton’s Principia from Latin into French. An accomplished physicist and mathematician in her own right, she produced a translation that is still the most used today. She also added extensive comments and accounts of her own findings. Her French translation was published in 1756, after she died during childbirth.
• Gili Bar-Hillel is an Israeli Hebrew translator who has translated many books, including the Harry Potter series, which has charmed millions worldwide. She is an excellent example of someone who knows how to localize a translation effectively. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix features a Hanukkah song rather than a Christmas song, fitting in effortlessly and resonating with the intended audience. This is an example of transcreation services, translating a book and adapting it for another culture.
• Chi Pang-Yuan, a professor of English at the National Taiwan University, is known for extensively translating Taiwanese works from Chinese to English. Some of her pieces are the only known translations and the only window into that world for the West. She built the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at National Taiwan Chung-Hsing University and taught in Berlin and Hong Kong. Her memoir, The Great Flowing River: A Memoir of China, From Manchuria to Taiwan, was published in 2018.
• Wangui wa Goro has been instrumental in promoting and spreading works translated from African languages, such as Swahili, which is spoken in her native country, Kenya. She is an activist for literacy and human rights, founding TRACALA, the Translation Caucus of the African Literature Association. In 2001, Wangui wa Goro co-authored Global Feminist Politics: Identities in a Changing World with Suki Ali and Kelly Coate. Today, she is a sought-after speaker, guest teacher, and board member of the International Association of Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS).
• Fernanda Pivano was an Italian writer, journalist, translator, and critic. She worked on the Italian translation of pieces by authors such as Ernest Hemingway, Allen Ginsberg, and Charles Bukowski, often in direct collaboration with them. Pivano’s work is an excellent example of journalism that combines translation with the conversion of information into another language, a precise, challenging process.

This is a short list of many women who have contributed directly or indirectly to multilingual translation, facilitating the flow of information between cultures and territories.

JR Language, a Company of International Women

Our translation company is proud to continue this tradition of women influencing language as part of humanity’s thought process. We are a woman-owned company with a strong female presence on our staff, including linguists, designers, customer service representatives, marketers, bookkeepers, and interns. Our professional translators and interpreters include women from Brazil, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Argentina, the USA, Germany, Canada, France, and more, making us a multilingual, multicultural, multidisciplinary, and international group of women.

JR Language’s greatest hope is to foster the development of a world we can be unreservedly proud of. We aim to join cultures by promoting multilingual communication. Language is how we express our thoughts, ideas, and desires.

Multilingual translation and interpretation services make that connection possible worldwide. We are convinced that good communication can change the world, and we are committed to improving communication in every project, large or small.

Throughout the year, but especially each March on International Women’s Day, we celebrate and cheer for all the women in our company, our clients’ companies, and our partners worldwide.