The muslim Bukowski (*)

Incentives Promote Language Globally

TEHRAN, June 17--Translator Ahmad Pouri has said political, social and economic incentives are effective for internationalization of a specific language. He told ISNA that at one time, French was the dominant language in the world, but, it was replaced by English because the United States emerged as a leading global economy. "When we talk about the goal of helping Persian language thrive at the international level, we should think about the incentives. For example, a British student should have a reason to learn Persian language and literature," Pouri said. "As long as our influence grows in the world community, there would be more incentives for others to learn the Persian language. This has nothing to do with conspiracy or hostility," he said. "Necib Mehfuz of Turkey received the Nobel Prize for literature, Orhan Pamuk sold 200,000 of his books in Britain or Arab authors have at least five or six best sellers, because they developed interaction with the international community. We are lagging behind in this field," Pouri said. He said that the cultural departments of the government should help introduce authors to book readers. If we had a best seller, it would encourage foreign translators to translate them into their mother tongues. "You should not expect your authors to publicize themselves and their own books. This is the duty of the cultural organs of a country." Pouri said that the government should also extend welfare benefits to the men of pen--authors or translators. "If men of pen enjoy welfare, they will focus on genuine works which may not be a best seller. Otherwise, they will prefer to select low standard works to merely make money," he said. Pouri has translated several books from English and Turkish languages and has also decided to translate

(*) I've taken this new from the Iran Daily, when I happened to know that the old Hank would be translated into Muslim's language. Thus, I thought that we should know at least something about the transaltor.

Here you can check something else 'bout that culture:

http://www.iran-daily.com/1384/2301/html/art.htm#top