The first day was opened by the Eucharist presided by Fr Václav Klement, Councilor for the East Asia-Oceania Region. In his homily, he expressed his gratitude for this meeting, which brought together many members of the Salesian Family dedicated to the ministry of translation. Subsequently, he wished to highlight the spirit of so many faithful Saints who in the course of their lives have been associated with the task of translators (St Jerome, St Monica, Simao Bororo and Fr Luigi Bolla).
In the opening session, participants were welcomed by the video message of the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, who encouraged all translators to continue in this important ministry, so useful for bringing people, especially the younger ones, together and closer to Jesus and to Don Bosco. Fr Charles Saw, Superior of the Vice Province of Myanmar, then expressed the hope that translations will also become part of the commitment and effort to bring Jesus closer to the youth of the East Asia-Oceania Region.
Later, the participants shared their experiences in the field of translation among themselves. It was not an easy moment, but certainly useful to understanding each other and discussing their work. Some, in fact, are just beginning, while others have been translating Salesian texts for many years.
Among their expectations of the Seminar, the will to learn from each other was cited first and foremost; the need to be faithful to both the original text and the language in which it is translated; the need of the Salesian transator to grow in spirituality, which is necessary to carry out this rather hidden and not very publicly appreciated ministry, but important from the charismatic point of view.
The Seminar has three main objectives: to contribute to the drafting of the first Salesian Translator Manual, to obtain a "Salesian Glossary" (a set of 450 words in Italian-English) and to develop an institutional support necessary for the ministry of translation as an indispensable part of the Social Communications sector.
The languages in which the Seminar's participants worked were: Chinese, Cebuano, Korean, Japanese, Tetum, Bahasa, Indonesian, Burmese, Vietnamese, Thai, Khmer and Mongolian.
