สำนักงานราชบัณทิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 125  Malithat Promathatavedi Translation has been in existence since 3000 B.C. but it started to play an important role in the Western world around 300 B.C. In fl uenced by Greek civilization and religion, the Romans translated writings on arts and sciences from Greek into Latin. Such eminent Roman writers as Catullus and Cicero translated works from Greek into Latin. Later on when the Roman Empire became powerful, the process was reversed, that is, there were translations from Latin into Greek. When the Arabs rose to power around the 12 th century, works by Aristotle, Plato, Galen and Hippocrates were translated into Arabic. In the same century the Moors invaded Spain, resulting in the in fl ux of academic books into Toledo. Contact between the Moors and the Western world popularized the translation between Arabic and European languages. When the Moorish influence in Spain came to an end, the Toledo School of Translation translated the Arabic version of Greek scienti fi c and philosophical knowledge into English. Some books had been translated back and forth from one language to another in succession, causing the contents of the translated versions to deviate from the originals. One area of translation, the translation of the Bible, has played a signi fi cant role in the diffusion of Christian teachings and has been continuously revised and improved. Translation has progressed through time and the 20 th century was considered “the Age of Translation”. Translation, especially the translation of literary works, is not a novel subject in Thailand. The country has had a long history of translation from dealings with Western countries as well as its Eastern neighbors. There was a translation of literatures and cultures of ASEAN known to the world. In comparison to works translated from foreign languages into Thai, there are fewer Thai literary works being translated into foreign languages. The modern trend in the age of globalization is the translation of romances and thrillers. There is a shift of translation purposes from entertainment to business and economic development and the source and target languages of translation vary. A good translation can promote better understanding among nations, thus linking people all over the world together in a world made smaller by globalization. Keywords: translation, national literature, ASEAN, S.E.A. Write Award