Note to Correspondents

‘INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF LANGUAGES’ EXHIBIT OPENS AT United Nations HEADQUARTERS

 

The General Assembly has proclaimed 2008 the International Year of Languages.  To mark the Year, an exhibition entitled “International year of Languages:  Facilitating Communication among Nations”will be launched in the South Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby on Monday, 20 October, at 6 p.m.  The exhibit will remain open until Friday, 7 November.

The exhibit has been organized by the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management to illustrate its role in promoting dialogue and cooperation at the United Nations through the use of the six official languages.

The exhibit highlights the six official languages, traces the journey of a typical United Nations document and shows what language staff do and how their work has changed since 1946.

A replica of an interpreter booth allows visitors to listen, in all six official languages, to the opening made by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on 23 September 2008, while a display of items of historical interest used by language staff shows how their work has changed throughout the years.

During the exhibit, a video on interpretation, The Interpreters:  A Historical Perspective,and a video on the journey of a document, International Year of Languages:  Facilitating Communication among Nations, will be shown.  Visitors are also invited to translate the three purposes of the United Nations into their mother tongue and to explore the work of United Nations terminologists and reference assistants using a computer terminal located in the exhibit area.

The exhibit opening and reception is sponsored by the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen at tel.:  212 963 8531, e-mail:  arnesen@un.org; or Liza Wichmann at tel.:  212 963 0089, e-mail:  wichmann@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record