(ANS - Dalat) – Transmitting Salesian history and spirituality in a way accessible to everyone is a constant commitment of the Congregation and an activity that is in the front line of those who exercise the "ministry" of translation. For this reason the completion of the translation into Vietnamese of "Don Bosco, History and Spirit" by Fr Arthur Lenti SDB has been greeted with great enthusiasm.

The one responsible for the translation is Fr Joseph Phuoc Nguyen, Formation Delegate of the Province of Vietnam and an experienced translator of Salesian literature. Fr Phuoc, however, is following a family tradition, since his father is a well-known translator who worked on the translation of the first 13 volumes of the Biographical Memoirs.

"Translation is a great necessity out here in East Asia, and the confrères are doing a marvellous job, sometimes themselves, as in the case of Joseph Phuoc, sometimes with the help of experts - which means a great expense," said Fr Ivo Coelho, Councillor General for Formation.

"Fr Joseph Phuoc is amazing: one of those born translators, who works without too much effort, he told me himself: translation just flows, because he has done so much of it, and because there is a passion," concluded Fr Coelho.

Just over a year ago, on the occasion of the first meeting of the translators of the Salesian East Asia-Oceania region, the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, remarked: "I have already expressed on various occasions my conviction regarding the importance that translations, and particularly translators, have for the Congregation", and he stressed how important it is that content produced in the Salesian world be readily accessible to all.

Published 16/11/2015