Czech- Philippines language translation exchange program launched

MALOLOS, Philippines – Three Czech books will be translated and published in Filipino, and three books by Filipino writers will be translated into the Czech language. 

This is contained in a memorandum of agreement between the Czech embassy and the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino signed by Ambassador Jaroslav Olsa Jr. and chairman Virgilio Almario.

Under the agreement, the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino is set to publish a selection of the best poems by Nobel Prize winning Czech poet Jaroslav Seifert, the second ever translation of a Czech writer published in the Philippines, following the Tagalog edition of the drama “Memorandum” (Ang Memorandum) by late Czech president Václav Havel published in Manila in 1990.

In turn, a selection of short fiction and poems by Filipino writers will be published under the title Literatura ng Pilipinas by Czech literary monthly Plav to be published in mid-August.

A special issue of Plav will present the two Philippine classics, as well as brand new talents, to Czech readers.

These will be followed by another anthology presenting modern and contemporary Filipino fiction writers sometime next year. 

The agreement is recognized as a significant development, the first of its kind in the course of bilateral relations between the Philippines and the Czech Republic.

It is seen to strengthen the two countries’ ties in the field of culture and the arts.