Kudos to Rector of Sebelas Maret Univ.

As a participant of the conference, allow me to thank the Rector of Sebelas Maret university and the Conference Organizing Committee for organizing the first International Conference On Translation, Discourse and Culture at Novotel Hotel in Surakarta, Central Java, on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15.

The evening program organized for Conference Participants reflected the spirit of appreciating arts and artistic expression. I was most impressed by the students' sincere and heartfelt English poetry reading performance. I wish that, like them, more students could appreciate true art, which is not necessarily "noisy" or "fancy" -- it simply conveys human emotions using the artistic means available.

At the end of a long day of Conference presentations, all participants of the program appreciated the performance of one of the paper presenters, who entertained them with a traditional keroncong style song translated into English! -- Another great example of how a good translation can open up so many windows for speakers of different languages, coming from different cultural backgrounds, allowing them a glimpse into other cultures.

It is really sad to think how so many such windows would remain closed forever if there were no dedicated translators to help open them up to the world.

Hopefully, it can help translators from Indonesia, and from other countries as well, to appreciate their profession more, and for other people to recognize it as a truly challenging and important calling in life.

MARIANA M.G. WAROKKA, Jakarta