If you pay any attention to the news, then you know the Kurds, especially the ones living in Iraq, are playing a vital part on the world stage. This means Kurdish translation is more important than ever.

Right now Iraq is a cauldron of ethnic and sectarian violence. The nation state could very well be on the brink of disintegration. Kurdish forces are key to the outcome of the conflict — even given the fact that the Kurds of Iraq would like to establish an independent state of their own.

One glaring example of this, and how people with Kurdish translation skills are probably working overtime in the region, is how the Peshmerga Kurdish fighting forces grabbed the Mosul Dam before ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) could take control of it. The Mosul Dam is the largest of its kind in Iraq — supplying power and fresh water to the capital, Baghdad. If ISIS controlled it, the capital would by in dire straits very quickly.

Kurdish to English translation, as well as Kurdish translation into a variety of other languages, is woven into the fate of the region’s stability. The Kurdish forces in the area are motivated and very well organized. Increasingly, it seems these are the folks who Europeans, Americans, and other Westerners are going to have to deal with as the struggle for power and statehood continues to rage on in Iraq, Syria, and beyond.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has its hands full with fighting and commerce, plus the mundane necessities of day-to-day life. Contact with the outside world, friends and foes alike, makes Kurdish translation for the Kurds integral to their survival.