Importância da Traduçâo (Português e Latin) No Diálogo China - Portugal

From the beginning of dialogue between West and the East in the 16th century, the problems of linguistic communication was a fundamental issue. In this domain, the Jesuits played a decisive role: Mateus Ricci, Michelle Ruggieri, Tomás Pereira, among others, especially using Latin, but also Portuguese. So the translation got big importance in the contact between China and the Western peoples, especially the Portuguese. In this process, there was a Portuguese who played a decisive role: Father Joaquim Afonso Gonçalves, both in Latin and Portuguese. Since then the importance of translation never stopped growing, until nowadays. This work aims to reflect on the place of translation, both in Latin and Portuguese, in the history of relations between Portugal and China.