Translation is the communication of the
meaning of a source-language text by means of an
equivalent target-language text. While
interpreting—the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication between users of different languages—antedates
writing, translation began only after the appearance of written
literature. There exist partial translations of the Sumerian
Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2000 BCE) into
Southwest Asian languages of the second millennium BCE.