Translation Celebration - China Academy of Translation Inaugurated in Beijing
By staff reporter XING WEN
On July 29, 2014, an inauguration ceremony for the China Academy of Translation was held in Beijing alongside a summit conference on Chinese cultural exchange and education in translation. Major players in the industry expressed their delight at the new institute: Cai Mingzhao, deputy director of China's Publicity Department and head of the State Council Information Office, delivered a speech; Li Zhaoxing, president of the Translators Association of China, sent a congratulatory letter, while Tang Wensheng, the association's vice-chair, addressed the attendees; and numerous representatives and scholars from government departments, universities, the press and translation associations attended the event.
Zhou Mingwei, the president of China International Publishing Group and the head of the newly launched academy, summarized its major tasks: It will study the course of the translation industry in China, carry out national level translation projects and provide advice to the government and associations in mapping out policies and development plans. It will research major problems in translating Chinese current affairs and classical cultural works to foreign languages, while forming a guiding mechanism for translation. The academy will also set up a talent pool of senior translators as well as a corpus containing words and expressions with Chinese characteristics, providing a fundamental service to China's translation industry. In addition, the academy will improve the quality control system of major translation projects and professional translators. National translation awards are expected to be set up. The academy is being encouraged to attract talents on minority languages and to serve as an exchange and cooperation platform for these talents. Further, the academy will provide training programs to Chinese and foreign translation experts, through which they can keep pace with the latest developments in China's politics, economy and culture, as well as discuss the key issues in translating Chinese into foreign languages and taking Chinese culture to the global stage.
During the summit, Tang, who is also a senior translator, Yan Guohua, vice-president of Beijing Foreign Studies University, Zhong Weihe, president of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and Bao Chuanyun, former dean of the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation and Language Education of the Monterey Institute of International Studies gave speeches on a variety of topics including training and globalization of translation talents. They also expounded on the industry's response to market demands and education for minority languages, matching translation education with the need to make Chinese culture accessible on a global level.
