Prof Li Defeng, director of Centre for Studies of Translation, Interpreting and Cognition, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, has been elected president of the World Interpreter and Translator Training Association (WITTA) at the organisation’s First Congress and Inaugural General Assembly held in Guangzhou.
The newly founded WITTA is an international non-governmental and non-profit organisation dedicated to bringing together industrial and academic institutes to promote interpreter and translator training worldwide. The association has 40 founding institutions from around the world, including top universities providing translation and interpreting programmes, such as University College London, the University of Westminster, the University of Leeds, Durham University, the University of Essex, the University of Ottawa, the University of Melbourne, Macquarie University, Nanyang Technological University, the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Macau, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing Language and Culture University, as well as major translation and interpreting service providers, publishers and academic journals, such as The Translator and Interpreter Trainer and Chinese Translators’ Journal.
Senior advisers to the association include Prof Hannelore Lee-Jahnke, lifetime honorary president of International Standing Conference of the University Institutes of Translators and Interpreters (CIUTI); Mr Henry Liu, president of the International Federation of Translators (FIT); Prof Huang Youyi, director of China National Committee for Translation and Interpreting Education and vice president of the Translators Association of China (TAC); Prof Anthony Pym, former president of the European Society for Translation Studies; Prof Zhong Weihe, president of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies; Prof Arnt Lykke Jakobsen, president of the European Society for Translation Studies; Prof Martin Fostner, former secretary general of CIUTI; Prof Douglas Robinson from Hong Kong Baptist University; Prof Chai Mingjiong from Shanghai International Studies University; Prof Dorothy Kelly, editor of The Interpreter and Translator Trainer; and Prof Lawrence Wong from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Speaking at the congress, Prof Li Defeng indicated that since the beginning of the 21st century, translation and interpreting education has been developing rapidly and has achieved remarkable progress while facing various challenges, such as the great gap between demand and supply in the translation industry. WITTA was set up to address these challenges by promoting international exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and commercialisation of research results. ‘As leaders and active researchers in our institutions and our field of research, we came to Guangzhou to build and strengthen ties and partnerships, share experience, and assess pertinent interpreter and translator training developments that have occurred in these years,” said Prof Li.
Over 100 experts and scholars of translation education from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan attended the congress and assembly. Topics discussed during the congress include the current trends of translator training, the new ways and approaches of training translation and interpreting students, development and assessment of translation competence (especially critical thinking abilities in translation students), new research methods of translation training and translation studies, government-university-industry collaboration, and innovation in translation and interpreting education.The next WITTA Congress will be held at the University of Westminster, UK, in 2018.
李德鳳教授獲選世界翻譯教育聯盟主席
澳門大學人文學院翻譯傳譯與認知研究中心主任李德鳳教授於“世界翻譯教育聯盟首屆大會及國際研討會＂上獲選為該聯盟主席。
世界翻譯教育聯盟是一個國際非政府、非牟利機構，致力為翻譯教育及學術機構提供交流合作的平台，共同促進全球翻譯員培訓發展。聯盟由40間國際機構共同創立，當中包括提供翻譯課程的頂尖大學，如倫敦大學學院、西敏大學、利兹大学、杜倫大學、艾塞克斯大学、渥太華大學、墨爾本大學、麥覺理大學、南洋理工大學、香港城市大學、香港浸會大學、香港中文大學、澳門大學、廣東外語外貿大學、北京外國語大學、北京語言大學，還有知名翻譯服務供應商、出版商和學術期刊，如《The Translator and Interpreter Trainer》及《中國翻譯》。
聯盟的高級顧問包括國際大學翻譯學院聯合會終身榮譽主席Hannelore Lee-Jahnke、國際譯聯主席劉崇傑、中國翻譯教育國家委員會主任兼中國翻譯協會副主席黄友義、歐洲翻譯研究學會前主席Anthony Pym、廣東外語外貿大學校長仲偉合、歐洲翻譯研究學會主席Arnt Jakobsen、國際大學翻譯學院聯合會前秘書長Martin Fostner、香港浸會大學講座教授Douglas Robinson、上海外國語大學高級翻譯學院柴明熲教授、《The Interpreter and Translator Trainer》編輯Dorothy Kelly、香港中文大學讲座教授王宏志等。
會上，李德鳳教授指出自21世紀初以來翻譯教育發展迅速，並取得顯著進步，但同時也面臨着諸多挑戰，如翻譯行業供求之間的巨大缺口。世界翻譯教育聯盟成立的目的就是為了通過推動國際交流、跨學科合作以及研究成果的產業化來應對這些挑戰。他還指出，作為各自機構及研究領域的領軍人物，聯盟成員希望建立和加強彼此之間的合作關係、交流經驗、回顧這些年翻譯培訓的相關發展情況。
來自美國、英國、加拿大、澳洲、俄羅斯、新加坡、瑞士、德國、日本、韓國，以及海峽兩岸暨港澳地區百多名從事翻譯教育的專家學者出席是次研討會。大會議題包括翻譯員培訓趨勢、翻譯教育的新方法、翻譯能力的培養和評核、翻譯培訓和研究的新方法、政府大學及業界之間的合作、翻譯教育的創新等。第二屆世界翻譯教育聯盟國際研討會將於2018年在英國西敏大學舉行。
Media Coverage
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Source: Faculty of Arts and Humanities
