Prof Li Defeng, director of\nCentre for Studies of Translation, Interpreting and Cognition, Faculty of Arts\nand Humanities, has been elected president of the World Interpreter and\nTranslator Training Association (WITTA) at the organisation\u2019s First Congress\nand Inaugural General Assembly held in Guangzhou.<\/p>
The newly founded WITTA is an\ninternational non-governmental and non-profit organisation dedicated to\nbringing together industrial and academic institutes to promote interpreter and\ntranslator training worldwide. The association has 40 founding institutions\nfrom around the world, including top universities providing translation and interpreting\nprogrammes, such as University College London, the University of Westminster, the\nUniversity of Leeds, Durham University, the University of Essex, the University\nof Ottawa, the University of Melbourne, Macquarie University, Nanyang\nTechnological University, the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist\nUniversity, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Macau,\nGuangdong University of Foreign Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University,\nBeijing Language and Culture University, as well as major translation and interpreting\nservice providers, publishers and academic journals, such as The Translator and\nInterpreter Trainer <\/i>and Chinese\nTranslators\u2019 Journal<\/i>. <\/p>
Senior advisers to\nthe association include Prof Hannelore Lee-Jahnke, lifetime honorary president\nof International Standing Conference of the University Institutes of\nTranslators and Interpreters (CIUTI); Mr Henry Liu, president of the International\nFederation of Translators (FIT); Prof Huang Youyi, director of China National\nCommittee for Translation and Interpreting Education and vice president of the Translators\nAssociation of China (TAC); Prof Anthony Pym, former president of the European\nSociety for Translation Studies; Prof Zhong Weihe, president of Guangdong\nUniversity of Foreign Studies; Prof Arnt Lykke Jakobsen, president of the European\nSociety for Translation Studies; Prof Martin Fostner, former secretary general\nof CIUTI; Prof Douglas Robinson from Hong Kong Baptist University; Prof Chai Mingjiong\nfrom Shanghai International Studies University; Prof Dorothy Kelly, editor of The Interpreter and Translator Trainer<\/i>; and\nProf Lawrence Wong from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. <\/p>
Speaking at the congress,\nProf Li Defeng indicated that since the beginning of the 21st<\/sup> century,\ntranslation and interpreting education has been developing rapidly and has achieved\nremarkable progress while facing various challenges, such as the great gap\nbetween demand and supply in the translation industry. WITTA was set up to\naddress these challenges by promoting international exchange, interdisciplinary\ncollaboration, and commercialisation of research results. \u2018As leaders and\nactive researchers in our institutions and our field of research, we came to\nGuangzhou to build and strengthen ties and partnerships, share experience, and\nassess pertinent interpreter and translator training developments that have\noccurred in these years,\u201d said Prof Li.<\/p> \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/p> Over 100 experts and scholars of translation\neducation from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia,\nRussia, Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, South Korea, mainland China,\nHong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan attended the congress and assembly. Topics\ndiscussed during the congress include the current trends of translator training,\nthe new ways and approaches of training translation and interpreting students,\ndevelopment and assessment of translation competence (especially critical\nthinking abilities in translation students), new research methods of\ntranslation training and translation studies, government-university-industry\ncollaboration, and innovation in translation and interpreting education.The next WITTA Congress will be held at the University of\nWestminster, UK, in 2018.<\/p> <\/p> Media Contact Information: <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> Albee Lei Tel\uff1a(853) 88228004 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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