The 1st UK-China Symposium on Translation Studies held in University of Leeds
The 1st UK-China Symposium on Translation Studies was held online in University of Leeds on 16-17 August.
The UK-China Symposium on Translation Studies, jointly initiated by Prof Binhua Wang from University of Leeds and Prof Wang Kefei from Beijing Foreign Studies University, is designed to be a biennial symposium co-organised by a UK university and a China university in order to promote academic exchanges between UK and China and to stimulate research in translation and interpreting studies (TIS) with a focus on English/Chinese translation and interpreting. The symposium has got wide support from the international academic community. Prominent scholars in TIS from 24 universities from the China mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and the UK formed the academic committee.
Carrying the theme of “Translation and interpreting studies in the East and West: Advances, convergence and divergence”, this symposium featured eight keynote speeches and 50 selected presentations in 12 parallel sessions under 10 sub-themes, including: conceptual, theoretical and methodological issues, corpus-based translation studies, interpreting studies, empirical and data-based analyses of translations, studies on literary translation, studies on translation of classics, studies on non-literary translation, studies on translations in history, studies on cultural translation, and translation and interpreting education. This two-day conference was widely participated by about 590 registered participants from around the world.
The 1st UK-China Symposium on Translation Studies was also held as an academic event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Centre for Translation Studies (CTS) in University of Leeds. During the course of 25 years, the CTS in Leeds has been developed into a hub of TIS that is representative in the UK and enjoys international reputation. It runs four professionally oriented MA/PGDip programmes in translation and in interpreting, including MA/PGDip Applied Translation Studies, MA Audiovisual Translation Studies, MA/PGDip Conference Interpreting & Translation Studies and MA/PGDip Business and Public-Service Interpreting & Translation Studies. It also hosts the PhD programme in translation and interpreting studies.
Leeds has got almost all the international accreditations in TIS: Leeds is one of the few UK members of CIUTI, one of the oldest and most prestigious international associations of top institutions in translation and interpreting education. It is also listed in the “AIIC Interpreting Schools and Programmes Directory” and an MOU partner university of the Directorate-General for Interpretation of both the European Parliament and the European Commission. Its MA in Applied Translation Studies and MA Audio-visual Translation Studies programmes are also accredited by the “European Masters in Translation” (EMT).
Supported by the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, one of the biggest schools in modern languages, the CTS offers up to 9 language pairs in postgraduate T&I education. In Chinese and English alone we have trained hundreds of graduates during the past 25 years, who are working as active professional translators and interpreters in the UN, the EU and other international organisations, China’s government agencies, big enterprises and universities in China.
