On 25 September, Professor Zhang Junfeng of the School of Foreign Languages delivered a speech entitled Language and Translation Teaching at CUG at IAMLADP UCG Special Session in China (2019). He was the only speaker from Chinese universities among 5 other speakers at the plenary session, which took place on the morning of the first day.

Professor Zhang Junfeng delivered a speech

In his speech, Professor Zhang Junfeng first introduced the historical background and development of China University of Geosciences (CUG) at Wuhan. And he elaborated on the ESS class teaching, the English translation teaching of geoscience, and the geoscience-oriented language service, such as the translation of the university's official website, revision and editing of English articles in high-level geoscience journals, and interpretation and translation for international conferences. Finally, he discussed the prospect of the School of Foreign Languages from several aspects, including building a high-level geoscience journal Corpus, restoring and strengthening interpretation-direction for the Master of Translation and Interpreting Program and so forth. Professor Zhang’s amazing English speech skills and great sense of humor won him rounds of applause from the audience both home and abroad. After the session, an in-depth discussion took place, with influential scholars and leaders participated, including Professor Zhang Junfeng; Professor Zhang Ailing, the Dean of Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation, Shanghai International Studies University (SISU); Ms. Nikola kunte, the head of Directorate-General for Translation of EU; and Professor Laura Burian, the Dean of Graduate School of translation, interpretation and language education, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Their heated discussion centered on two significant topics, the disciplinary construction in the School of Foreign Languages of CUG at Wuhan and the construction of the geoscience English Corpus, with various constructive suggestions put forward, shedding light on a host of important issues.

Group photo

IAMLADP UCG Special Session in China (2019) was the only interface between the demand side and the supply side, with the demand side being international organizations, whose operation raised demands of language services, and the supply side being universities, responsible for the cultivation of language services talents. The special session held at SISU was the first one held outside Brussels. It aimed at actively responding to the national strategic layout of the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R) and Telling Chinese Stories, meet the needs of international organizations and related institutions for international high-end translation talents, and further promote the development of interpretation and translation practice and teaching in China