The awarding ceremony of the 1st Multilingual Translation Competition in Jilin Province was held at our university on October 27th. There were 76 prize-winners amid over 700 translation competitors, covering English, Japanese, Korean and Russian. They were from all walks of life as well as different colleges and universities in our province.

The competition is sponsored by the Jilin Province Translators Association, and co-sponsored by our university, Japan Tokyo Society, Changchun King Sejong Institute and Changchun Yiyang Translation Co., Ltd., with the support of China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and Translators Association of China (TAC). Chen Mingming, standing vice-chairman of TAC, and Han Liqiang, deputy director of the Education Training Center of CIPG, were invited to make speeches on the translation of the 19th National Congress Reports and the training of excellent translators, respectively.

The Jilin Province Translators Association has selected the competition text in accordance with the theme—Translation: Promoting Traditional Cultural Heritage in the Change of Times—to commemorate the International Translation Day on September 30. In the competition text, the important role of translation in the protection of cultural heritage is emphasized, which inspires young translators in our province to carry forward world cultural heritage.

In the “Huawai Cup” English translation competition, our students Chen Biyao won the first prize, Teng Wenyuan won the second prize, Shang Chunguang and three other students won the third prize, Jia Guiming and other three students won the honorable prize.

In the “Tokyo Society Cup” Japanese translation competition, our students Jiao Ruiqi won the first prize, Ma Rongyue won the second prize, Huang Anqi and another student won the third prize, Cao Yu and four other students won the honorable prize.

In the “King Sejong Institute Cup” Korean translation competition, our students Shi Yuping won the first prize, Gao Yong and Pei Wei won the second prize, Liu Xiaoxuan and three other students won the third prize, He Xinru and three other students won the honorable prize.

In the Russian translation competition of “Yiyang Translation Company Cup”, our students Zhang Shuojia, Zhang Bing and Hao Shujun won the second prize, Shen Weiwei and four other students won the third prize, Xin Haonan and four other students won the honorable prize.

Chen Biyao, the first prize winner of English translation, said, “This is a very good opportunity for practice, which can not only employ what I have learned, but also strengthen my conviction to learn foreign languages well and be a good Chinese citizen.”

Translation, an important carrier of cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication, is a major indicator of a country’s cultural power. Established in 1984, the Jilin Province Translators Association has played a vital role in promoting cultural exchanges and international communication with foreign countries, fostering new service industries and stimulating the vitality of the industry. It has created a good internal and external environment for the development of industry. In 2018, HQUFL became the organizer of the Association, which demonstrates a good connection between the translation industry and universities, establishing an effective carrier to serve the society.

As the training base of foreign language talents in Jilin Province, our university offers 13 foreign languages programs, including English, German, French, Western, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Indonesian, Mongolian and Persian. We also offer 34 undergraduate majors and 15 foreign language majors covering five disciplines: literature, economics, management, education and art. We offer 6 Master degrees, including pedagogy, translation, education, international education of Chinese, international business, and accounting. Till now, our university has carried out all-round cooperation and exchanges with 130-plus universities in more than 20 countries and regions.

HQUFL has cultivated thousands of qualified translators and interpreters since its establishment in 1995. The translation major is a provincial-level featured specialty under the context of the education of undergraduates and postgraduates. In August 2013, the first Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation in northeast China was established. In addition, an advisory committee composed of experts in translation and interpreting was initiated to contribute to the further cultivation of students and integration between teaching and application. Our university boasts a research center of translation theory and application, a provincial demonstration center for translation and practice, where advanced language facilities are installed such as the Simultaneous Interpreting Laboratory, Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) Laboratory and Translation Studio.

In recent years, the relevant department officials of the state and provincial governments and translation experts have highly praised teachers and students of translation school who have salvaged the materials of the Japanese Army in Northeast China and the oral history of Japanese veterans invading China. They have undertaken the translation tasks of a full-length documentary produced by China Central Television (CCTV) and the Propaganda Department of Jilin Provincial Committee, and they completed the translation task of Tom Swift, published by Jilin Publishing Group Co., Ltd.