From 18th to 20th November 2016, the First Congress and the Inaugural General Assembly of the World Interpreter and Translator Training Association (WITTA) was held by Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, with the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Macau as its co-organizers. A large number of world-renowned professors and experts were present at the Congress and conducted in-depth discussions on the future of interpreter and translator education.
the Opening Ceremony
On the afternoon of 18th November, the inaugural meeting of WITTA was held in the simultaneous interpretation conference room at GDUFS. Well-known universities, international authoritative journals and language service providers reached several agreements during the meeting.
the Founding Meeting
The council has voted for 40 founding members. They are the University College London, the University of Westminster, the University of Leeds, Durham University, the University of Essex, Ottawa University, Melbourne University, Macquarie University, Nanyang Technology University, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Macau, City University of Macau, Macao Polytechnic Institute, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Fu Jen Catholic University, Shanghai International Studies University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Xi'an International Studies University, University of International Business and Economics, Heilongjiang University, Nanjing Normal University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Jilin HuaQiao University of Foreign Languages, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Shanghai uTransHub Information Technology Co., Ltd., GTC Technology Co., Ltd., Higher Education Press, Yu Xiu Tang Education Technology Co., Ltd., Chinese Translation, Foreign Language Journal, Foreign Languages in China and The Translator and Interpreter Trainer.
In the election of the First Council of WITTA, Prof. LI Defeng of the University of Macau was elected President, while Prof. ZHU Chunshen of the City University of Hong Kong; Prof. Luise von Flotow of the University of Ottawa; Prof. Nikolay Garbovskiy of Lomonosov Moscow State University; Mme. Liese Katschinka, President of European Legal Interpreters and Translators Association; Prof. Susan Sarcevic of University of Rijeka and Prof. Claudia V. Angelelli of Heriot-Watt University were elected Vice Presidents. The Secretariat of WITTA was decided by the Council to be permanently located at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, and Prof. ZHAO Junfeng was appointed by the Council as Secretary General.
Multilingual versions of The Charter of WITTA were voted through at the congress and assembly. Prof. Hannelore Lee-Jahnke, Lifetime Honorary President of CIUTI; Mr. Henry LIU, President of FIT; Mr. HUANG Youyi, Director of China National Committee for Translation and Interpreting Education and Vice President of TAC; Prof. ZHONG Weihe, President of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies; Prof. Anthony Pym, former President of European Society for Translation Studies; Prof. Martin Fostner, former Secretary General of CIUTI; Prof. Douglas Robinson of Hong Kong Baptist University; Prof. CHAI Mingjiong of Shanghai International Studies University; Prof. Dorothy Kelly, Editor of the Interpreter and Translator Trainer, and Prof. Lawrence WONG of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, were appointed by the Council as Senior Advisers.
On the morning of 19th November, the First Congress and the Inaugural General Assembly of WITTA was held in the International Conference Hall at GDUFS. Prof. Anthony Pym, former President of European Society for Translation Studies and Mr. HUANG Youyi, Executive Vice President of TAC and Director of National MTI Education Committee, delivered congratulatory speeches on the founding of WITTA. Mr. Henry LIU, President of FIT and Mme. Liese Katschinka, President of European Legal Interpreters and Translators Association also sent their congratulatory videos to the council. More than a hundred experts and scholars of translation education from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, South Korea, China’s mainland and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions, attended the congress and assembly.
ZHAO Junfeng, the host
Anthony Pym, former President of the European Society for Translation Studies
HUANG Youyi, Director of China National Committee for Translation and Interpreting Education
President LI Defeng said that WITTA is a strategic partner of international associations for CIUTI and FIT, and its scope of work is an important complement to other interpreting and translation associations. As a newly founded international association, WITTA has a clear goal of bringing together governmental, industrial, teaching and research institutes to promote worldwide interpreter and translator training/education.
President LI Defeng of WITTA
Prof. ZHONG Weihe, President of GDUFS; Prof. Anthony Pym, former President of the European Society for Translation Studies and Prof. Douglas Robinson of Hong Kong Baptist University, were invited to give keynote speeches. Prof. Hannelore Lee-Jahnke, Lifetime Honorary President of CIUTI; Prof. Nikolay Garbovskiy of Lomonosov Moscow State University; Prof. Mark Shuttleworth of University College London; Prof. ZHU Chunshen of City University of Hong Kong; Prof. Martin Forstner, former Secretary General of CIUTI; Prof. Helena Hong Gao of Nanyang Technological University and Prof. LI Defeng of the University of Macau gave plenary speeches. The Congress consisted of several parallel forums, in which delegates discussed issues such as T & I in an educational setting, new approaches to T & I education research, corpus & computer technology and T & I education, language service industry and T & I education, development and assessment of T & I competence, and T & I and the cultivation of critical & creative thinking.
ZHONG Weihe, President of GDUFS
Hannelore Lee-Jahnke, Lifetime Honorary President of CIUTI
parallel forums
The closing ceremony of the congress and assembly was held on the afternoon of 20th November. The Council announced that the second congress and assembly will be held at the University of Westminster in 2018.
