2020 LBDA Annual Meeting Held

On December 27, the 2020 Language Big Data Alliance (LBDA) Annual Meeting was held online. The meeting was hosted by Global Tone Communication Technology Co., Ltd. (GTCOM), a council member of the LBDA, with the theme of "Responsibility, Starting with Technology Empowerment." More than 130 leaders, experts and scholars from fields such as education and technology were on hand. Huang Youyi, co-chair of the LBDA, former deputy director of the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration (CFLPA) and chairman of the China National Committee for Translation & Interpreting Education (CNCTIE), gave a speech. The meeting was chaired by Elena Zhang, vice president of GTCOM.

Huang Youyi, co-chair of the LBDA

In his speech titled Enhance Practice and Closely Integrate Education with the Industry to Let MTI Better Serve Social Needs, Mr. Huang Youyi said that practical translation talent is needed even more for the profound changes unseen in a century and that good translation requires a lot of practice. He took the translation of news at home and abroad as an example, and vividly pointed out that practice is the best translation training. Additionally, Mr. Huang talked about the new reform of professional degree education. He said the Professional Degree Graduate Education Development Plan (2020-25), released this year, puts more emphasis on improving the quality of professional master's degrees and the accelerated development of professional doctoral degrees. When it comes to the establishment of closer ties between education and the industry, more importance should be attached to the use of temporary positions by translation teachers, the increase of practical opportunities and cooperation on the preparation of teaching materials, as ways of strengthening the ties, Mr. Huang said. In the future, attention should also be paid to issues including the differences between professional doctoral degrees and academic doctoral degrees, the different directions of professional doctoral programs, and the formation of a professional doctoral team. In the end, Mr. Huang pointed out that the MTI education reform should take into consideration social needs, including the needs of CPC organs, government departments, enterprises and government-sponsored institutions.

Lei Ngan Lin, vice president of Macao Polytechnic Institute

Lei Ngan Lin, vice president of Macao Polytechnic Institute, gave a speech titled Language + Technology: Promoting the Encouragement and Development of International Scientific and Technological Innovation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and shared with the guests the latest achievements of Macao Polytechnic Institute in fields related to machine translation and artificial intelligence. According to Ms. Lei, with the introduction of the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the multilingual and multi-character features of the Greater Bay Area have put forward a series of language requirements for its construction and development. Macao Polytechnic Institute attracts talent from Portuguese-speaking countries to the Greater Bay Area through the establishment of the "Greater Bay Area Portuguese Language Education Alliance"; promotes the "Bay Area Campus" project with which to improve language teaching and services in the Greater Bay Area; conducts innovative scientific research in fields such as artificial intelligence and machine translation, and devotes the results of innovative R&D to improving the language education and service capabilities in the Greater Bay Area. Ms. Lei pointed out that Macao Polytechnic Institute will continue to focus on the R&D core of language services, fully leverage the geographical advantages of Macao, and further deepen its cooperation with the LBDA members. Additionally, with the support of the Macao SAR Government and the State, Macao Polytechnic Institute will give full play to the role of Macao as a "Cooperation Platform Between China and Portuguese-Speaking Countries," keep researching and developing as well as integrating the world's most innovative technologies, strengthen international exchanges and cooperation with language as a bridge, and contribute to the construction and development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into an international center of technological innovation.

Cheng Wei, vice president of Beijing International Studies University

Cheng Wei, vice president of Beijing International Studies University, gave a speech titled Some Thoughts on the Training of Translation Talent in the Context of New Arts and Humanities Development, focusing on the empowerment of translators' scientific literacy and technical literacy. In her speech, Ms. Cheng interpreted the interdisciplinary integration requirement of new arts and humanities development, pointed out the problems and challenges faced by the translation discipline under the new knowledge production model, and dialectically analyzed the advantages and disadvantages brought by science and technology development to the training of translation talent. She emphasized that translators should not become a vassal of technology, and that translation should not lose the essence of the discipline. In the context of new arts and humanities development, translation localization centered on user experience should be fully valued, and the design of translation courses should also be people-oriented. Ms. Cheng believes that against the backdrop of new arts and humanities, the barriers between disciplines should be broken down and the cross-disciplinary relationships should be handled properly. Talent training should rely on real project training to improve translators' technical knowledge as well as scientific literacy, empathy and humanistic literacy.

Tian Li'nan, associate dean of the School of Foreign Studies, China University of Political Science and Law

In her keynote speech titled Fight the Pandemic According to Law and Carry On with Translation, Tian Li'nan, associate dean of the School of Foreign Studies, China University of Political Science and Law, shared the efforts of the university's teachers and students in providing legal translation services during the pandemic, the activities organized by the Legal Translation Committee of the Translators Association of China and the contributions made by the committee members in supporting China's fight against the pandemic with legal translation. She also expressed her belief that the international spread of the rule of law is inseparable from translation. A legal translator should have a sense of mission and contribute to the introduction, translation and dissemination of Chinese cases in the construction of a discourse system for the international communication of China's rule of law.

Ren Wen, dean of the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Ren Wen, dean of the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation, Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), took the BFSU Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation as an example to share how technology can empower translation teaching and research from the pandemic to the post-pandemic era. Through the online survey of interpreting teaching during the pandemic era that was conducted by the BFSU Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation and her own summary of data related to teaching and research in WeChat groups, Ms. Ren found that there was no significant difference between online and offline teaching effects; teachers' acceptance of online teaching changed significantly; online teaching allowed educators to re-examine the original "identity" of teachers and students and the possible role change; teachers as "digital immigrants" could quickly embrace new technologies and new ideas; online teaching brought not only surprises but also drawbacks. Therefore, guidance may be offered on the development of technology-empowered translation teaching and research as well as the integration of online and offline teaching in the post-pandemic era. Ms. Ren expressed the hope that technology empowerment in teaching during the post-pandemic era would be achieved through new methods, such as paying attention to new teaching forms and content, and exploring new internship and practice methods.

Li Biao, deputy director of the Institute of National Governance and Public Opinion Ecology, Renmin University of China

Li Biao, deputy director of the Institute of National Governance and Public Opinion Ecology, Renmin University of China, made a speech titled Big Data Development of Internet Public Opinion Research, focusing on the applications of big data technology in public opinion monitoring in the field of news communication. Mr. Li summarized the impact of big data on the four dimensions of individual activities, Internet public opinions, social relations and trend prediction in public opinion research, and concluded the big data development of the five aspects of research perspectives, research methods, database support, researchers and research priorities in Internet public opinion research. Mr. Li believes that public opinion research will develop towards multiple dimensions, deep processing, high visibility and clear division of labor. Big data bases will turn to unstructured ones, public opinion responses will be more diversified, and public opinion predictions will be more accurate. With the blessing of big data, public opinion research will truly become a prominent social science that intersects with multiple disciplines.

Elisa Chai, vice president of GTCOM

In her speech titled Fighting Against COVID-19 with Science and Technology: The Sense of Responsibility of the National Translation Team, Elisa Chai, vice president of GTCOM, explained through real cases GTCOM's use of scientific and technological means during the pandemic to provide language services and support the fight. According to Ms. Chai, GTCOM assembled a language service team immediately and implemented a 24×7 remote work rotation system to provide real-time multilingual services for the foreign affairs, health, entry-exit administration and other departments of multiple provincial and municipal governments; undertook a number of anti-pandemic publication translation tasks; provided integrated online and offline conference interpretation solutions to facilitate the smooth holding of conferences including discussions on the pandemic. Additionally, GTCOM gave full play to its language-technology advantages and sufficiently applied Yeekit, LanguageBox and other language-technology products to the various language scenarios of fighting the pandemic, thus contributing to the tough battle against COVID-19.

Since the establishment of the LBDA in 2016, in five years, we have once again witnessed its important growth. The 2020 LBDA Annual Meeting ended successfully in the heated discussion of the guests. Under the new normal, the LBDA is facing unprecedented challenges. In the meantime, it also has the courage to take responsibility and gives full play to its strengths to serve the fight against COVID-19. In the future, riding the booming technological wave, the LBDA is bound to make a difference.