The 10th Asia-Pacific Translation and Interpreting Forum opens at BFSU on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

The 10th Asia-Pacific Translation and Interpreting Forum (APTIF 10) co-hosted by the International Federation of Translators (FIT) and the Translators Association of China (TAC) and undertaken by Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) opened on June 25. The theme of the event was "Collaboration in the World of Translation and Interpreting: New Changes and New Modes in the New Era".

The forum drew onsite and online attendance of nearly 300 experts and scholars from 35 countries and regions.

Du Zhanyuan, head of the TAC and president of CICG, addresses the opening ceremony of the APTIF 10 on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Noting that translation and interpreting have played an irreplaceable role in promoting cultural exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations, Du Zhanyuan, head of the TAC and president of China International Communications Group (CICG), said at the opening ceremony that translation has bridged the gap in verbal and cultural communications, deepened friendly exchanges, mutual trust and cooperation among different countries, facilitated global peace and development, and advanced the common progress of humanity in the globalization and information era.

Du urged industry insiders to grasp the trend of overall development, make contributions to the prosperity of the region, optimize existing systems, accelerate the standardization of the translation and interpreting industry, deepen mutual learning among different civilizations in the Asia-Pacific region, and incorporate new technologies into translation and interpreting.

Alison Rodriguez, president of the FIT, delivers a speech via video at the opening ceremony of the APTIF 10 on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Alison Rodriguez, president of the FIT, said at the opening ceremony that the APTIF has been an active and attractive platform for academic thought and practical skill sharing, which has focused on the future, human-computer interaction and the relationship between humans and technology. Rodriguez called on the translation and interpreting professionals in the Asia-Pacific region to fully integrate technological development with the industry and meet the demand of the times whilst mastering translational competence and skills.

Yang Dan, deputy Party secretary of the CPC BFSU committee and president of the university, speaks at the opening ceremony of the APTIF 10 on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Yang Dan, deputy Party secretary of the CPC BFSU committee and president of the university, said in his speech that languages, translation and interpreting have played a fundamental role in helping BFSU carry out its development strategies on global languages, culture and governance.

He added that translation and interpreting workers in the Asia-Pacific region should pool their wisdom, strengthen mutual learning, make full use of technological development and highlight cooperation in a move to promote global governance, collaboration and development.

Bart Defrancq, president of the CIUTI, delivers a speech via video at the opening ceremony of the APTIF 10 on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Bart Defrancq, president of the Conférence Internationale Permanente d'Instituts Universitaires de Traducteurs et Interprètes (CIUTI), said the translation and interpreting world should hold regular exchanges, strengthen mutual learning and talent training, attach importance to the cultivation of the sense of cooperation among students, bolster their practical competence in collaboration, seek joint development and promote the further development of global language service industry.

Sun Youzhong, member of the standing committee of CPC BFSU committee and vice-president of the university, presides over the opening ceremony of the APTIF 10 on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Sun Youzhong, member of the standing committee of CPC BFSU committee and vice-president of the university, presided over the opening ceremony. 

Gao Anming, chair of APTIF joint committee, executive vice-president and secretary-general of the TAC, vice-president and editor-in-chief of CICG and council member of the FIT, delivers a keynote speech at the APTIF 10 on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Following the opening ceremony, Gao Anming, chair of APTIF joint committee, executive vice-president and secretary-general of the TAC, vice-president and editor-in-chief of CICG and council member of the FIT, reviewed APTIF’s role and achievements in promoting regional and international translation exchanges and cooperation and looked forward to the future of the translation industry in the Asia-Pacific region in a keynote speech entitled "Strengthen Exchanges and Cooperation of the Asia-Pacific Translation Community Towards Better Development and Greater Prosperity".

Gao introduced the characteristics and development trends of China's language services in recent years from such aspects as industry scale, talent development, technological innovation, scientific management and international cooperation, hoping to provide reference for other countries.

Lynne Bowker, professor from the University of Ottawa and academician with the Royal Society of Canada, gives a keynote speech at the APTIF 10 on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Lynne Bowker, professor from the University of Ottawa and academician with the Royal Society of Canada, reviewed the changes of human-computer relationship in machine translation and discussed human-computer translation cooperation in the era of neural machine translation in her keynote speech entitled "Loop the Loop: Riding the Roller Coaster of Human-Computer Collaboration in Machine Translation".

Li Yuming, former deputy head of State Language Commission and former Party secretary of the CPC BLCU committee, gives a keynote speech at the APTIF 10 on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Li Yuming, former deputy head of State Language Commission and former Party secretary of the CPC committee of Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), gave a keynote speech entitled "Enhancing Barrier-free Communication: The Social Responsibility of Translation in the Translanguaging Age".

Ji-Hae Kang, director of the ACTIS at Ajou University, gives a keynote speech at the APTIF 10 on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Ji-Hae Kang, director of the Ajou Center for Translation and Interpreting Studies (ACTIS) at Ajou University, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Collaboration in Translation in the Streaming Media Age.” She talked about the evolution and influence of translation cooperation modes based on case studies and pointed out that the concept of "translation subject" in media translation needs to be redefined.

Ren Wen, dean of the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation at BFSU, delivers a keynote speech at the APTIF 10 on June 25. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Ren Wen, dean of the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation at BFSU, gave a keynote speech entitled "Relevance Between National Translational Capacity and Economic and Cultural Power—Translational Capacity Development via Collaboration among Stakeholders".

Chairs of the keynote speech sessions of the APTIF 10. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

The interactions between speakers and hosts further deepened the understanding and reflection of participants on relevant issues.

During the two-day forum, participants held talks over the human-machine collaboration models in machine translation, translation cooperation in the streaming media age, cooperation in language services and other topics in 10 keynote speeches and 16 parallel forums.

The forum was followed by over 36,000 online audiences through china.com.cn, Tencent Meeting, TTV, WeChat Channels and other domestic short-video platforms.