Education UM scholar heads World Interpreter and Translator Training Association

Li Defeng

Professor Li Defeng, director of the University of Macau’s (UM) Centre for Studies of Translation, Interpreting and Cognition, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, has been elected president of the World Interpreter and Translator Training Association (WITTA). The election was made during the organization’s First Congress and Inaugural General Assembly held in Guangzhou.

The newly founded WITTA is an international non-governmental and non-profit organization dedicated to bringing together industrial and academic institutes to promote the training of interpreters and translators worldwide. The association has 40 founding institutions from across the world, including  University College London, University of Westminster, the City University of Hong Kong and the Beijing Language and Culture University.

Speaking at the congress, Li commented that since the beginning of the 21st century, the field of education for translation and interpreting has been developing rapidly and has achieved remarkable progress in the face of various challenges, such as the significant gap between demand and supply in the translation industry. WITTA was set up to address these challenges by promoting international exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration and the commercialization of research results. “As leaders and active researchers in our institutions and our field of research, we came to Guangzhou to build and strengthen ties and partnerships, share experiences, and assess pertinent interpreter and translator training developments that have occurred in these years,” said Li.

Over 100 experts and scholars of translation education from the United States, the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Australia, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan attended the congress and assembly. Topics discussed during the congress included the current trends in translator training and the development and assessment of translation competence. The next WITTA Congress will be held at the University of Westminster, (UK) in 2018.