UM student wins translation contest prize

Yang Shanshan, a PhD student of linguistics from the Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Macau (UM), recently won a prize in the simultaneous interpreting invitational tournament, which was part of the Seventh National Interpreting Contest. During the contest, Yang competed with 15 students from 11 renowned universities.

The two-round simultaneous interpreting tournament was held at the simultaneous interpretation lab of Beijing Normal University, with a live broadcast on the internet.

In each round, contestants were required to interpret a speech from English to Chinese or vice versa for about 20 minutes. The speeches covered various topics such as climate change, human rights, social media, the refugee crisis, and political geography.

In the two rounds, Yang demonstrated strong interpreting expertise. She was ranked fifth among the 16 contestants and received a prize. She was also the only contestant from the Macau region to advance to the final of this year’s contest.

Organized by the Translators Association of China, the National Interpreting Contest is considered the most prestigious, influential, and representative oral interpreting contest in the Greater China region. This year’s event attracted over 5,400 contestants from 642 universities in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and countries covered in the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.