China International Publishing Group, a leading translation and
publishing agency, has launched a program to train professional
translators and interpreters to solve a shortage of expertise in
these fields.
The group's training center has combined forces with the
Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation from the Monterey
Institute of International Studies in the United States to train
the professionals.
China suffers from a major lack of competent translators and
interpreters, despite the growing popularity of foreign language
study throughout all age groups, said officials with the training
center.
The industry employs around 500,000 people, including retirees,
college students and returnees from overseas universities who work
as freelancers, but only 60,000 professional translators can
produce accurate translations from Chinese into a foreign language,
according to the officials.
Applicants need to pass a high-level entrance exam for the
training. Those who excel in the training will be offered a chance
to study in the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation
in Monterey.
China's Ministry of Education has made English a compulsory
course in most elementary schools and most high-school graduates
are literate in at least one foreign language.
The country also launched a national translation testing system
in 2003, through which thousands of candidates have been licensed
as professional translators and interpreters.
?
(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2006)
