The 15^th National Conference & International Forum on Interpreting

Jointly-Hosted by Translators Association of China & The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

Jointly-Organised by Interpreting Committee of Translators Association of China & School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

The development of new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning, large language models (LLM) such as ChatGPT, along with the surge in their real-world uses in recent years, has been redefining the traditional interpreting mode, exerting a profound impact on the interpreting industry and interpreter training. Interpreting education is facing fresh challenges but ushers in a wave of opportunities.

Against this backdrop, the Translators Association of China and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen will co-host the 15th National Conference & International Forum on Interpreting under the theme of New Technology, New Application, New Integration on 9-10 November 2024, in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The 10th Cross-Strait Interpreting Contest Mainland Final will be held concurrently with the conference. It is our honour to have you all -- researchers, educators and practitioners in the field – to gather in Shenzhen to discuss how new technologies can be integrated with interpreting education, research and language service, to explore ways that digital technologies can help to improve interpreter education and empower intercultural communication among people with diverse cultural and language backgrounds.

1. Conference Theme: New Technology, New Application, New Integration

Keynote Speech: Feedback literacy in the context of generative AI and interpreting education

Speaker Bio

David Carless works as a Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, and is Head of the Academic Unit SCAPE (Social Contexts and Policies in Education). He is one of the pioneers of feedback literacy research and is listed as a top 0.1% cited researcher in the Stanford top 2% list for social sciences. His books include Designing effective feedback processes in higher education: A learning-focused approach, by Winstone and Carless, 2019, published by Routledge. He was the winner of a University Outstanding Teaching Award in 2016. 

Keynote Speech: What New Technology Can Do and Not Do for Interpreting
Speaker Bio

Tang Wensheng graduated from the English Department of the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute (now known as the Beijing Foreign Studies University School of English and International Studies). She has served as a Deputy Director General of the Department of North and South American and Oceanian Affairs in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at China Daily, Director General of the Department for International Cooperation in the Ministry of Railways, and Vice-Chairman of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. In her years at the Foreign Ministry, she was an English interpreter for Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai, Vice-premier Deng Xiaoping and other leaders of the Communist Party of China and the People’s Republic. She later served as a Vice-Chairman of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation and an Executive Vice-President of the Translators Association of China. She is currently an Advisor to the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. In March 2024, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Translation from the Translators Association of China.   

Keynote Speech: Necessity of ethical considerations about using AI-powered machine translation and interpreting in high-stakes situations
Speaker Bio

Prof. Wang Binhua is Chair/Professor of interpreting and translation studies at University of Leeds in the UK, where he served as Director of the Centre for Translation Studies and Programme Manager of the MA programmes in interpreting. He is an elected Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Linguists. He sits on the Executive Committee of the UK University Council of Languages (UCFL) and the Interpreters Committee of the Translators Association of China. Currently he serves the international academic community as the co-editor of Interpreting and Society (a Sage journal), chief editor of International Journal of Chinese and English Translation & Interpreting and on the editorial boards of many journals.
 

Keynote Speech: Advances and Trends in Speech Translation Technology
Speaker Bio

Xiong Shifu, vice president of AI Research of iFLYTEK, graduated from the National Engineering Research Center of Speech and Language Information Processing (NERC-SLIP) at the University of Science and Technology of China. His research interests primarily encompass speech and natural language processing. During his tenure at iFLYTEK, he was responsible for spearheading research and implementing technologies related to speech recognition, speech translation, and speech interaction.
 

2. Dates: 9-10 November 2024

3. Location: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

4. Sub-themes of the Conference

1. Challenges in Interpreter Education in the Era of AI
2. New Technology Applications for Interpreting Service
3. New Approaches and Methods in Interpreting Studies
4. Innovative Practices in Interpreter Training 
5. The B&R Initiative and Intercultural Communication
6. New Technologies for Language Service and Education

5. Mode of Delivery for the Conference

The conference will be held offline. The working languages of the conference are English and Chinese. Both English and Chinese will be accepted for the presentations and papers.

6. Submission Deadline

The deadline for abstracts submission is 7 October 2024 (300 words in English/500 characters in Chinese).

Please fill out the conference receipt (Please download the Reply Slip file and at the bottom of the article.) and send it to the conference email address nci2024@cuhk.edu.cn.

Acceptance and invitation letters for participation in the 15th National Conference & International Forum on Interpreting will be sent to participants after a careful review of the submitted abstracts by the organizing committee.

7. Registration Fee 

Attendees are kindly advised to arrange their own transportation and accommodation. A list of recommended hotels will be provided for the conference attendees.

* Students with valid IDs can enjoy a discounted price of RMB500. 

Payment method:

*WeChat Payment: To successfully register using WeChat payment, the name of the participant must be filled in the remarks column.

Any bank fees incurred by the WeChat payment shall be paid by the remitter, and the conference organizer shall receive the full amount of the conference registration fee.

Please send the WeChat payment receipt to nci2024@cuhk.edu.cn

8. Conference Contact

Email: nci2024@cuhk.edu.cn
Continuous updates will be announced on TAC official website (http://www.tac-online.org.cn/) and School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen official website (https://hss.cuhk.edu.cn/en/article/1331).

Organising Committee of the 15^th National Conference & International Forum on Interpreting

11 September 2024

Reply Slip