On March 31, Ms. Weijia Kang, a second year post-graduate student studying Simultaneous Interpreting, won the second place on the 6^th BLCU International Translation and Interpreting Competition.

      The Theme of the competition is “SDG 2030: Transforming China and the World”. Competitors came from University of Leeds, University of International Business and Economics, China Foreign Affairs University, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, and Beijing Language Cultural University. After several rounds of fierce competitions, six competitors made it to the finals, where two speakers talked about climate change and sustainable development. Mr. Zhengren Li, Chief of Division of Conference Management of the United Nations Office at Geneva commented on student performance.

       HSS Professor SUI Yun commented that Ms. Kang demonstrated confidence with her steady and stable output. Her resilience against all odds and spirit to challenge herself helped her to win out. Dr. CHANG Liwen believed that Ms. Kang’s excellent performance should be attributed to her diligence. 

Interview:

Q: Why do you attend the competition?

A: Because I am interested. Furthermore, the online completion is amazing. I made it to the finals, had a chance to meet great competitors, and received comments from judges. That was a thrill.

Q: What have you learned from the competition?

A: In the preliminary round, we had two articles featuring film industry, which I thought was pretty challenging, particularly the Chinese-English section. My experience and classroom practice focused more on formal discussions, but the free and narrative style presented in the competition text was not my forte. I have found that my sentence structure was cumbersome and professional lexicons were lacking. These issues are critical to my future practice.

Q: What challenges have you encountered in the finals?

A: The topic in the finals is about sustainable development, which I have practiced in classroom. What I did not expect is that it covered many aspects and I had to struggle to learn new knowledge. This shows that my foundation is not as solid as I thought.

To my surprise, the speakers used an informal style and mentioned some jokes, particularly the Chinese part containing factors with Chinese cultural features. In addition, their talk also covered astronomical discoveries and the new government in the US. I have realized that as an interpreter you have to keep yourself abreast of new developments around the world.

In summary, perseverance is the key. I had my down moments, but I have to carry on. Dust yourself clean, take your time and you will get better.