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Article published In:
Babel
Vol. 65:3 (2019) ► pp.445–464

The origins and early developments of the UN Training Program for Interpreters and Translators in Beijing

| Beijing Foreign Studies University
This paper fills the missing the link in the research on the history of interpreter and translator training in the P. R. China. After the restoration of China’s seat in the United Nations on October 25, 1971, the UN Secretariat suggested, as early as in 1972, to the P. R. C. Permanent Mission in New York, that a training course be established to train interpreters and translators. But it was not until 1979 that the UN Training Program for Interpreters and Translators (译训班) was established at Beijing Foreign Studies University. What happened during the period of 1972–1978 and how the first cohort of students were recruited and trained remain, to a large extent, unexplored areas. By combining newly-discovered historical materials and interviews with former staff members and students of the program, this paper presents details about the preparatory work carried out in mid-1970s that laid the foundations for the establishment of the program, the month-long negotiations between Chinese and the UN representatives in 1978 that led to the founding of the program, as well as the recruitment and training of the first cohort of students.
Keywords: UN Training Program for Interpreters and Translators, interpreter training in China, Beijing Foreign Studies University, syllabus for interpreter training
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Prelude
  • 3.The negotiations
    • 3.1Trainee caliber
    • 3.2Program duration
    • 3.3Program scale
    • 3.4Funding
  • 4.First cohort of students
  • 5.Epilogue
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 5 August 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00100.yao
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2021. Testing and Assessment of Interpreting in China: An Overview. In Testing and Assessment of Interpreting [New Frontiers in Translation Studies, ], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

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