The International Conference on Standardization of Language Resources and Translation and Interpreting Services was held on June 16 and 17, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The conference was guided by the Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China and organized by the China National Institute of Standardization, the Translation Service Committee of Translators Association of China (TAC), and the Hangzhou Municipal Administration of Quality and Technology Supervision. More than 200 experts and representatives from the ISO/TC 37 Language and Terminology, standardization research institutions, translation associations, higher education institutions, and language service companies attended the conference. As one of the three supporting agencies, Master Translation Services participated in the theme planning, designing, guest invitation and publicity of the conference. Frank Wei, our General Manager; Eva Yan, the Director of the QA Department; David Chen, the Director of the Translation Department; and Binson Ye, the General Manager of our Cultural Communication Branch took part in the organization of the event. The opening speech, keynote speeches and two of the sub-forums were live streamed on our TTV (译直播)，a platform dedicated to recording and broadcasting meetings, training courses and other events in the industry.
The conference consisted of a main forum and four sub-forums. The themes of main forum are “Language Service: Standardization and the Development of the Industry” and “Language Service: Demand and Quality”. Laurent Romary, the Chair of the ISO/TC37, Huang Youyi, one of the Executive Vice -Presidents of Translators Association of China, Monika Popielek, the President of the Polish Translation Enterprise Association, and Liu Zhiyang, a researcher in the China National Institute of Standardization, delivered keynote speeches titled respectively, “Impact of Language and Terminology Standardization in Modern Society”, “Chinese Language Service and the Development of its Standardization”, “A Panoramic Analysis of European Language Service Industry”, and Language Service Promotion Standards Better Become the Language Connecting the World.”
Topics of the four sub-forums are: “National and International Interpretation Standards and its Implementation and Certification”,“Language Resources & Terminology Management, Technical and User Documentation, & Manufacturing and Quality”, “the Status Quo and Development of Translation Technology”, and “Roundtable Talk: Language Services Education Experts and out of China (International Workshop on Translation and Interpretation Education and Training). Frank Wei, our General Manager, and Prof. Chai Mingjiong, the Dean of the Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation of SISU, presided over the first subforum. Specialists in the industry, including Klaus-Dirk Schmitz, the Chairman of the German Terminology Committee; Veronica Perez Guarnieri, the Head of the ISO 18841 Interpretation Standard Project; Peter Reynolds, the Project Editor of the ISO 17100 Standards and the Executive Director of Kilgray Translation Technologies Mr. Haris N. Ghinos, a Managing Partner of ELIT Language Services; and Michael Fritz, the CEO of Tekom Technical Communication Association, exchanged their views on improving translation quality through the implementation of ISO standards, trends of translation technology, and trainings on interpreting. Experts in language education and entrepreneurs from business field, including Zhong Weihe, one of the Executive Vice Presidents of the Translators Association of China; Wang Lifei, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics; Meng Yongye, the Chairman of TransForyou (Beijing) Translation Co., Ltd. and Yu Yang, the CEO of Global Tone Communication Technology Co., Ltd., communicated and discussed the standards for translation and interpreting, personnel trainings and development, and translation technologies at the cutting edge.
The conference, gathering a large number of experts and influential figures to have in-depth discussions on key issues faced by the language service industry, is said to be of significance to the standardization and sustainable development of the industry in China.
In addition, prior to the conference, our General Manager Frank Wei attended the working meeting on the ISO/TC 37 on June 15. In the evening of the same day, Mr. Wei addressed the 5th plenary session of the 4th Translation Service Committee of TAC. In his speech, Mr. Wei reported the work of the best practice project team and called for the participation of corporate/institutional members in the collection, preparation and promotion of best practice cases. According to Mr. Wei, recognizing and promoting best practice will help to give customers a clearer idea of the industry and guide their purchase, protect the interests of the customers and the industry and regulate operations of translation companies.
