Translators focus on polishing official documents

Top experts of Chinese-English and Chinese-French translation gathered in Beijing on Dec 16 for a six-day workshop designed to produce better translation of key Party and government documents.

Organized by the Chinese Academy of Translation, workshop included materials such as documents from the 6th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, speeches made by President Xi Jinping and recent policy memos from different ministries.

Experts came from home and abroad. Among them are former senior editors at United Nations, the president of the Translator Association of China and the senior translators from China International Publishing Group.

Key objectives included finding ways to translate culture-loaded words, political discourse, and concepts with Chinese characteristics into clear foreign language without compromising the original cultural and political connotations.

Their translations are expected to be used in the future edition of Keywords to Understand China, a series of multi-language books explaining essential expressions in contemporary China. The first edition was published earlier this year.

More than 20 translators and foreign affairs officers from different ministries, local governments, and universities attended the workshop.