Dr Victoria Lei (2nd from left) receives a Distinguished Teacher Award
Yang Shanshan, a PhD student of linguistics from the Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Macau (UM), recently won the championship as leader of a team from Hong Kong and Macao in the group category of consecutive interpreting at the national final of the Fifth All China Interpreting Contest. She also received an Excellence Award and was voted the ‘Favourite Interpreter’. Another student from the department, namely Zhang Xiaoping, who is a master’s student of translation studies, won a second prize in the simultaneous interpreting invitational tournament of the competition. Their instructor Dr Victoria Lei received a Distinguished Teacher Award. Organised by the Translators Association of China, the All China Interpreting Contest is considered the most prestigious, influential, and industry-known interpreting competition in China. This year, a total of 1,814 contestants from 439 universities in China participated in the competition. The qualifying rounds started in December last year to select outstanding interpreters in eight regions of China. The national final was held at the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing. In the face of strong opponents from leading universities who have made it to the national final in Beijing through preliminaries, provincial contests, and regional contests, Zhang Xiaoping demonstrated an excellent command of both English and Chinese, outstanding skills in simultaneous interpreting, and a strong mind in the competition and won a second prize in the simultaneous interpreting invitational tournament. In the group category of consecutive interpreting, Yang Shanshan received the highest score in the ‘sodoku’ interpreting round. With solid interpreting and leadership skills and adaptability, she won the championship together with the two other contestants in her team, one from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the other from the Macao Polytechnic Institute. Anita Chao Kit I, a master’s student of translation studies from the Department of English, joined the UM team as an observer. The UM students’ trip to Beijing was sponsored by the Macao Foundation.
