News

On 5 January afternoon, Correctional Services Bureau held the inauguration ceremony for two Heads of Division. Under the witness of Deputy Director Loi Kam Wan and the heads, Ho Fai In and Ng Iok Wong took an oath, administered by Director Cheng Fong Meng, to respectively assume the post of Head of Legal Support Division and Head of Repair and Maintenance Division.
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According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, broad money supply continued to grow in November. As total deposits increased whereas total loans decreased, the overall loan-to-deposit ratio of the banking sector dropped from a month ago. Concurrently, the non-performing loan ratio, an indicator for bank asset quality, remained virtually unchanged.
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The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, today said the Government would use further measures to support the development of local media, in order to enhance relations between the Government, the media sector and the public.
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The updated price list for Transport Bureau services, and the increases in charges for removing and storing vehicles improperly parked in public parking spaces, will assist in improving access to public parking facilities.
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Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) announced the results of its tracking study on family hostels today (5 January).Following the feasibility study on family hostels in 2014, MGTO commissioned a research institute last year to carry out a tracking study on family hostels from 28 July to 29 August 2016 to learn more about residents’ latest stance on opening of family hostels in Macao. The findings of the tracking study indicate that with scattered opinions, the society has not reached a thorough consensus on operation of family hostels in local communities. In the future, MGTO will stay tuned to social changes and continually pay attention to the development of the issue.In the tracking study, data were collected through online questionnaires and a face-to-face survey conducted in various districts across Macao, targeting residents at age of 18 or above and living in Macao for the previous 12 months. A total of 2,146 responses were collected through the face-to-face survey and online questionnaires, including 2,102 and 44 responses respectively.The latest study reveals a lower degree of concern and support The degree of concern and support from the surveyed residents towards the idea of family hostels both declined in 2016. The proportion of respondents who had heard about the topic of family hostels dropped from 58% in 2014 to 55% in 2016. The proportion of supporters among respondents also decreased slightly from over 62% in 2014 to 61% in 2016. On the other hand, the proportion of neutral responses went up from 42% in 2014 to 84% in 2016.Criteria for opening family hostels and forms of development In terms of criteria for opening family hostels and forms of development, the proportion of neutral responses went up from the last survey, mirroring the downturn in the degree of public concern nowadays compared with two years ago.With regard to land use, respondents expressed a relatively low degree of support towards the idea of allowing “reconstruction of urban lands or premises designated for residential purposes” and use of “urban lands or premises designated for non-hotel purposes” for establishment of family hostels in both studies. Less than half of the surveyed residents (48% in 2014 and 42% in 2016) agreed that family hostels can be built in reconstructed residential premises or upon urban lands designated for residential purposes, suggesting the general concern about change of land use.Opting for development in other neighborhoods In terms of family hostel development in one’s own neighborhood, the tracking study in 2016 shows that only the respondents living in Taipa and the Cathedral Parish preferred family hostels to be opened in their own neighborhoods, though merely 60% of them supported the idea. In 2014, only the respondents living in the Cathedral Parish and Coloane preferred family hostels to run in their own neighborhoods. In summary, both studies reveal that residents tended to choose other neighborhoods rather than their own as locations for family hostels. In other words, it has not yet become a mainstream in the society to support development of family hostels in one’s own neighborhood. Respondents in general were concerned about different issues such as public safety, environmental hygiene, traffic conditions and so on.ConclusionIn summary of both studies, around 60% of the surveyed residents favored the idea of family hostels as revealed by both public opinion surveys. However, the tracking study indicates a slight decline in the degree of support as well as a lower level of concern towards the topic of family hostels. Similar to the situation in 2014, respondents in the tracking study expressed that more details should be taken into consideration before enforcing the idea of family hostels. In comparison with the particulars of the study in 2014, the tracking study in 2016 indicates that residents laid more stress on the necessity of governmental regulation (28% in 2014 and 41% in 2016), followed by the importance of governmental planning before family hostel development (32% in 2014 and 22% in 2016). The results of the tracking study suggest that it has not yet become a mainstream in the society for residents to support development of family hostels in their own neighborhoods.
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The Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao (IFT) starts receiving applications for Daytime Degree Programmes from 4 to 20 January. Six English-taught degree programmes are open for applications, namely Culinary Arts Management, Heritage Management, Hotel Management, Tourism Business Management, Tourism Event Management, and Tourism Retails and Marketing Management.
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The Consumer Council handled 6,420 cases last year, of which 1,673 were complaints, 4,711 inquiries and 36 suggestions.
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The Macao Orchestra (OM, from the Portuguese acronym), under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, will present Beethoven’s chamber music concert “Beethoven and His Transition”, featuring two classics of Beethoven’s works on Saturday, 14 January, at 8pm, at the Dom Pedro V Theatre. In tandem with the theme of this concert season “My Time with Music”, the activity “Music Hour with Musicians” will be held before the concert, in which Horn principal Wu Tianxia and horn player Scott Holben from the Orchestra will interpret the compositions. Music fans are welcome to join and share their views with the musicians.
Beethoven’s artistic career is conventionally divided into three periods with string quartets being, so to speak, his compositional focus throughout the time, and his string quartets are regarded as the greatest of chamber music. This concert features two works Sextet in E-flat Major, Op. 81b and String Quartet No.7 in F Major, Op.59, No. 1 “Rasumovsky”, which respectively embody the composers’ styles in different periods. As an early work of Beethoven, Sextet in E-flat Major, Op.81b is a passionate piece for two virtuoso horns and string quartet, while String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No.1, also known as “Rasumovsky”, epitomises his middle period style and outweighs average chamber music both in length and scale. Meanwhile, the Orchestra will hold the activity “Music Hour with Musicians” before the concert at the Mirror Hall of the Dom Pedro V Theatre, at 7:15 pm, on that day. Admission is free. All music fans can register from 4 to 11 January through tel. no. 2853 0782 during office hours or through Macao Orchestra’s Wechat official account “Macao Orchestra”.
Tickets for the concert “Beethoven and His Transition” are priced at MOP120 and MOP100, with various discount packages available. Ticketing Hotline: 2855 5555. For details and enquiries about the programme, please visit Macao Orchestra’s webpage www.icm.gov.mo/om.

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Prof Li Defeng, director of Centre for Studies of Translation, Interpreting and Cognition, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, has been elected president of the World Interpreter and Translator Training Association (WITTA) at the organisation’s First Congress and Inaugural General Assembly held in Guangzhou.
The newly founded WITTA is an international non-governmental and non-profit organisation dedicated to bringing together industrial and academic institutes to promote interpreter and translator training worldwide. The association has 40 founding institutions from around the world, including top universities providing translation and interpreting programmes, such as University College London, the University of Westminster, the University of Leeds, Durham University, the University of Essex, the University of Ottawa, the University of Melbourne, Macquarie University, Nanyang Technological University, the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Macau, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing Language and Culture University, as well as major translation and interpreting service providers, publishers and academic journals, such as The Translator and Interpreter Trainer and Chinese Translators’ Journal.
Senior advisers to the association include Prof Hannelore Lee-Jahnke, lifetime honorary president of International Standing Conference of the University Institutes of Translators and Interpreters (CIUTI); Mr Henry Liu, president of the International Federation of Translators (FIT); Prof Huang Youyi, director of China National Committee for Translation and Interpreting Education and vice president of the Translators Association of China (TAC); Prof Anthony Pym, former president of the European Society for Translation Studies; Prof Zhong Weihe, president of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies; Prof Arnt Lykke Jakobsen, president of the European Society for Translation Studies; Prof Martin Fostner, former secretary general of CIUTI; Prof Douglas Robinson from Hong Kong Baptist University; Prof Chai Mingjiong from Shanghai International Studies University; Prof Dorothy Kelly, editor of The Interpreter and Translator Trainer; and Prof Lawrence Wong from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Speaking at the congress, Prof Li Defeng indicated that since the beginning of the 21^st century, translation and interpreting education has been developing rapidly and has achieved remarkable progress while facing various challenges, such as the great gap between demand and supply in the translation industry. WITTA was set up to address these challenges by promoting international exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and commercialisation of research results. ‘As leaders and active researchers in our institutions and our field of research, we came to Guangzhou to build and strengthen ties and partnerships, share experience, and assess pertinent interpreter and translator training developments that have occurred in these years,” said Prof Li.

Over 100 experts and scholars of translation education from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan attended the congress and assembly. Topics discussed during the congress include the current trends of translator training, the new ways and approaches of training translation and interpreting students, development and assessment of translation competence (especially critical thinking abilities in translation students), new research methods of translation training and translation studies, government-university-industry collaboration, and innovation in translation and interpreting education.The next WITTA Congress will be held at the University of Westminster, UK, in 2018.

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For the implementation of Section 2b), Article 10, Law 4/95/M of 12 June, Consumer Council on 3 January collects prices of fresh pork from wet markets and supermarkets for consumers’ reference. The mentioned data collected during 28 December of 2016 to 3 January of 2017 are used for comparing the average selling price of the same products from Zhuhai and Hong Kong. The relevant data has been uploaded to the Council’s website for consumers’ reference.
The specific price surveys on fresh pork and vegetables are now available on the Council’s website (www.consumer.gov.mo), iPhone & Android ‘Supermarket Price Information Platform’ app, and the Council’s WeChat Account page. The relevant surveys include the average selling prices of local fresh pork and vegetables, and comparison on the respective the average selling prices rom Zhuhai, HK, and Macao.
For enquiry, please call 8988 9315.

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