On April 22^nd, foreign expert David William Ferguson visited the School of Foreign Languages of SWJTU giving an academic lecture entitled "AI and the Future of Translation and Interpretation" to the teachers and students of our school. Not only students and teachers from language majors, other majors also came to the lecture to give great support. Professor Wang Pengfei, vice dean of School of Foreign Languages, hosted this academic lecture. In the lecture, Mr. Ferguson elaborated on the international discourse power of China today and various issues related to translation in detail. The lecture was thought-provoking and was warmly welcomed by both teachers and students.
 

 

First of all, Mr. Ferguson introduced himself. He has been engaged in the editing and writing in China since 2006 and has made outstanding contributions. He has held lectures, seminars and training courses in many well-known universities and institutions. He was one of the speakers at the launch of President Xi Jinping's book Xi Jinping on "One Belt And One Road" and was honored with the Outstanding Contribution Award at the 70^th anniversary of the establishment of the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration in 2019. In 2018 and 2019, he was the English speaker at the national final of the National Interpreting Competition.

 

 

 

Then, he gave explanation on the present problems of China's international discourse power. In the explanation of China's international discourse power, Mr. Ferguson focused on the basic problems China is facing in the international community and the one-sided and wrong understanding and reports of China by the western media. The teachers and students deeply realized that it is urgent to give a voice of China in the international community and make a strong response. After that, the expert also pointed out the common problems in the current English and translation teaching in China and made detailed explanations, using examples to make the teachers and students in a lively and pleasant atmosphere while harvesting a lot.

 

 This lecture is closely related to the theme of the present age, with rich and detailed contents, which will be of great help to teachers and students both in their prospects of the major and in the future learning process.