On November 11th 2014, Professor Xu Jun and Professor Wang Lifei from the University of International Business and Economics gave two lectures at the lecture hall of the School of Foreign languages. The three-hour-long lectures were accompanied with hails of applause from the audience.
Professor Xu Jun has been a senior research scholar in Cambridge University and is now a member of the University Academic Committee, the director of the Academic Innovation Group of Translation and a leading researcher in Translation and Applied Linguistics. Professor Wang Lifei, the dean of the School of International Studies, is also the director of the Research Institute of Applied Linguistics, a member of the Academic Title Conferring Committee as well as the Academic Committee and Academic Degree Committee. He is also the director of the Evaluation Group for Foreign Languages and the chairman of the Academic Committee of the School of International Studies.
The lectures were presided by Associate Professor Zhu Litian, the dean of the English Department. After the address of Professor Chen Meihua, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages, Professor Xu Jun started her lecture “the translation of Chinese classics and the dissemination of traditional Chinese culture”, with a discussion with the students on the definition of translation. Then she cited the English translation of the Legend of the Condor Heroes and A Journey to the West as examples to illustrate the importance of understanding the meaning of the source text. She also used part of the movie Scrapping as an example to show the importance of disseminating traditional Chinese culture as it is. Next, she talked about her understanding of Chinese classics and also makes a retrospect into the history of translating Chinese classics. She concluded her lecture with the significance of studying Chinese classics, provoking the audience to think.
Then Professor Wang Lifei gave a lecture “innovative interdisciplinary research topics for English graduate students and research methods”. Starting with the reality of graduate study, Professor Wang recommended interdisciplinary research related to business English. Then he also provided some valuable advice on the approaches to discourse analysis and on the research in business negotiation, cross-cultural business communication and pedagogical linguistics. All the students were impressed by his prudent and detailed analysis on an empirical basis. In the end teachers from the School of Foreign Languages had a further discussion with Professor Wang.
This was an afternoon when the School of Foreign Languages was immersed in a rich academic atmosphere. We sincerely hope the two professors will come again to share their research and teaching experience with us.
(Translated by Luo Xinbei)
