The 4th National Conference on Cognitive Translation Studies, sponsored by the Cognitive Translation Studies Committee of China Association for Comparative Studies of English and Chinese (CACSEC) and hosted by School of Foreign Languages of Tongji University, was successfully convened on September 11, 2021 in Tongji. Due to the impact of the epidemic, the conference was held virtually online via Tencent Meeting and Bilibili. This online academic activity attracted more than 1,300 experts and scholars.
The opening ceremony of the conference was presided over by Professor Shen Qi from School of Foreign Languages. Lou Yongqi, Vice President of Tongji, attended the opening ceremony and gave a welcome speech. He pointed out that translation, as a cross-language and cross-cultural cognitive activity, has become an important research topic under the framework of cognitive science closely related to artificial intelligence, and the convening of this conference would further promote the joint and coordinated development of Tongji’s translation discipline and the university’s competitive discipline of artificial intelligence. President Lou expected participants to shares their views on cognitive translation studies against the background of the “New Liberal Arts”, and wished the conference a full success.
Wen Xu, Chairman of the Cognitive Translation Committee of CACSEC and Dean of the School of Foreign Languages of Southwest University, firstly thanked CACSEC for its support and Tongji SFL for its efforts to make this conference possible. He pointed out that Cognitive Translation Studies has been a star subject worldwide, and a cutting-edge field in translation studies. The conference touched upon thinking from the macroscopic perspectives of cognitive science and psychology, as well as micro examination of cognitive strategies and processes. It was both analytical and empirical, involving rich perspectives and diverse methods. He believed that both experts and students would be able to get academic inspirations from this conference.
Wu Yun, Dean of Tongji SFL, expressed respect and welcome to the participating experts and delegates. Starting with the history of “Tongji” originated from the Chinese transliteration of Deutsch, she clarified that translation was closely related to the development of the University from the very beginning. Dean Wu introduced the characteristics and advantages of the translation discipline in terms of SFL’s development direction, talent echelon, and project commitment. She pointed out that translation studies is interdisciplinary in nature, involving philosophy, linguistics, political science, communication and other disciplines, and the core issue is to study the bilingual conversion and cognitive mechanism of translation. This also proved the significance of this conference. Finally, Dean Wu looked forward to taking this symposium as an opportunity to enhance academic exchanges and cooperation with other universities.
The conference invited ten well-known experts to give keynote speeches on the theme of “Cognitive Translation Studies from a Multidisciplinary Perspective”. The closing ceremony was presided over by Professor Xiao Kairong from Southwest University. Professor Lu Zhi from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Vice Chairman of the Cognitive Translation Studies Committee of CACSEC, made the concluding remarks. The symposium ended successfully with all the planned schedule completed. The next conference will be held in Jilin University.