The 3rd academic seminar of SIS Platform for Young Teachers was held on Nov. 9, 2008. Mr. Wu Wenchao, who had been a United Nations senior translator for over 20 years, a member of The Chinese
Language Society of Hong Kong Ltd, and chairman and president of Gowell Software Ltd, gave
an illuminating lecture “From Foreign Cannons To Foreign Languages” to the teachers and post－
graduate students.
The lecture was divided into two parts. In the first part, Mr. Wu pointed out from a historic and scientific angle that the key to revitalization on language side was Chinese science and ideology aided with western
technologies. Experienced in Chinese study and development of software for machine translation,
he created a two-pronged language reform plan characterized by reducing the complexity of Chinese
characters and one laguage with two texts （Chinese characters and Chinese Pinyin）. He also
introduced scientific and technological achievements in Chinese laguage with vivid examples. In the
second part, Mr. Wu shared his experience as a senior UN-translator with the participants,
emphasizing that young scholars should always keep in mind the difficulties in translation and
the significance of difficult expressions and related analysis.
With all the questions raised by the participants after the lecture, Mr. Wu answered them
patiently and thoroughly one after another. He reiterated that young scholars should base their
academic researches on their mother language and culture. Mr. Wu shared his ideas of the
cultural brand on Chinese charactesrs and opportunities for Chinese language to realize modernization.
(Translated by GUO Wentao)
