Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics
Research Seminar
The Risk about Translation:
With Special Reference to FTChinese.com
Presented by
Dr. Zhang Lifen
Editor-in-Chief, FTChinese.com
Date: 13 April 2010, Tuesday
Time: 4:30 - 6:00 pm
Venue: G7619 (Lift 3, Level 7, Green Zone), Academic Building, CityU
Abstract
The seminar will offer an insider's perspective on FTChinese's translation operation, the quality control, the editorial ethos and the unique role of translators in bringing the ideas of globalisation closer to the Chinese public. The experience of FTChinese, Financial Times' only foreign language website, on which 50 percent of the content is translated from Financial Times newspaper in English, has shown that in the tough world of business journalism, translation is not only about linguistic competence but also editorial judgment and cross-cultural awareness.
Speaker
Dr Zhang Lifen, currently Visiting Professor at Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist University, is Associate Editor, Financial Times and Editor-in-Chief for FTChinese.com, Financial Times' only foreign language website. Before joining the Financial Times in 2004 to launch FTChinese.com, Lifen worked for 10 years at the BBC as a journalist, producer, news editor and journalism/production trainer.
Born in Shanghai, Lifen received his BA degree in Journalism (1984) at Fudan University, Shanghai, where he had also taught briefly. He obtained his PhD in Communications (1994) at University of Leicester, England. He was a Visiting Scholar in Journalism at the National Chengchi University, Taipei, in 2003. He was listed among the "50 Most Powerful Persons in China's Economic Life" in 2009 by China's Asia Business Leaders magazine. He also sits on the Executive Committee for the Great Britain-China Centre (GBCC) in London.
