Jointly co-organized by Tongji German center, German Goethe Institute, and German General Consulate in Shanghai, the awarding ceremony of the first German-Chinese, Chinese-German Literary Translation Contest was closed on the evening of June 2nd. Chinese famous writer Yu Hua, and Swiss young writer Christian Kracht were invited to the ceremony to read out their own works and hold cross-cultural dialogue. Jiang Feng, deputy director of Department of International Cooperation and Communication of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Knopp, general consul of Germany in Shanghai, general secretary of Goethe Institute, Tongji President Wan Gang, deputy secretary of the Party Committee Zhu Shaozhong, attended the ceremony.
Wan said in his speech that translation is a bridge of connecting Chinese and foreign culture. People of different countries will break the cultural and national barriers and be closer and closer through translators’ hardwork. He hoped that the first German-Chinese, Chinese-German Literary Translation Contest will stimulate more youth to be engaged in the literary translation, improve east-west communication.
It is said that the contest starts from the middle of January this year. The original text selects Yu Hua’s latest work “Brother” and German writer Uwe Timm’s “Take my brother as an example”. The tow-month-long contest received about 220 translations, and 23 translators were awarded, who covered all Departments of German Language in China and all Departments of Chinese Language in Germany.
