.
Text: Rafael Dourador
Barbara Mascarenhas Morgado, Camila Vieira Baccarin, and Simone Baptista de Oliveira, students from the Department of Eastern Languages at USP’s Faculty of Humanities (FFLCH), won third place in the 8th World Chinese-Portuguese Translation Competition, organized by the Macao Polytechnic University. It was the third year in a row that the team, advised by Professor Ho Yeh Chia, who teaches Eastern Languages, was awarded a prize in the competition.
In just over a month, the team translated 2,000 sentences from the original texts of a Mandarin collection. At least 100 other teams from 40 different higher education institutions were competing with them. “We divided the text into equal parts, and, at first, each person was in charge of exploring and translating their part of the text. Throughout the process, we held a few group meetings to align the tone of the text and discuss some terms and translation solutions,” explains Barbara Morgado.
For Barbara, taking part in the competition is a great opportunity to stimulate the development of academic skills and professional training. She points out that there is a lack of investment in undergraduate studies in this area. “It’s a privilege to have access to the only university in Brazil that offers a major in Languages-Chinese, but the teaching conditions are still precarious. It's one of USP’s courses that suffers most from a shortage of qualified teachers,” she says.
.
In addition to them, another team from USP – also advised by Ho Yeh Chia – was awarded a prize. Kaique Esteves Alves Evaristo, Luisa Friedmann Judice, and Mariana Hernandes da Silva Leme participated in the competition for the first time and won a special prize for higher education institutions in Portuguese-speaking countries.
The World Chinese-Portuguese Translation Competition has been held annually since 2017 and is organized by the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (Raem) and the Translators Association of China. The aim is to promote exchange and mutual learning between students and stimulate professional development.
The translated sentences are sent via the competition website. The evaluation criteria consider the accuracy of the information conveyed, clarity and conformity, and stylistic correspondence with the original text. Barbara, Camila, and Simone will receive around R$ 8,800. On the other hand, Kaique, Luisa, and Mariana will receive R$ 4,700 for the honor.
.
*From the FFLCH Communications Office
