On November 10th, 2019, the “International Symposium on Exchange and Mutual Learning of Language and Culture - 2019 Annual Conference of the Northeast Asia International Language and Culture Research Base” was held at the School of Foreign Languages, Jilin University. The conference was sponsored by the Northeast Asia International Language and Culture Research Base, the Northeast Asia International Language and Culture Research Center of Jilin University, and the School of Foreign Languages of Jilin University, and co-organized by the National Administry Committee on Teaching English Language to Majors in Higher Education under The Ministry of Education, the Chinese Association for the Study of Japanese Language Teaching, and the Tumen River International Cooperation Society of Jilin Province. More than 120 experts and scholars from Japan, Russia, Korea, the UK, and other countries, as well as scholars in the circle of foreign languages in some domestic universities attended the conference. The translation team from the School of Foreign Languages of Jilin University provided simultaneous interpretation for all the speeches delivered at the main venue.
Professor Zhou Yifu, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages of Jilin University, and Professor Xiu Gang, Deputy Director of the National Administry Committee on Teaching English Language to Majors in Higher Education under The Ministry of Education, Honorary President of the Chinese Society for the Study of Japanese Language Teaching and former President of Tianjin Foreign Studies University, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony. The subsequent speeches were divided into two parts, which were presided over by Associate Professor Zou Bo of Fudan University and Professor Quan Helv of Jilin University. Prof. Xiu Gang of Tianjin Foreign Studies University, Professor Yihiko Ohashi of Kansai Gakuin University, Professor Petrovsky of Far East Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Piotr Blumczynski, Director of the Translation Center of Queen’s University and Editor-in-Chief of Translation Studies, Professor Yasushi Kawai of Tohoku University, Professor Kim Dong Sik of Inha University, Korea, and Professor Qin Mingli of Dalian University of Technology, who is also a visiting researcher of Northeast Asia International Language and Culture Research Base, delivered keynote speeches on the theme of the symposium. Moreover, 9 branch venues were set, where more than 40 scholars from universities in China and abroad presented their academic results and discussed with other participants on the study of foreign languages, culture and literature in the context of international exchanges in Northeast Asia.
The closing ceremony was hosted by Professor Zhang Meimei, Vice Dean of the School of Foreign Languages, Jilin University. The representatives of each branch venue summarized and reported on the seminar one by one. Qin Mingli, visiting researcher of the Northeast Asia International Language and Culture Research Base and professor of Dalian University of Technology, and Professor Zhou Yifu, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages of Jilin University, delivered their closing speeches respectively. In his speech, Professor Qin Mingli affirmed that since its establishment in 2014, the Northeast Asia International Language and Culture Research Base has developed characteristics such as high internationalization, forward looking, and theoretical and practical topics, and praised that the symposium had successfully completed the discussion of the content involved in the conference. Professor Zhou Yifu first extended his gratitude to all the experts and scholars for coming and expressed his expectation for the annual conference of the Northeast Asia International Language and Culture Research Base next year. He said that the fundamental idea of the Northeast Asia International Language and Culture Research Base is internationalization. He claimed that each country and nation has its own characteristics in its own course of language and culture development, but as a whole, they are inextricably linked with each other; this annual conference aims to bring academic research to a new level by sharing findings in language, culture, translation studies, and country studies on the whole.
Since its establishment, the Northeast Asia International Language and Culture Research Base has held six annual conferences. This conference focuses on the exchange and mutual learning of Northeast Asian languages and cultures, reviewing its tradition and changes in the course of historical development, and exploring its development and trend in the context of the new era.
