BEIJING: Five foreign experts with the Foreign Languages Press (FLP) recently wrote to President Xi Jinping describing their experiences translating and publishing books such as Xi Jinping: The Governance of China and expressing their pride at engaging in work that helps international readers understand China.
In replying to these foreign experts on August 25, President Xi said that accurate and expressive translation will help the world better understand China in the new era and play a significant part in promoting exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations. In Xi’s letter, he also extended greetings to all members of the publishing house on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of its founding. The experts, coming from different countries and cultural backgrounds, have shared their love for China and Chinese culture and made significant contributions to the country’s translation and publication work that serves foreign readers, Xi wrote in the letter. He urged the foreign experts to continue pooling their strengths in telling China’s stories with excellent translations that can easily break linguistic and cultural barriers, so that more foreign readers can understand China. Aly Thabet Aly Mohamed Farag from Egypt has been in China for 14 years and speaks fluent standard Chinese. As an expert in Arabic translation at the FLP, he is one of those who wrote the letter to Xi.
Thabet said he was very happy to hear from the Chinese leader and immediately telephoned his family members after learning the news.
“Knowing that President Xi attaches so much attention to translation, I feel that I’m now tasked with a greater responsibility to do my work,” he said.
Founded in 1952, the FLP was the first publishing house producing works in foreign languages after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. It has translated and published more than 30,000 book titles in over 40 languages, with a global distribution of more than 400 million copies.
The fourth volume of President Xi’s book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China was recently published by the FLP in both Chinese and English. The book records the thoughts and practices of Xi and the central leadership. The fourth volume is a compilation of 109 speeches and writings of Xi, dating from February 3, 2020 to May 10 this year.
–The Daily Mail-Beijing
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