The 14th National Interpretationing Competition was held on March 29-30 at Beijing International Studies University. Guided by Professor Wang Ying from the English Department and Professor Chen Zhiwei from the German Department, SZU contestants from CIS advanced to the national finals and won multiple awards.
Wu Zishuo, an MTI postgraduate student, secured the top awards in both the consecutive interpreting and simultaneous interpreting tracks at the final. SZU finished just behind BFSU and SISU in the number and level of awards won. Among comprehensive universities, it delivered the best performance.
The competition, co-hosted by the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies and Beijing International Studies University, is recognized as one of the country’s most broad-reaching and prestigious interpreting competitions and covers eight languages including English, Russian, French, German and Spanish. After rigorous selection at university and provincial levels, only just over 100 contestants from all eight languages advanced to the national finals.
The national finals had a packed schedule and fierce competition, with separate interpreting events for eight languages. English featured both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting finals, including an elite consecutive round, while other languages held only consecutive interpreting finals. The contest assessed skills including bilingual transfer, short-term memory, on-the-spot response, and cross-cultural communication.
Over two days, CIS contestants stood out among the country’s best, showcasing their professional skills, composure, and the strengths of SZU’s foreign language education.
L-R: Chen Zhiwei (coach of the German team), Li Zhilin (German contestant), Zhao Lihui (English contestant), Wu Zishuo (English contestant), Zhu Jianfeng (English contestant), and Wang Ying (coach of the English team).
In the English category, three contestants from SZU advanced to the national finals, beating more than 2,000 participants from over 400 universities. Wu, a first-year MTI student, stood out by winning national first prizes in both consecutive and simultaneous interpreting, becoming one of the few to achieve double first prizes. Another first-year MTI student Zhao Lihui won a national second prize in consecutive interpreting, and Zhu Jianfeng, a senior undergraduate minoring in interpreting, won a national third prize.
(MTI student Wu Zishuo competing in the English consecutive interpreting final elite round)
(MTI student Wu Zishuo competing in the English simultaneous interpreting final)
(MTI student Zhao Lihui competing in the consecutive interpreting final)
(Interpreting minor student Zhu Jianfeng competing in the consecutive interpreting final)
Li Zhilin, a senior undergraduate German major student, stood out in the German consecutive interpreting track, ranking among the national top ten and earning a place in the finals. With a calm and steady performance, she won a national third prize in German consecutive interpreting, achieving a breakthrough for CIS’s German program and showing a testament to the college’s strengths in multilingual education.
(German major undergraduate Li Zhilin at the German consecutive interpreting final)
The College of International Studies won national awards across multiple languages and categories at the national interpreting contest, reflecting its long-standing philosophy of "promoting learning, teaching, and practice through competition" and a strong testament to its focus on cultivating versatile, application-oriented translation and interpreting talents. CIS has always prioritized students’ practical skills, providing professional coaches, tailored training plans, and targeted intensive training to prepare its students for high-level competitions.
Looking ahead, CIS will continue to leverage its strengths in foreign language disciplines, refine its talent training programs, and create more high-level competition and practice platforms. The goal is to enhance students’ international communication skills and language proficiency, cultivate versatile talents with a global outlook, and help students excel on international stages, contributing SZU’s voice to the country’s cultural exchanges and the development of the translation and interpreting field.
