On September 23, the 2022 Freshman Meeting of the College of Foreign Languages of Nankai University was held in the auditorium of the College of Foreign Languages. In accordance with the relevant requirements of epidemic prevention and control, the Freshman Meeting has set up two offline sub-venues, Lecture Hall 111 and Lecture Hall 209, and one online sub-venue. Secretary of the Party Committee of the College of Foreign Languages Mu Xiangwang, Dean Yan Guodong, Vice Deans Li Min, Hu Jun, Wang Kai and other college leaders attended the meeting. Also present at the meeting were Li Li, Head of the English Department, Zhang Qiang, Deputy Head of the Translation Department, Gu Jiawei, Head of the Spanish Department, Yang Lin, Head of the Italian Department and Dou Tianjiao, Head of the Arabic Department; Zheng Lin, Shi Dou, Shi Yuchen, Li Lanxue, Liang Jiayi, Yu Xiang, Xiao Juanjuan, the 2022 freshman class tutors; Wang Yin, secretary of the Youth League Committee of the College, Zhou Wenyu and Wang Ai, the 2022 freshmen counselors. Diana Maia from the Department of Portuguese attended the meeting as a representative of foreign teachers. Deputy Dean Ma Hongqi, Dean of Translation Department Zhang Zhizhong and other teachers and graduate students who were unable to attend the conference participated in the conference online. 226 undergraduate freshmen participated in the conference and jointly started the journey in the Colleges of Foreign Languages of Nankai University.
Xiang Yu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Dean of the College of Foreign Languages, hosted the meeting.
The meeting began with the solemn national anthem.
Professor Yan Guodong, Dean of the College of Foreign Languages and doctoral supervisor of the Russian Department, on behalf of all the faculty and staff of the college, extended a warm welcome to all the freshmen. In his speech, he reviewed the development process of the College of Foreign Languages of Nankai University, introduced the achievements made in discipline development, curriculum construction, talent training and other aspects in recent years, and pointed out that our college has an outstanding history of masters and talents, a discipline foundation with complete and comprehensive development, an open and diversified communication mechanism, and a comprehensive development platform with discipline integration and characteristics. At the end of the speech, Dean Yan Guodong expressed his ardent hopes and sincere wishes to the students with the examples of three well-known masters, Chen Kui, Zha Liangzheng and Li Jiye. He hoped that the students could learn from the history of the college to learn the wisdom and strength, grasp a global value of languages, correct the professional learning attitude, benchmark the national development needs, and serve the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations. He hoped that students could always keep in mind the talent training concept of “foreign language expertise, humanistic quality, international vision, Chinese sentiments, and Nankai characteristics”, and be confident, self-disciplined, and self-improving, thus grow into a “practitioner of foreign affairs, researcher of international issues, communicator of human civilization, and language service provider” who required for the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the New Era.
The directors and teachers of the departments of the College of Foreign Languages came to the stage in turn to send messages to the freshmen, telling them about the professional advantages and development prospects of foreign language discipline under the current situation. Professors hoped that every new student can stand on their feet and face the future, cultivate the enthusiasm for language and culture in the full learning life of Nankai, combine their own and the country’s development prospects, and become high-quality foreign-language talents who strive to shoulder the important tasks of the times.
Professor Zhang Zhizhong, the director of the Department of Translation and doctoral supervisor, addressed the freshmen with Lu You’s poem Night Chant and translated English text by himself, hoping that the students could pay tribute to their predecessors’ learning, enrich themselves in reading excellent Chinese and foreign works, and encouraged the freshmen to translate like writing poems, strive to improve their translation ability and artistic accomplishment, help Chinese culture go global, and contribute their wisdom to Chinese translation work.
Professor Li Li, director of the English department and doctoral supervisor, spoke as a representative of teachers. With the theme of “starting from language learning, applying knowledge to practice”, Prof. Li hoped that students can use language as a window to understand the world and a stage to go into the world, and encouraged freshmen to be diligent in thinking, devote themselves to reading, be brave in undertaking the task of national rejuvenation, and cherish the great ideal of patriotism, so as to become a noble, simple and academically sophisticated person in Nankai in the New Era, forging ahead on a new journey and writing a new chapter.
As the representative of foreign teachers, Diana Maia, a Portuguese language teacher, made a speech. Combining her own learning experience in Nankai, she hoped that students would cherish their time in Nankai, study hard and develop in an all-round way, plan their future development actively, learn more languages and cultures, fully enjoy the unforgettable learning journey, and finally make important contributions to society, the country and the world.
Jin Chen, a grade 2022 freshman from the French Department, made a speech as the representative of the freshman. He used “establishment” as the key word of his college life, encouraged himself to live independently, carry forward the past and open up the future to establish his own identity, set up his belief, define what he is aiming for, and devote himself to serving the country and combining knowledge with practice. He called on his fellow students to grow up and become talents to build the country. In the journey of “knowing China, serving China, loving China and rejuvenating China”, students should practice the Nankai spirit of “Dedication to public interests, acquisition of all-around capability, and aspiration for progress with each day.”
At the end of the conference, Wang Kai, vice dean of the College of Foreign Languages, read the list of tutors for the undergraduate classes. Mu Xiangwang, secretary of the Party Committee, issued letters of appointment for the class tutors of grade 2022.
“The coast of Bohai Sea, the port of Baihe River, and the spirit of Nankai is growing.” With the Anthem of Nankai University, the Freshman Meeting of the College of Foreign Languages came to a successful conclusion.
