Since October 2024, the School of Foreign Studies (SFS) at Nankai University responded swiftly to national and municipal needs by establishing a dedicated translation task force led by Dean Prof. Yan Guodong. The team brought together more than fifty faculty members and Ph.D. students specializing in Russian, English, and Arabic.
By the eve of the SCO Summit, the group had completed over 400 translation assignments, covering more than 300,000 Chinese characters across fields such as smart technology, economic cooperation, public health, cultural tourism, and policy documents.
“Our translation quality is an integral part of the quality of the Summit, and our translation speed is a part of Tianjin’s speed,” said Dean Yan. To ensure accuracy and efficiency, the team adopted a rigorous three-tier quality assurance mechanism of “translator, reviewer, and final reviewer”, guaranteeing precision, standardization, and timeliness for every document.
From the moment they received their assignments, all members constantly elevated their political awareness, strengthened their sense of responsibility, and aligned themselves with the overall national interest.
“As the workload increased and deadlines tightened, everyone remained committed,” recalled Prof. Ma Hongqi. “The leadership attached great importance to the work, and teachers worked late into the night to ensure both quality and speed.”
Multilingual Coordination: Comprehensively Supporting Global Dialogue
The translation mission of the Summit spanned multiple working languages—Russian, English, and Arabic—each team demonstrating outstanding professional competence.
Russian, as one of the SCO’s core working languages, carried significant translation tasks. All eleven faculty members of the Russian program were deployed, ensuring accurate and fluent Russian translations. As the largest in scale, the English translation and interpreting team covered a wide array of fields, including engineering, agriculture, business, medicine, high technology, and artificial intelligence. Despite being smaller in number, the Arabic team completed its assignments with excellence, showcasing the multilingual strength of the SFS at Nankai University.
Challenges and Breakthroughs: The “Battleground” Behind Translation
To ensure absolute accuracy, the faculty meticulously reviewed the Media Handbook through three rounds of proofreading. They checked and corrected media terminology and standard expressions deliberately against public documents from multiple international conferences
From the Classroom to the World Stage: Teaching and Learning in Practice
“Foreign language professionals must go beyond mere language skills,” said Prof. Ma Hongqi, “but also possess national awareness, cultural confidence, and the ability to collaborate internationally. We aim to cultivate versatile talents who can serve as generalists and all-rounders.”
For Huang Mingtuo, the experience illustrated the changes of the era. As a member of the Russian translation and interpreting team, he successfully completed escort and interpretation tasks for President Tokayev of Kazakhstan. “From participating as a student in the SCO Qingdao Summit in 2018 to serving as a faculty member at the Tianjin Summit in 2025, I have witnessed the growing SCO ‘circle of friends’ and strengthened my resolve to cultivate next-generation foreign language talent.”
Yuan Fang had similar reflections. Her experience in the medical support team reshaped her understanding of translation pedagogy. “Translation is not just linguistic conversion—it requires deep knowledge and strong emergency response capabilities. I am now integrating real-world cases from the Summit into my classes, designing simulation exercises for medical and emergency interpreting so that students can gain authentic experience on campus.”
Understanding Tianjin Through Translation
For many teachers, the translation work was also a journey to rediscover Tianjin.
Several faculty members noted that they plan to incorporate more Tianjin-related content into their teaching, helping students better understand the city and strengthen their sense of identity and belonging.
Looking Ahead: The Mission and Responsibility of Language Professionals
Dean Prof. Yan’s comment: “Our goal is not only to be the best translation team but also to cultivate more high-caliber foreign language professionals capable of serving national strategies and contributing to global governance. This is the talent-development mission of the School of Foreign Studies—to nurture practitioners of foreign affairs, researchers of international issues, innovators in science and technology, communicators of human civilization, and providers of language services.”
Conclusion: Illuminating Bridges of Communication with Professional Excellence
When the final document was proofread and the last meeting concluded successfully, the translation team finally paused to reflect on their extraordinary journey. Over two hundred days and nights, more than one hundred thousand words of meticulous translation—the team used professionalism as their compass and language as their vessel, building a bridge of understanding between Tianjin and the world.
Every moment became a shining star, lighting up the sky of this international event. Though they may not stand beneath the spotlight, every precise expression and every seamless exchange made China’s voice clearer and Tianjin’s story more compelling.
