China International Publishing Group, a leading translation and publishing agency, has launched a program to train professional translators and interpreters to solve a shortage of expertise in these fields.

The group's training center has combined forces with the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in the United States to train the professionals.

China suffers from a major lack of competent translators and interpreters, despite the growing popularity of foreign language study throughout all age groups, said officials with the training center.

The industry employs around 500,000 people, including retirees, college students and returnees from overseas universities who work as freelancers, but only 60,000 professional translators can produce accurate translations from Chinese into a foreign language, according to the officials.

Applicants need to pass a high-level entrance exam for the training. Those who excel in the training will be offered a chance to study in the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation in Monterey.

China's Ministry of Education has made English a compulsory course in most elementary schools and most high-school graduates are literate in at least one foreign language.

The country also launched a national translation testing system in 2003, through which thousands of candidates have been licensed as professional translators and interpreters.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2006)