On Dec 14, 2019, the 3rd International Symposium on Language Resources and Intelligence & the Launching Ceremony for The Documentation of World Languages hosted by ACLR was held in the conference center of BLCU. Liu Hong, Deputy Director of the Department of Language Information Management in the Ministry of Education, Huang Yifang, Vice President of BLCU attended the opening ceremony and delivered opening remarks. More than 150 researchers and scholars in related fields from China, Japan, Azerbaijan, Madagascar and other countries and regions gathered together to discuss the development trends of world languages and share their wisdom on the compilation of The Documentation of World Languages.
The conference consists of 3 keynote reports, 12 invited reports and a round-table panel discussion. The experts and scholars at the conference expressed their views on four topics and discussed the specific issues related to The Documentation of World Languages. 4 topics for the invited reports are: Trends in World Language Policies and Planning, Hot Issues in World Language Life, Language Endangerment and Protection and Development of Language Resources, and Language Intelligence and Intelligent Language Education.
Director Li Yuming delivered the keynote speech“The Documentation of World Languages: Studying Human Languages and Language Life to Build a Community With Shared Future for Mankind”. He introduced the compilation background and main contents of the book series. He pointed out thatThe Documentation of World Languages would help to understand the basic situations of languages, language policies, language life of countries/regions and international organizations for building a world language resource bank, and that it would lay a solid foundation for human language research, and power the construction of a community with shared future for mankind.
Huang Xing, Honorary Researcher of ACLR, former Director of Research Center for Chinese Ethnic Minority Languages, CASS made a keynote speech entitled “General Rules for Chinese Translation in The Documentation of World Languages”. He stated that the unified general rules for Chinese translation of world languages could be made by supplementing the existing ones. The formulation and implementation of the general rules could make contribution to the normalization and standardization of the Chinese translation of foreign proper nouns such as people names, place names, language (writing) names, nation names and religion names.
Dai Qingxia, Honorary Researcher of ACLR, Honorary Senior Professor of Minzu University shared his thoughts and experience on the survey of the status and compilation of the Lao language. He expoundedhis opinions mainly from the perspectives of macro understanding, in-depth micro exploration, field investigation, transposition thinking. He also talked about problems that need pay attention to during the language survey.
At 10:20 am, the audiences witnessed the Launching Ceremony of the Compilation of The Documentation of World Languages & the Appointment Ceremony of the Deputy Editors. Deputy Director Liu Hong, Vice President Huang Yifang, Director Li Yuming, and Prof. Dai Qingxia jointly unveiled the compilation of The Documentation of World Languages. Soon after that, Director Li issued the letters of appointment to the 8 Deputy Editors including Prof. Huang Xing, Prof. Dai Manchun, Prof. Zhao Ronghui, Prof. Guo Fenglan, Prof. Wang Hui, Prof. Yang Erhong, Associate Professor Wang Wei, and Prof. Wang Chunhui.The appointment ceremony marked the compilation of the book series officially started.
Then, Prof. Zhao Shiju, Wuhan University, Prof. Dai Manchun, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Prof. Wang Hui, Zhejiang Normal University respectively delivered reports “On the Connotation and Value Orientation of Multilingualism”, “Five Cases to Interpret the Current Language Policy Trends”, “Country Studies on Language Policies and Planning over the Past 70 Years: China's Interaction with the World”. They called for enhanced communication and mutual learning at home and abroad in language policy researches.
In the afternoon, Prof. Zhao Ronghui, Shanghai International Studies University, Deputy Director Zhang Ripei, Research Center for National Language Policy of Shanghai Academy of Educational Science, Agshin Aliyev, Director of Azerbaijani Language Teaching and Research Office of Asian Institute in Beijing Foreign Studies University respectively gave talks on “Hot Topics and Themes of World Language Life—Based on the Language Situation in Foreign Countries”,“Language Agenda and China's Contribution in Global Governance”, “The Situation and Policies of the Minority Languages in Azerbaijan under the Multicultural Background”.
Focusing on the topic of Language Endangerment and Protection and Development of Language Resources, Prof. Nasun-urtu, Inner Mongolia University, Prof. Tokusu Kurebito, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Prof. Zhang Zhiguo, Shanghai Maritime University and Associate Prof. Liu Xiaohai, Deputy Director of ACLR, respectively gave speeches on “The Status Quo and Prospect of the Construction of Mongolian Language Resources Platform”,“Current Status of Indigenous Languages in the Siberia, Russia: Focusing on Chukchi”,“Relations between Endangered Languages and Language Policies”, “A Preliminary Exploration on the Application of the Achievements of Language Resource Protection Project in China”.
Prof. Sun Maosong, Department of Computer Science and Technology of Tsinghua University and Mr. Wang Zhanglong, Vice President of Education Business of IFLYTEK respectively delivered reports on “A Brief Discussion on Language Intelligence and Intelligent Language Education”, and “Barrier-free Language Communication Powered by AI”. They shared preliminary opinions on the expectation of language research on language intelligence, intelligent language related curriculums, and intelligent language education. They also envisioned the broad prospect of AI in terms of learning platforms building.
At last, Prof. Yang Erhong presided over the round-table panel session on the Application and Development of Language Resources. Prof. Huang Xing, Prof. Sun Maosong, Prof. Zhao Ronghui, Prof. Guo Fenglan, and Prof. Zhang Zhiguo had discussions on the following issues: what types of language resources are needed when compiling The Documentation of World Languages, how to ensure the collected resources resurrect the language or reflect it stypical characteristics, what is the most basic language resources and how to effectively build these language resources for machine learning, what language resources are developed for international Chinese language education, and the necessity and future development of building the discipline of language resources.
ACLR has held the International Symposium for Language Resource and Intelligence consecutively for 3 years. The symposium played a leading role in the research of language resources and intelligence and promoted synergetic development of the language area. The 3rd International Symposium brought in the scholars compiling The Documentation of World Languages, and showed to the audience the preparations, expected results and significance of the book series.With a plan of 150 volumes publication, the series is expected to help understand the basic situation of the world languages, provide research resources for the academic community, as well as offer references on the life in different countries. It is the first time to compile this kind of series in China, and perhaps even in the world.
