The Graduate School of Translation & Interpretation holds International Francophonie Day Special Lecture
- Date2021.03.23
- 4152
The Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation(Dean Mi-Kyung Choi) held a special lecture at the LG Convention Hall in the school on March 18 (Thursday) to celebrate International Francophonie Day with French and Greek ambassadors to Korea.
The event was attended by key officials including Ludovic Guillot the French Embassy's Cultural Counselor, Daniel Rignault the College Education Officer, Alexia Brochet the Language Officer, and more. In a special lecture conducted by Director Choi Mi-kyung, Greek Ambassador Ifigeneia Kontoleontose, introduced the Francophonie, a multilingual and multicultural organization, and stressed the advantages of speaking French. He also mentioned that the capability of speaking and writing French could be important keys to the future in economical, political, social and cultural ways.
French Ambassador Philippe Lefort introduced Francophonie as an organization initiated and established by third world leaders such as Léopold Sédar Senghor and Prince Norodom Sihanouk, with 88 countries or governments from all around the world participating. He added that Korea is the only one country in Northeast Asia to participate as an observer since 2016. He then emphasized that the current French-speaking population of 300 million is the fastest growing linguistic group, focusing on the potential capabilities of the French language.
Students from the College of Liberal Arts(Dean Min-joo Han) as well as the students from the Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation participated in the special lecture session. The students asked questions about preferential hiring of French majored applicants by Korean French companies and expected employment status of French major students in the COVID-19 era. Professor Sylvie Mazo and Professor Eun-mi Choi then participated in panels to discuss the activities of French-speaking Organizations for education.
Dean Mi-Kyung Choi concluded the event by articulating the importance of interpreting and translating, recalling that "Multilingualism in France, which is advocated by the French-speaking culture, is in fact in line with the words of Umberto Eco, ‘the Language of Europe is Translation.’”