Translating Against COVID-19 in the Chinese Context: A Multi-agent, Multimedia and Multilingual Endeavor

Abstract

In the COVID-19 crisis, multilingual and multimodal translation services, provided by both professional translators and volunteer communities, have greatly facilitated the communication between different parties. This chapter gives an overview of how diverse agents have engaged in this large-scale translation endeavor and draws attention to the importance of translation planning in crisis contexts. It not only discusses the operations of volunteer translators, highlighting their contribution in providing language assistance in crisis situations, but also analyzes the significant role played by government-sponsored institutions in mobilizing language professionals and organizing translation projects, such as Language Service Group Against COVID-19 and China International Publishing Group. Moreover, this chapter focuses on the relevance of translation to waixuan (often translated as international publicity) in this crisis situation and investigates how translation is strategically adopted by the government as a medium of communicating the Chinese experience of fighting COVID-19. After analyzing all these disparate efforts, it argues for the significance of translation in overcoming language barriers in crisis contexts and concludes with suggestions on how to enhance translation planning for health emergencies.