Work report of 20th Congress translated into ethnic languages

Guizhou Minzu University in Guiyang, Guizhou province, has successfully translated the work report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China into three minority languages — Miao, Dong and Shui.

According to Long Yaohong, a professor at the university, the translation of the report into Buyi and Yi should be completed in the first half of next year and will help more ethnic groups understand the spirit and content of the congress that took place in Beijing in October.

"The aim of translating the work report is to convey the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress to ethnic groups. It will help them better understand the CPC's concept of governance for all people and its plans for national development," Long said.

Once the translations have been completed, special working teams of teachers and students from the university will be set up and dispatched to major ethnic minority areas in Guizhou during the summer and winter holidays to raise awareness of the spirit of the congress, help strengthen national unity and accelerate rural vitalization.

To accurately translate the report, the university established a special task force consisting of 11 professors, including Long, and teachers.

Meanwhile, members of the special task force carefully studied the work report to ensure they had a thorough understanding of every word before they started their translations, Long said.

Wei Shuqi, an associate professor at the university, said the task force will cooperate with other universities and colleges to promote the translations in the months to come.

"It is also important to use the expressions of ethnic groups to make the report easy to understand, remember and promote, as there are both similarities and differences between their languages and Chinese in terms of grammatical structure and expressions," Wei said.

Recent surveys from Guizhou Minzu University indicate that some ethnic groups in the remote mountainous regions of the province still only speak their own languages.

"That restricts their ability to learn, understand and master the Party's principles and policies and integrate into modern society," Wei said.

"It has affected their ability to consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation and rural vitalization."

Translating the work report of the 20th CPC National Congress into ethnic languages will help to convey the spirit of the congress to people at the grassroots level, and the knowledge they learn can help them emerge from poverty and build better homes, he added.

Located in southwestern China, Guizhou is an inland mountainous province that is home to 56 ethnic groups (including Han Chinese), with an ethnic minority population of 14.05 million, according to official data.