Bella Lingua : a Good Book about the Italian Language

This is a book review by me for the newly published Chinese edition of the book: La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language writted by Dianne Hales. The Chinese edition was just published by the Zhejiang University Press in September 2023.

In the review, I mentioned Professor Mauro Guerrini, one of my friends in the IFLA Cataloguing Section. We went back from Seoul to Beijing in August 2006, after the IME ICC4 meeting and the World Library and Information Congress. During the Seoul-Beijing flight, we talked about the beautiful language. He was the president of the Organizing Committee of the 2009 WLIC in Milan as the president of the Italian Library Association.

The book also mentions the passage "Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate" in the chorus of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Nabucco, with a special Chinese translation for the word "pensiero" in the Chinese edition of the book.

I learnt the Italian from the book Come imparare l'italiano da solo, which was introduced by Professor Zhou Zixiang, Department of Mathematics, Fudan University, who was preparing to go to Italy as a visiting scholar in 1986. He still remenber our discussion about the beautiful language at that time.

The book is very special, because the author has diverse thinking. Linguistic theorists would not write such a book, and other writers without gold linguistic knowledge will not be able to do so.

美丽的语言

作者: [美]黛安娜·黑尔斯

出版社: 浙江大学出版社

出品方: 启真馆

副标题: 恋上意大利语

原作名: La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language

译者: 沈毅

出版年: 2023-11

页数: 346

定价: 69.00元

装帧: 平装

丛书: 启真·闲读馆

ISBN: 9787308240437

Hand-Made Copper Relief Ex-Libris for George Steiner's Book

Hand-made red copper relief ex-libris for the book After Babel: aspects of language and translation by George Steiner. The Chinese version was published by Zhejiang University Press in 2020. This ex-libris is very special even in the world. It is designed for the 15th anniversary of Qizhen Library, which is the Beijing office of the publisher. The four steps of translation, trust, aggression, incorporation and restitution, are reflected on the relief. This ex-libris is recently made by Anjianda, one of my friends.

Greetings from NLC Colleagues in Ten Languages

Greetings from my colleagues from the National Library of China in ten languages - English, Russian, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, German, French and Chinese

发扬冬奥精神：勇于拼搏，超越自我。(张婉莹 英语)

Promote the spirit of the Olympics Winter Games, try your best and be a better person.

牢记国图使命：薪火相继，传承文明。（张楚彬 俄语）

Запомнить миссию государственной библиотеки, передать огонёк великой китайской цивилизации из поколения в поколение.

愿祖国繁荣昌盛，山河无恙，国泰民安！（牛雪妮 日文）

故国が繁盛し、山河が無事で、 国が太平で、民も平安であることを願がっております。

发扬冬奥精神：勇于拼搏，超越自我。(张薇 泰语)

ดำเนินการวิญญาณของโอลิมปิกฤดูหนาว กล้าหาญมากพอ ปล่อยให้ตัวเองดีขึ้น

牢记国图使命：薪火相继，传承文明。（吴蓓蓓 韩语）

국가도서관의 사명을 명심하고，전인의 지혜를  전수하며,  문명을 전승합시다.

愿祖国繁荣昌盛，山河无恙，国泰民安！（王小红 越南语）

Mong tổ quốc phổn vinh thịnh vượng, non nươc yên ổn, quốc thái dân an.

发扬冬奥精神：勇于拼搏，超越自我。(刘嘉慧 印尼语)

Teruskan semangat Olimpiade Musim Dingin: berani berjuang dan melampaui diri sendiri!

牢记国图使命：薪火相继，传承文明。（唐玉屏 德语）

Behalten wir uns den Auftrag der Chinesischen Nationalbibliothek im Gedächtnis: die chinesiche Kultur weiterzugeben, die menschliche Zivilisation weiterzugeben.

愿祖国繁荣昌盛，山河无恙，国泰民安！（杨柳  法语）

Que la patrie soit florissante, la nation intacte, le pays prospère et le peuple en paix.

愿祖国繁荣昌盛，山河无恙，国泰民安，让我们一起向未来！（ 合   中文）

Brill's Calendar and Notebooks

I like the Etymological Calendar 2020 published by Brill in Leiden, The Netherlands, in November 2019.

I also collected a complete set of Brill's notebooks published in more than ten years.

Chinese Interpreters at WLIC2014

Chinese interpreters at the IFLA General Conference (WLIC2014).

IFLA Chinese Language Centre established!

Forwarding the latest news from IFLA Headquarters:

IFLA Chinese Language Centre established at the National Library of China, Beijing

In February 2009 the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the National Library of China (NLC) in Beijing signed a cooperation agreement by which NLC received a status of IFLA Chinese Language Centre. It can now be seen as a permanent representative of IFLA/HQ for the Chinese speaking community, as well as the other way around: it is hoped that IFLA/HQ will get improved access to Chinese speaking library and information professionals.
The IFLA Chinese Language Centre will promote IFLA, support IFLA’s Asia and Oceania Section as well as other relevant IFLA professional bodies and liaise with IFLA/HQ. Among the priorities of the Centre are:
1. Active membership recruitment. This will be conducted with the help of national or other association members and/or national libraries. Institutions and associations (including specialist and state associations) within the Chinese language community will be actively encouraged to join IFLA.
2. (Co-) organising regional IFLA events. These will be co-organised with IFLA/HQ, and/or with IFLA professional units (Sections and Core Activities). This activity includes seeking sources for funding of IFLA projects.
3. Seek involvement in local or regional professional events to gain support within the Chinese language community, trying to get IFLA “branding” of local or regional events.
4. Contribute to more effective communication within the Chinese language community and with the IFLA bodies involved. These activities include the publication of newsletters, translations of key IFLA documents and publications and the production of a Chinese translation of IFLA Express during IFLA’s annual congresses.
5. Representing IFLA in the Chinese language community, in a pursuit to make IFLA more visible in that community, promoting IFLA goals, principles and core values.
6. Translation of key IFLA documents, guidelines, press-releases, papers prepared for the Assembly Meetings etc.

For further information about the Centre and its activities please contact
Mr. Yan Xiangdong
Email address: interco@nlc.gov.cn
Fax +86-10-68419271
The Hague/Beijing, March 2009

Foreign Language Speaking Volunteers organized in NLC

Today in the afternoon, the launching ceremony of the Foreign Language Speaking Volunteers of the National Library of China was held. About 40 young volunteers attended the ceremony.

As one of the advisers, I attended the ceremony and talked about my experiences in English language translation for NLC.

Foreign languages are very important for NLC to become internationalized. More and more young staff members can speak foreign languages very well. NLC will become IFLA Chinese language center, and more volunteers are needed for IFLA activities and other international cooperation activities.