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The “Seminars on Journalism” held by the Office of Secretariat was combined with the lecture tour “I Am a Foreign Correspondent” initiated by the Central News Agency (CNA). The lecture attracted many students. Photo: Kuo Shi-Sheng

The “Seminars on Journalism” organized by the Office of Secretariat, National Central University (NCU), were combined with the lecture tour “I Am a Foreign Correspondent” initiated by the Central News Agency (CNA) this semester. The seminar invited Ms. Yachen Tai, CNA foreign correspondent based in the United Kingdom, to share her valuable overseas experience, and many students were attracted to attend the lecture. NCU expected that such a lecture would broaden students’ global vision and boost their media literacy skills.

Ms. Tai now works as a journalistic translator and editor in the Department of International and Cross-strait News at CNA. Due to her great interest in journalism, she got a job as a journalistic translator and editor at CNA soon after she graduated from university. In 2017, she was sent to London and became a foreign correspondent for CNA. Her extensive experiences have brought her an unusual life.

“A journalistic translator and editor does not simply translate but also has to edit. Since you need to switch among different language systems and translate all the information fluently without any trace of the original texts, your Chinese capability is extremely crucial. In addition to accurate translation, you must consider the speed-driven characteristic in journalism,” said Ms. Tai. Therefore, she has always been fully prepared beforehand and has been doing massive writing and reading; her news report, thus, could demonstrate both speed and depth.

Recently the Russia-Ukraine war has intensified international situations. An audience member raised the question of how one can maintain objectivity in journalism. “As a journalist, it is difficult to stay completely objective in a news report. However, at least we have to present the facts and do our best to verify the content. To report impartially the issues or events is the key to journalistic objectivity,” answered Ms. Tai.