<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">Swarthmore graduation will offer Mandarin, Spanish translations</h1>
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<img src="http://media.philly.com/images/526*395/053113_rrxmandarin31_600.jpg" alt="Chengying Wang , 20, left, and Ling Zhong, 22, senior, right, will be translating the graduation ceremony during commencement at Swarthmore College. A graduating Swarthmore College student will be simultaneously translating Sunday´s commencement into Mandarin. The school in the past has translated the ceremony into Spanish. Will interview the student and do a short feature on her. Explain how this works and why they do it and why Mandarin was added this year. 05/29/2013 ( MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer )" border="0">
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Inquirer Staff Photographer
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Chengying Wang , 20, left, and Ling Zhong, 22, senior, right, will
be translating the graduation ceremony during commencement at Swarthmore
College. A graduating Swarthmore College student will be simultaneously
translating Sunday's commencement into Mandarin. The school in the past
has translated the ceremony into Spanish. Will interview the student
and do a short feature on her. Explain how this works and why they do it
and why Mandarin was added this year. 05/29/2013 ( MICHAEL BRYANT /
Staff Photographer )
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<a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/gallery/20130531_Swarthmore_graduation_will_offer_Mandarin__Spanish_translations.html?viewGallery=y"><img src="http://media.philly.com/images/172*118/20130531_inq_rrxmandarin31-a.JPG" alt="Chengying Wang , 20, left, and Ling Zhong, 22, senior, right, will be translating the graduation ceremony during commencement at Swarthmore College. A graduating Swarthmore College student will be simultaneously translating Sunday´s commencement into Mandarin. The school in the past has translated the ceremony into Spanish. Will interview the student and do a short feature on her. Explain how this works and why they do it and why Mandarin was added this year. 05/29/2013 ( MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer )" border="0">
<span class=""><b>Gallery: </b>Swarthmore graduation will offer Mandarin, Spanish translations</span></a>
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<h5 class="">Susan Snyder, <i>Inquirer Staff Writer</i></h5>
Posted:
<span>Friday, May 31, 2013, 5:52 AM</span>
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<div class=""><p><img src="http://media.philly.com/images/article-badge-inq.gif" alt="" title="" class="" border="0" height="42" width="128"></p><p>Ling
Zhong's parents have come from China to watch her graduate from
Swarthmore College on Sunday, and she surely wants them to understand
the ceremony.</p>
<p>So Zhong, 22, a Beijing native, and a younger classmate, also from
China, will set up in a classroom on the third floor of the college's
performing arts center, where they will translate the speeches into
Mandarin. Zhong's parents and anyone else who cares to hear the Mandarin
version can don headsets and listen at both the spacious amphitheater
where the event will be held and an auditorium in the performing arts
center where it will be projected onto a large screen.</p>
<p>People in China or anywhere else for that matter also will be able to
tune in and watch a live stream of the commencement in Mandarin or
Spanish on Swarthmore's website.</p>
<p>It's the first time that the commencement ceremony for the
prestigious liberal arts college in Delaware County will be available in
multiple languages via the website and in the auditorium. The college
began offering a Spanish translation in the amphitheater in 2011 and in
Mandarin in 2012.</p>
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<p>"It was in response to student interest," said Alisa Giardinelli, a
Swarthmore spokeswoman. Swarthmore has 21 students from China among its
1,545-student enrollment, in addition to Chinese American students.</p>
<p>Zhong, a double major in honors economics and math, said she was glad to provide the translation.</p>
<p>"For me, it's just like translating to my own parents, and I just don't mind having other parents listening to me," she said.</p>
<p>Chengying Wang, a rising junior from Nanjing, also will translate, taking turns with Zhong.</p>
<p>"My parents will come two years later and they will want to have a
translation as well," said Wang, 20, a double major in math and computer
science who is staying on campus this summer for research. "If I have
the ability to help this year, why not?"</p>
<p>Both women said they were a bit nervous about getting the translation
right, particularly with certain figures of speech or phrases for which
a literal translation may not work.</p>
<p>"Sometimes people from other countries don't have the background if there's inside jokes," Wang explained.</p>
<p>Wang and Zhong said they have enjoyed Swarthmore, especially its lack of emphasis on competition among students.</p>
<p>"People are willing to help each other and share the information they get," Wang said.</p>
<p>Zhong agreed. She noted happily that students' level of honors will
not appear on the commencement program. That change, Giardinelli said,
was made this year to de-emphasize comparisons that may not be fair to
draw between majors.</p>
<p>Zhong will go on to Yale University for her doctorate in economics, with plans to become a researcher.</p>
<p>But first, there's commencement. She will leave her post in the
translation room to collect her degree. She'll have plenty of time to
get into place.</p>
<p>With the last name of Zhong, she said of the expected 375 graduates, "I'm third to last."</p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br>
Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br>
<br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------
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