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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
DR. P. F. Woo, CHAIRMAN OF THE AD HOC COMMITTEE ON A SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION SYSTEM, replied as follows:
I am not aware of any delay by the Council. The original motion, which was moved at the meeting of the Council held in October 1964, was not passed or voted upon. It was referred back to the Standing Committee of the Whole Council for study. At its meeting in November 1964, the Standing Committee agreed that the matter should be put to Government with a recommendation that a Government Working Party should be appointed to consider it and make recommendations. In February 1965, the Colonial Secretary informed the Council that Government did not propose to appoint a Working Party, but had no objection to the Urban Council exploring the question further if Members so wished. At the Standing Committee meeting held in March, 1965 an Ad Hoc Committee was appointed to study the matter.
Members who have seen the minutes of the Ad Hoc Committee meetings will realize the complexity of the subject. Equipment required for such a system will be expensive, but, expense apart, the major problem will be to find people who are able to perform the duties of a simultaneous interpreter, which are most exacting. To be able to consider the practical possibility of a simultaneous translation system the Ad Hoc Committee had to conduct experiments and hold meetings. Mounting the experiments took time. Interpreters had to be found and there was difficulty in booking the Exhibition Hall, the only suitable place in which an experiment could be conducted due to the heavy public demand for the use of the Hall.
Since your previous question on this subject, at our February meeting this year, a further meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee has been held, at which the matter was gone into as thoroughly as possible in the light of experience accumulated to date. The Committee has now prepared an interim report, which will be for discussion at the next meeting of the Standing Committee of the Whole Council to be held on 12th April.
DR. BELL:- Mr. Chairman, could I ask a supplementary question? Why was the Exhibition Hall of the City Hall considered to be the only suitable place. Why was this Council Chamber not chosen, because it was for this Council Chamber that you want simultaneous translation?
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DR. Woo:- Because the Exhibition Hall is the only place where a simultaneous translation system is installed.
DR. BELL:- It is already installed there?
DR. Woo:- Yes.
MR. FORSGATE:- Mr. Chairman, may I ask Dr. Woo through you, whether Mr. Hu has been invited to become a member of his Ad Hoc Committee? I ask that question in all seriousness, because I have read the Ad Hoc committee's report and I'm most impressed at the effort they have made to conduct this experiment. I am rather appalled at the difficulties that have come to light as a result of this experiment, and I think it is only fair to this committee that Mr. Hu should be invited to take part in its further deliberations, if he has not already done so.
CHAIRMAN:- Would Dr. Woo like to extend an invitation?
DR. Woo:- Sir, may I disclose what we are going to propose at the next meeting of the Standing Committee?
CHAIRMAN:- I advise against that, because we are going to discuss it in Standing Committee.
DR. Woo:- In that case, if members so wish, Mr. Hu could be appointed to the committee.
CHAIRMAN:- May I suggest that Mr. Hu makes a point of attending the Standing Committee meeting a week from now, at which this matter will be discussed, and if he then feels he would like to keep continuously abreast of developments he could be appointed to Dr. Woo's committee.
MR. HU:- Mr. Chairman, it was very embarrassing for me to ask this question, but I asked it in all sincerity. I do not want to ask any supplementary questions. I only wish to express my sincere hope that simultaneous translation will be introduced as soon as possible in the meetings of our Council.
CHAIRMAN:- Mr. Hu, I think I ought to say, having read the report and attended the most recent meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee, that it would be wrong for anyone in the Council or on the press to imagine that simultaneous translation is just around the corner. The difficulties are enormous, but we will press on against them.
MR. HU:- I quite agree with you, Mr. Chairman, but I have mixed feelings. I did attend the so-called University students' conference, on simultaneous translation. It may not have been exact, I do not know, but I did attend a seminar of that conference, and they translated
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