When foreign diplomats and reporters pick up copies of Premier Wen Jiabao's government work report in English, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish at the opening ceremony of the 5th session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) today in the Great Hall of the People, they should thank a dozen Westerners for the wonderful work they have done.

The behind-the-scene foreigners have been working with about 70 Chinese foreign language professors for six weeks to translate major reports of the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) into the six languages, Wang Xuedong, deputy chief of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau, told China Daily.

Most of them have been in China for quite a long time and have a good knowledge of the nation's political, economic and social issues, he said.

The practice of having NPC and CPPCC documents translated into foreign languages started in the 1980s, after China launched its reform and opening-up policy.

In recent years more and more foreigners are becoming involved in the handling of the nation's most confidential documents, according to the bureau official.

"The conventions are becoming more and more transparent and we want to express ourselves better to the rest of the world," Wang said.

The NPC and CPPCC reports have also been translated into seven ethnic minority languages the Kazak, Korean, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur and Yi. They will be read out by interpreters at today's opening session.

Caihejia, a Tibetan, is a member of the 180-member translation team. He said his colleagues are from 16 ethnic groups including the Han. Most of them are language professors at universities and research institutions.

This year's translation started two weeks ago and the translators have finished dozens of documents. Their work will go on until the end of the two-week meetings, Caihejia said.

The translation team will also provide interpretation services to the NPC deputies and CPPCC members. It is open to calls round the clock.

(China Daily 03/05/2007 page1)