To introduce this special issue following our Postgraduate Conference ‘Passages’ that took place online on 29 July 2020, let me offer you a brief philosophical reflection. The word passage immediately appears translatable because of its cognate ‘passage’ in English. The OED indeed notes that ‘passage’ is a borrowing from the French. I chose this word as the conference title not only because of its linguistic kinship, but also to place an emphasis on a set of meanings, amongst the countless contexts and locutions in which it can be used in both English and French, relating to a change of place (‘le fait de passer, de se rendre quelque part’, as the Trésor de la langue française informatisé notes), as an anticipation for the transition to a new institution, for those who are close to their degree completion as well as for those who have just begun their journey as postgraduate researchers. We may think of ourselves, students as well as scholars and at every stage in our careers, as des oiseaux de passage, or ‘birds of passage’, leading a wandering life through higher education, whether we have consciously chosen this life or whether we are condemned by it. A ‘passage’, in both English and French, can also mean an open, accessible pathway, or as the OED notes, ‘a place where there is a way through’, which I found to beautifully strengthen beliefs in courage, success and progress, under which sign I deliberately placed this conference to showcase current postgraduate research projects.

中文翻译：

---

介绍

为了在 2020 年 7 月 29 日在线举行的研究生会议“通道”之后介绍这个特刊，让我为您提供一个简短的哲学思考。字通道立即出现，因为其英文同源“通道”的翻译。OED 确实指出“passage”是从法语中借来的。我选择这个词作为会议标题，不仅是因为它在语言上的亲缘关系，而且是为了强调一组含义，在无数可以在英语和法语中使用的上下文和位置中，与变化有关of place ('le fait de passer, de se Rendre quelque part', as the Trésor de la langue française informatisé笔记），作为对过渡到新机构的预期，对于那些即将完成学位的人以及那些刚刚开始研究生研究之旅的人。我们可能会认为自己，学生和学者，在我们职业生涯的每一个阶段，都像过路人或“过路鸟”，通过高等教育过着流浪的生活，无论我们是有意识地选择了这种生活，还是我们被它谴责。英语和法语中的“passage”也可以表示开放、可访问的途径，或者正如 OED 所指出的，“一个有途径通过的地方”，我发现它可以很好地加强对勇气、成功和进步的信念，在这个标志下我特意放置了这个会议来展示当前的研究生研究项目。