Department of Linguistics and Translation & College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS)
Module: 01 Academics · Sub-file: Department of Linguistics and Translation (LT) + College-level overview CityU's language disciplines jumped two places in the 2026 global rankings to break into the QS top 40—behind that result is a department working across three fronts: interpreting pedagogy, computational linguistics, and legal translation. This piece first digs into the Department of Linguistics and Translation (LT)—its programmes, laboratories, and research standing—then zooms out to its parent College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS). For the college-level overview, see colleges-and-schools.md.
I. What distinctive role does LT play within CLASS?
The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) at City University of Hong Kong comprises seven academic units※, of which the Department of Linguistics and Translation is the only one spanning all three of language science, translation/interpreting practice, and language technology. The Department of Chinese and History and the Department of English each have their own linguistic emphases; LT's strength lies in running two tracks in parallel—supplying language-technology expertise (computational linguistics, natural language processing) to STEM fields while producing language professionals for law, diplomacy, and media who are trained in both directions of interpreting and in legal translation. According to the department's own introduction※, the Head of Department describes LT as offering "the most comprehensive, applicable, and continuously developing curriculum covering all language-related research."
The department currently counts 21 academic staff※ across the professor, associate professor, and assistant professor ranks, with a total of 1,677 research outputs※, a Scopus h-index of 25※, and 262 academic awards※ to its name.
II. What can undergraduates study?
Under the JS1109 (BA Linguistics and Language Applications)※ programme code, LT offers five specialised streams:
| Stream | English name |
|---|---|
| 普通语言学 | General Linguistics |
| 计算语言学 | Computational Linguistics |
| 语料库语言学 | Corpus Linguistics |
| 实验语言学 | Experimental Linguistics |
| 语言技术与应用 | Language Technology and Applications |
The core curriculum covers foundational linguistics (phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax, semantics and pragmatics) and language applications (introduction to language technology, computational linguistics, project design). Advanced electives include computational lexicography, computer-assisted translation/language learning, corpus linguistics, experimental phonetics, and sociolinguistics. The programme is a fully UGC-funded undergraduate degree※; in 2025, JUPAS first-year intake was 25 local students※ (from roughly 1,250 applications, with around 23 eventually admitted).
The department also runs joint double-degree programmes with National Taiwan University and Columbia University—students spend two years at each institution to earn both degrees. The latter has been open to direct JUPAS application since the 2026/27 academic year※.
III. How does the translation and interpreting track extend at postgraduate level?
LT's flagship taught postgraduate programme is the MA Language Studies (MALS)※, with four specialised streams:
| Stream | English name | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 翻译及传译 | Translation and Interpretation | Translation theory and practice, interpreting skills |
| 语料库与实证语言学 | Corpus and Empirical Linguistics | Corpus methods, empirical research |
| 教学语言学 | Pedagogical Linguistics | Language acquisition and teaching |
| 普通语言学 | General Linguistics | Language structure and sociocultural dimensions |
MALS is a self-financed programme: one year full-time, two years part-time, or a mix of both. Classes are held mainly on weekday evenings and Saturday afternoons※ to suit working professionals. The programme targets an intake of around 400 students※ per academic year (across MA/PGD/PGC levels). For those drawn to academia, research degrees (MPhil and PhD) offer a pathway. The discipline lead for the Translation and Interpretation stream is Associate Professor Jackie Xiu Yan (颜秀), Jackie Xiu Yan※, whose research centres on interpreter and translator training and audio-description services for the visually impaired; she received a Teaching Excellence Award in the 2024/25 academic year.
IV. Where does legal translation sit, and how is the course designed?
Hong Kong's common-law system coexists with the civil-law traditions of mainland China and Taiwan, creating sustained demand for translators who can work across legal systems. At postgraduate level, LT offers LT6505 Legal Translation※, a 3-credit course taught and assessed primarily in English; using Hong Kong's bilingual legal system as its core setting, it trains students to analyse the translation challenges posed by different types of legal texts and to master the principles and techniques of legal translation (as listed in the 2024/25 course catalogue).
On the publishing front, CityU Press runs a dedicated "Legal Translation" book series, which has produced Key Terms in Contract Law of Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan (in Chinese)※ (by Chen Kexin, 2014) and Key Terms in Tort Law of Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan, each compiling over a hundred bilingual terms with case citations from all three jurisdictions—a pioneering reference set for legal translation in the region. The contract-law volume is positioned as "the first monograph to discuss contract-law terminology across three jurisdictions from a translation perspective." This legal-translation thrust also dovetails with the School of Law's tradition in Chinese law and comparative law (see school-of-law.md).
V. What does the Halliday Centre for Intelligent Applications of Language Studies do?
LT works closely with the Halliday Centre for Intelligent Applications of Language Studies (HCLS)※—named after M.A.K. Halliday, founder of systemic functional linguistics, and currently headed by LT professor Alex Chengyu Fang (冯呈祐). The Centre's work spans five areas: corpus linguistics, language education, natural language processing (NLP), sociolinguistics, and translation studies.
NLP research themes include biomedical information extraction and terminology management/translation, computer-assisted language learning, event recognition and extraction, and syntactic parsing and semantic annotation (appraisal analysis, dialogue-act recognition, thematic structure annotation), supported by the Centre's in-house HCLS Tagger annotation tool. The translation strand covers culture and translation (East-West cultural exchange and the westward transmission of Chinese classics), translation history (the history of scientific and technical translation), translation quality assessment, and translation universals (comparative linguistics).
In January 2025, Professor Fang was appointed Chair of Technical Committee TC 37, "Language and Terminology", of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)※—the first Asian representative to hold the role, a milestone recognition of LT/HCLS in international language standards. The Centre also maintains partnerships with Lancaster University, the University of Vienna, Macquarie University, and Tilburg University.
VI. What specialised research laboratories does the department house?
LT currently operates three laboratories, each with its own focus:
| Laboratory | English name | Core role | Established |
|---|---|---|---|
| 语言认知实验室 | Language and Cognition Laboratory (LCL) | A leading regional platform for neurocognitive research on language | Not stated |
| 语音实验室 | Phonetics Laboratory | Phonetic research on Chinese dialects and second-language acquisition | 1995※ |
| 同传实验室 | Simultaneous Interpretation Laboratory | Professional training in simultaneous/consecutive interpreting | Not stated |
Language and Cognition Laboratory (LCL): According to the laboratory's page※, it is positioned as "one of the most sophisticated language (neuro)cognition research facilities in the region," equipped with EyeLink 1000/Portable DUO eye trackers (up to 2000 Hz sampling), an ANT Neuro 128-channel EEG system (supporting dual-person simultaneous hyperscanning), a Neuroscan 64-channel system, and millisecond-precision stimulus-presentation software such as E-Prime/PsychoPy. Research covers child language acquisition, adult second-language learning, Cantonese–Mandarin–English cross-linguistic comparison, and the neural mechanisms of reading.
Phonetics Laboratory: Founded in 1995※, it is equipped with a Carstens EMA AG501 (electromagnetic articulograph), an ultrasound system, a glottal imaging system, and a Kay-PENTAX computerised speech lab. It has systematically studied the acoustic, articulatory, and perceptual properties of Chinese dialects including Beijing Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Ningbo, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Xiangxiang, and Taizhou.
Simultaneous Interpretation Laboratory: Located in room LI-5145, it provides professional simultaneous and consecutive interpreting training facilities—described by the department as "the most advanced equipment and facilities in the industry"—while also serving language-learning purposes.
VII. What representative research does the computational linguistics track produce?
The leading scholar in LT's computational linguistics track is Professor Chunyu Kit (冀春雨). Kit holds a BEng in computer science from Tsinghua University (1985), an MSc in computational linguistics from Carnegie Mellon University (1994), and a PhD in computer science from the University of Sheffield (2001)—a computational linguist by formal training. His research spans computational linguistics, machine translation, terminology, text and web mining, psycholinguistics, and Chinese poetics, with more than 150 papers※ published in top venues including ACL, COLING, CoNLL, EMNLP and IJCAI, and in journals such as Machine Translation, the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, and Terminology; his cited authors number over 3,322※. His recent work has also extended into intelligent legal judgment prediction, hinting at the productive intersection between LT's computational and legal-translation threads.
Undergraduate courses such as "Computational Linguistics," "Introduction to Language Technology," "Computational Lexicography," and "Computer-Assisted Translation," together with the MALS "Corpus and Empirical Linguistics" stream, turn this research into learnable skills—forming a continuous pipeline from undergraduate to doctoral level. This "linguistics + computation" route also resonates with the AI ambitions of the new College of Computing, launched in 2024 (see college-of-computing-2024.md).
VIII. What does a global rank of 36th mean?
QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 — Linguistics※: CityU ranks 36th globally, up two places※ from 38th in 2025. It is one of five CityU subjects to make the QS global top 50 in the same year (the others: Materials Science 39th, Law 41st, Social Policy & Administration 46th, and Communication & Media Studies 49th). Overall in 2026, CityU placed 20 subjects in the global top 100※ (QS basis).
| Ranking year | QS Linguistics global rank | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 38th | QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025 |
| 2026 | 36th | QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026※ |
Within Hong Kong's linguistics field, LT's research intensity (h-index 25, 1,677 outputs, 19 active projects) and its cross-cutting portfolio in experimental linguistics, computational linguistics, and translation studies are the main factors underpinning that placing.
IX. College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) overview: seven academic units
CLASS, the college to which LT belongs, is CityU's umbrella for the humanities and social sciences, covering language, literature, translation, communication, politics, society, and psychology.
| Academic unit | English name |
|---|---|
| 中文及历史学系 | Department of Chinese and History |
| 英文系 | Department of English |
| 语言学及翻译学系 | Department of Linguistics and Translation |
| 媒体与传播系 | Department of Media and Communication |
| 公共及国际事务学系 | Department of Public and International Affairs |
| 社会及行为科学系 | Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences |
| 陈馮幸蓮陈淑玲语文中心 | Chan Feng Men-ling Chan Shuk-lin Language Centre |
CLASS comprises 7 academic units※ (six departments plus one language centre), offering undergraduate, taught postgraduate, and research (MPhil/PhD) degrees; according to the College, its disciplinary coverage spans some 30-plus fields※.
X. CLASS departments: profiles and majors
1. Department of Chinese and History
Formed by merging Chinese (language and literature) with history, covering Chinese language and literature, history, and cultural heritage.
2. Department of English
Offers programmes in English language and literature and professional writing.
3. Department of Linguistics and Translation
The LT department examined in depth in the first half of this piece; one of CLASS's flagship disciplines.
4. Department of Media and Communication
Offers programmes in journalism, communication, new media, public relations, and advertising, and houses the Centre for Communication Research (Centre for Communication Research※).
5. Department of Public and International Affairs (formerly Asian and International Studies)
Runs BSocSc Public Affairs and Management (PAFM) and International Relations and Global Affairs (IRGA)※ among its undergraduate majors, plus an Asian Studies direction. According to the department, its Asian Studies major is the first and only undergraduate programme in Hong Kong focused on the Asian region※. It also houses the Centre for Public Affairs and Law (jointly run with the School of Law).
6. Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences
According to the department, its Criminology and Sociology undergraduate programme is the only UGC-funded course in Hong Kong providing integrated training in both criminology and sociology※; it also offers majors including Psychology (BSocSc Psychology) and Social Work, spanning five disciplines: applied sociology, counselling, criminology, psychology, and social work. Interdisciplinary combinations such as a Criminology + Law double degree are available.
7. Chan Feng Men-ling Chan Shuk-lin Language Centre
The Language Centre provides university-wide Chinese/English language teaching support.
XI. CLASS research platforms
CLASS hosts several research centres; according to the College, these include the Centre for Communication Research, the Centre for East Asian and Comparative Philosophy, the Centre for Public Affairs and Law (joint with the School of Law), and the Halliday Centre for Intelligent Applications of Language Studies※, among others.
Sources
- Department of Linguistics and Translation — General Information — Official
- BA Linguistics and Language Applications (JS1109) — Official
- JS1109 JUPAS Programme Page — Official
- MA Language Studies — CityU Postgraduate Admissions — Official
- Five CityUHK subjects secure global top 50 in QS 2026 — Official
- The Halliday Centre — Research Areas — Official
- The Halliday Centre — NLP Research — Official
- Language and Cognition Laboratory — Official
- Phonetics Laboratory — Official
- Simultaneous Interpretation Laboratory — Official
- LT6505 Legal Translation — Course Syllabus 2024/25 — Official
- Key Terms in Contract Law — CityU Press — Official
- Key Terms in Tort Law — CityU Press — Official
- Chunyu Kit — LT Department Profile — Official
- Alex Fang — CityUHK Scholars — Official
- Department of Linguistics and Translation — CityUHK Scholars — Official
- Linguistics at CityU: Research-intensive, real-world impact — Secondary
- About CLASS（官网） — Official
- CLASS Departments — Official
- Department of Public and International Affairs — Official
- BSocSc Asian Studies(ASIS) — Official
- 社会及行为科学系：犯罪学及社会学 — Official
Cross-references
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