Announcement: Department of Language Industry and Technology (LIT) (語言產業及科技系)

20-10-2026

Dear Staff and Students,

I am writing to share an important update about a strategic change in the academic identity of the Department of Translation. Effective from the 2027-28 academic year, the unit will be officially renamed the Department of Language Industry and Technology (語言產業及科技系).

Why the change? Modern machine translation (MT) and generative artificial intelligence (AI) have fundamentally transformed the global language services sector. In the future, our graduates will position themselves not as traditional translators, as if they were still looking up words in print dictionaries and writing out texts by hand, but rather as “language technologists” who are qualified for high-value roles in the tech industry, localisation, digital marketing, and corporate communication. We are not giving up on the liberal arts, but we are definitely adding digital to the humanities.

While translation education is still the most effective way to enhance bilingual competence and hone cross-cultural awareness, we educators have to grapple with the new digital dispensation. Our curriculum already embraces skills that transcend interlingual translation, including transcreation, localisation, cross-cultural mediation, audiovisual translation, post-editing for specific purposes, computer-assisted translation (CAT), and large language model (LLM) fine-tuning. These additions give students the skills they’ll need to traverse the new professional landscape even navigate a storm of change. Future graduates will be double threats, with an edge in both advanced communication and technological innovation.

To reflect this strategic evolution, which calls out for a rechristening, both our undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes will also be renamed with effect from the 2027-28 academic year:

Undergraduate Programme

The “Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Translation” will be renamed the “Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Interlingual Communication and Language Technology”.

Taught Postgraduate Programme

The “Master of Arts in Translation Studies” will be renamed the “Master of Arts in Language, Communication, and Technology”.

As the admissions exercises for the 2027-28 intake of both programmes have now commenced, please note that the new names are being adopted with immediate effect across all admissions materials and promotional platforms.

We extend our sincere gratitude to colleagues and students in the University community for your continued support as we turn a page, beginning an exciting new chapter of growth and innovation.

Sincerely,

The Department of Language Industry and Technology (formerly the Department of Translation)