Academic Staff

Prof. WENG, Y. Rachel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Language Science and Technology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research explores translation and interpreting as dynamic, situated cognition, with broad interests in how task demands, affective experience, and emerging technologies shape bilingual language processing and performance. 

Much of her work adopts an integrative, evidence-rich approach to understanding what happens “during” translation, rather than treating translation solely as an end product. Drawing on process and psychophysiological methods, she examines how cognitive effort is distributed over time, how pressure and constraints influence behavioural patterns, and how these changes relate to translation quality. Her publications in leading venues such as Target and Meta illustrate this commitment to connecting theory with fine-grained empirical observation, and to developing robust indicators for describing cognitive load and adaptation in real translation tasks. Alongside this focus on cognitive dynamics, her recent work also engages with the role of emotion and motivational states in bilingual performance. She is particularly interested in how positive experiences—such as engagement, confidence, and flow—may support more efficient processing and better outcomes, and how these effects interact with task conditions. This line of inquiry contributes to a growing conversation about wellbeing, sustainability, and individual differences in translation and interpreting practice.

Her current interests extend to the fast-changing landscape of AI-mediated language work. She investigates how readers respond to AI-generated texts, how human translators and interpreters collaborate with AI tools, and what new competencies may be needed as generative systems become embedded in professional and educational settings. Across these themes, her goal is to develop empirically grounded insights that inform research methods, translator/interpreter training, and responsible use of language technologies.

• PhD in Translation Studies, Durham University
• MSc in Scientific, Technical and Medical Translation with Translation Technology, UCL
• BA in Linguistics and Sociology, The University of Manchester 
• BA in English (Translation), Sun Yat-Sen University 

• Translation for Business and Commerce
• Translation Theories
• Interpreting
• Sight Translation