Sept 2026 Entry
1 year (Full-time)
2 years (Part-time)
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Under normal circumstances, full-time and part-time students are able to complete the programme within 1 year and 2 years, respectively. Non-local students should register as full-time students. Students who wish to extend their studies beyond the normal duration can submit such requests to the Department for consideration.
Applicants are required to choose either the full-time or part-time mode on their application for admission to the programme. Students who study full-time are required to take a minimum of 9 credits per semester.
Notes to Applicants
Application to our postgraduate programmes can be done without any agency service. Applicants are required to apply online via the Study@PolyU website: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/study/pg.
Please note that all fields in the application forms should be filled. We will not consider applications that do not provide details of academic qualifications.
Extended Round: 2026-04-30
Extended Round: 2026-04-30
What's New
- Undergraduate
- Undergraduate
Programme Aims
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Synergistic Foundation: The programme aims to cultivate a new paradigm where translation and interpreting competence and technological proficiency are developed as interconnected capabilities from the outset. Rather than teaching traditional skills and then adding technology, the curriculum weaves AI literacy and language technology throughout all aspects of translation and interpreting training. This develops future-ready professionals who think technologically while translating.
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AI Literacy as Core Competency: A fundamental aim is to develop comprehensive AI literacy specific to the translation and interpreting profession, enabling graduates to understand AI architecture, training data requirements, bias detection, and quality metrics. This empowers them to collaborate in AI development ethically, customise language models, and make informed decisions about deploying AI solutions. By emphasising ethical considerations and global perspectives, graduates will become socially responsible leaders in AI-enhanced translation workflows.
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Integrated Innovation Leadership: The programme aims to produce thinkers and creative problem solvers who drive innovation at the intersection of language and technology. Graduates will be equipped to design hybrid human-AI workflows, develop quality assurance protocols for AI-generated content, and create new methodologies that leverage the synergy between human creativity and machine efficiency. This includes training in emerging areas such as prompt engineering for translation and interpreting, multilingual large language model optimisation, and AI-assisted creative adaptation for localisation.
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Collaborative Technology Development: The programme aims to foster graduates who can participate actively and collaboratively in language technology development. They will be equipped to provide expert linguistic feedback to improve neural machine translation systems, contribute to the creation of specialised translation AI models, and evaluate emerging technologies for their potential impact on translation quality, efficiency, and ethics. This focus prepares students to become effective communicators and collaborators in interdisciplinary teams.
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Adaptive Synergy Mindset: The programme is designed to instil a mindset that views technology and human expertise as complementary forces that, when properly synchronised, create outcomes superior to either alone. By grounding students in both linguistic excellence and technological innovation as unified competencies, the programme fosters adaptable and resilient lifelong learners who continuously discover new synergies as both fields evolve.
Characteristics
This programme provides professionally oriented, practice-based training that integrates translation and interpreting expertise with cutting-edge language technologies. The programme combines core theoretical foundations with hands-on application, ensuring that theoretical concepts are directly relevant to improving professional performance in AI-enhanced translation and interpreting workflows.
The curriculum adopts a broad-based yet integrated structure, enabling students to build strong competencies in translation, interpreting, and language technology before pursuing focused professional specialisation in areas such as localisation, AI-assisted translation, or interpreting in digital environments. Graduates develop a distinctive hybrid skill set that bridges linguistic expertise and technological literacy, making them highly competitive and adaptable professionals in both the public and private sectors of the global language services industry.
This programme is designed to meet the evolving professional and regulatory requirements of the language services sector. Graduates are well-positioned for employment in translation, interpreting, localisation, language technology, and AI-enhanced communication roles across government bodies, multinational corporations, technology companies, and language service providers.
The programme’s strong emphasis on language proficiency, professional ethics, and applied language technology ensures that graduates possess qualifications and competencies that are widely recognised and valued by employers. In addition, the curriculum aligns with internationally recognised professional standards and certifications in translation and interpreting, enhancing graduates’ career mobility, employability, and long-term professional development prospects in an increasingly technology-driven language industry.
Programme Structure
All MATLT students have to complete 19 credits of compulsory and 12 credits of elective subjects.
To complete a specialism in localisation or interpreting, students will need to complete two elective subjects (6 credits) in the relevant specialism.
Medium of instruction:
The medium of instruction is English, supplemented with Chinese (Putonghua/Cantonese).
Core Areas of Study
Compulsory Subjects
- Translation in the AI Era: Text, Context, and Technology
- Interpreting in Digital Environments: Human Excellence and AI Augmentation
- AI Literacy for Language Professionals: Architecture, Applications, and Innovation
- Advanced Interpreting: Synergistic Human-AI Workflows
- Translation Studies: Convergence of Theory and Technology
- Integrated Language Technology: From Corpora to AI Systems
- Professional Ethics and Academic Integrity
Elective Subjects
Specialised Subjects in Localisation:
- Specialised Localisation Programme I: Introduction to Localisation Technology
- Specialised Localisation Programme II: Project-Based Practicum
Specialised Subjects in Interpreting:
- Specialised Interpreting Programme I: Conference Interpreting
- Specialised Interpreting Programme II: Legal and Business Interpreting
Others:
- AI-Driven Translation and Interpreting Project Management
- Digital Content Management
- MATLT Dissertation
- Media Translation: AI and Human Creativity in Multimodal Environments
- Machine Translation Systems & Post-editing
- Computer Programming in Language and Communication
- AI Applications in the Humanities
- AI-Driven Cross-Cultural Linguistic Exploration: Preserving, Translating, and Interpreting Chinese and Bilingual Heritage
- Generative AI for Innovative Communications
(The above subject list is subject to revision.)
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Programme Leader
Prof. Xu Han
PhD
Deputy Programme Leader
Prof. Weng Yu
PhD
(This programme is offered subject to approval)
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A Bachelor’s degree from a recognised institution.
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If you are not a native speaker of English, and your Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification was awarded by an institution where the medium of instruction is not English, you are expected to fulfil the University’s minimum English language requirement for admission purposes. Given the high level of language proficiency required for translation, a demonstrated excellence in English is expected. Specifically, applicants should normally achieve an overall IELTS score of 6.0 or above, with no individual band score lower than 5.5, or a TOEFL iBT total score of 80 or above, with no section score below 18.
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Non-native Chinese speakers need to provide evidence of a good command of the Chinese language (e.g., through standardised test scores or previous academic coursework).
Applicants may be required to attend interviews or tests to further demonstrate their language proficiency.
For further information on academic matters, please contact:
Programme Leader, Prof. Xu Han (tel: (852) 2766 7441; email: han12.xu@polyu.edu.hk).
For general information, please contact:
LST General Office (tel: (852) 2766 7454; email: lst.tpg@polyu.edu.hk).
Starting from 2024/25 cohort, students are required to complete the compulsory 1-credit subject “CBS5T01 Professional Ethics and Academic Integrity” to satisfy the Academic Integrity and Ethics (AIE) requirement for graduation. No credit fee will be charged for this subject.
HK$8,500* per credit
* Specialised Interpreting Programme I: Conference Interpreting & Specialised Interpreting Programme II: Legal and Business Interpreting are charged at a higher rate of HK$11,475 per credit (subject to approval).
(Note: No credit fee will be charged for the 1-credit subject “CBS5T01 Professional Ethics and Academic Integrity”.)
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