News and Kudos

CBS PhD student won the championship in the 48th Hong Kong Youth Translation Competition

Congratulations to Ms HUI Ka-yee, a CBS PhD student, for winning the champion of English-Chinese translation and the second runner-up of Chinese-English translation in the Open Section of the 48th Hong Kong Youth Translation Competition, which is the highest-level translation contest in Hong Kong. The competition, held in May 2023, was jointly organized by the Hong Kong Youth Cultural and Arts Competitions, the Society of Chinese Accountants and Auditors, and the Hong Kong Translation Society. It consisted of three sections: open, senior secondary, and junior secondary. More than 50 participants joined the Open Section, making it a highly competitive arena.  Let's give Ms HUI a round of applause for her excellent achievements.

PolyU-trained students achieved excellent results in the 20th International Linguistics Olympiad

The Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad (HKLO) team, under the training by the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies (CBS) and the Department of English and Communication (ENGL), has proudly achieved extraordinary success (1 gold and 2 silver medals) in the Twentieth International Linguistics Olympiad (20th IOL), held at Bansko, Bulgaria on 21-29 July 2023. Outshining 205 contestants from 52 teams, Ian TAM from La Salle College secured the highest score and clinched the absolute gold medal. In recognition of the remarkable teamwork, the HKLO team has been awarded “Team Contest Honorable Mentions”. Congratulations!

CBS PhD student brings home the Runner-Up prize in the 1st PolyU 3MT Competition

Congratulations to Mr LAM Yiu Shun Wilson won the Runner-Up prize in the first PolyU Three Minute Thesis Competition by presenting the research topic “Thy Swallows We Hear and See: Listening to the Sounds and Watching the Movements of Swallowing”. The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition was developed by the University of Queensland and is a globally recognized competition that challenges doctoral researchers to deliver their researches within just three minutes, using one slide.

CBS Minor in Korean student won the 1st Runner-Up prize in Korean speech contest

Congratulations to Ms Yuen Cheuk Ling, a CBS Minor in Korean student, for winning the 1st Runner-Up prize at the 7th Korean Consul General Cup Korean Speech Contest! The contest was jointly organized by Consulate General of the Republic of Korea and Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong, at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in June 2023. Ms Yuen’s exceptional speech on “Koreans' sentiment reflected in Korean rice cake” received recognition at the prestigious contest. We're proud of Ms Yuen's hard work and dedication in her Korean language studies. We wish her continued success in all her future endeavors!

Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU CBS 2023 - Result Announcement

The Outstanding Alumni Award of PolyU CBS aims to give public recognition to outstanding CBS graduates for their professional achievements and significant contributions to the community and their alma mater. We are delighted to announce the following result of the CBS Outstanding Alumni Award 2023:   Mr. Peter NIU Outstanding Young Alumni Award in Professional Achievement of PolyU CBS 2023   Read more about the story of our awardee:   Mr. Peter NIU MA in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, The Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, 2010 During the past 13 years, Mr. Niu teaching reputation across global IB schools has gained wide recognition. In 2012, he initiated and successfully held the first inter-school Chinese character dictation contest in Hong Kong. He has also organized and coached students to participate in the World Scholars Cup actively. His team has won the world team championship and two individual global championships for two years at Yale University.   As a passionate educator, he has developed his patented product (both USA and HKSAR), Niu Xiaozi AR Chinese Flash Cards, which is used by more than 200 schools and kindergartens worldwide and won him the Asia International Innovative Invention Gold Award in 2018. He has also organized local students to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the mainland and enhance their sense of ethnic identity. He mobilized students to participate in community services in less developing counties, such as Laos and Bangladesh with a view to cultivating them to better responsible world citizens.   He has actively contributed to academic workshops as a leader and a keynote speaker in different workshops and seminars to share his teaching experience with other educators at home and abroad from 2012 till now, which has contributed to his selection as Hong Kong Outstanding Youth Teacher Awardee in 2017.       Congratulations to the outstanding CBS alumnus who is accomplished in his respective fields and draw positive attention to his alma mater. We would also like to thank the panel of judges for their commitment to the selection process.

Officials of Education Bureau visit the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies

Led by Deputy Secretary for Education Ms. Louise SO, seven officials from the Professional Development and Special Education Branch of Education Bureau (EDB) visited the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies (CBS) on 14 February 2023 to understand how technologies are utilized in applied language sciences research, and their application values in the education sector.   The EDB guests include: Ms. Louise SO, Deputy Secretary for Education 4 Ms. Mandy HO, Principal Assistant Secretary (Special Education) Mrs. Gloria LI, Principal Education Officer (Special Education)1 Ms. Joyce YIP, Principal Education Officer (Special Education)2 Ms. Louise HUI, Senior Specialist (Speech Therapy Service) Dr. Dorothy LI, Senior Specialist (Education Psychology Service / NTW) Ms. Bianca WONG, Senior Education Officer (Special Education Support 1)   After the opening remarks by Prof. Ping LI, Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Dr. Cindy NGAI, Associate Head of CBS, CBS researchers introduced the equipment in the Speech and Language Sciences Laboratory to the guests, including a social robot for speech training for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) system for speech and language intervention, and an electroencephalography (EEG) system to address issues in second language acquisition. The guests then visited three more facilities at PolyU, namely the Brain, Language, and Computation Lab, the Speech Therapy Unit (STU), and the University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN). We look forward to further collaborations with the Professional Development and Special Education Branch of EDB on the educational and clinical applications of the research findings in the future.

CBS Postgraduate Scholarships 2023/24 中文及雙語學系碩士生奬學金 2023/24

(The Chinese version is available after the English version.)   In order to recruit high-calibre students who are determined to pursue academic research, the MA Scheme in Chinese, Linguistics and Translation is launching two scholarships in the 2023/24 academic year.   CBS Postgraduate Scholarship is an entry scholarship, which offers a 50% tuition waiver to applicants with outstanding intellectual potential to complete an MA thesis and have achieved excellent academic results in the qualifications already obtained.   CBS Distinguished Postgraduate Scholarship is a graduation scholarship, which worth 50% of the tuition fee for graduates who have completed their MA thesis and graduated with excellent academic achievements.   Distinguished students may receive both scholarships, which will be awarded full tuition fee in total.   No separate application is required for the scholarships. Applicants who have submitted their application by 31 March 2023 will be automatically considered for the Entry Scholarship through the admission interview process.   為鼓勵成績優異並立志從事學術研究的學生就讀中文、語言學與翻譯文學碩士組合課程，本課程將於 2023/24 學年推出兩項奬學金計劃 。   “中文及雙語學系碩士生獎學金” 是一項半免學費入學奬學金，將頒予數名入學成績優異，並具備學術潛質完成碩士論文的申請人。   “中文及雙語學系優異碩士生獎學金”則為半免學費畢業奬學金，將頒予數名在學成績優異，並撰寫了學術論文的畢業生。   成績優秀同學可同時獲取以上兩項奬學金，奬學金金額可達整個課程學費之全數。   奬學金不須要額外遞交申請表格，只要在 2023年 3 月 31 日 前遞交入學申請的申請人，就會自動被考慮。奬學金甄選將會在入學面試同時進行。

CBS undergraduate student wins the Outstanding Service Awards for Tertiary Students

Miss Kitty LAW Lai Ping, Year 4 student in BA (Hons) in Chinese and Bilingual Studies (BACBS), has been awarded the Outstanding Service Awards for Tertiary Students 2021/22 in recognition of her outstanding leadership and significant contribution to the community. Only two of the 20 awardees come from PolyU this year. The selection of this annual award was co-organized by the Hong Kong Student Services Association and the Hong Kong Outstanding Tertiary Students’ Services Association (HKOTSSA). Being one of the leaders of several teams under Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong, Kitty stood out with her active participation in community services – she organized nine activities during 2021-2022 to raise the public awareness of various social issues such as environmental protection, ethnic minorities and stray animals. Congratulations!

CBS PhD graduate wins the 2022 LSHK Outstanding Thesis Award

Dr. FENG Yan, the PhD graduate of CBS in 2022, has been awarded the 2022 LSHK Outstanding Thesis Award under the category of PhD thesis. The award was offered by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) to encourage young scholars at local tertiary education institutions to conduct linguistics research.   The LSHK Outstanding Thesis Award recognizes the outstanding theses which contribute to any area in linguistics, including MA thesis, MPhil thesis, PhD thesis and Doctorate thesis. Entitled “Categorical Speech Perception Across the Lifespan”, Dr. Feng’s thesis presents a comprehensive research work on the categorical perception of Mandarin Chinese speech sounds for native speakers at different ages from toddlers, teenagers, young adults, to elderlies with normal cognitive function and mild cognitive impairment. Dr. Feng will give a presentation of her thesis at the 2022 Annual Research Forum of LSHK on 3 December 2022.

CBS Joined the Gerontech and Innovation Expo cum Summit 2022 (GIES 2022)

Following the success last year, the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies (CBS) was invited to participate in the Gerontech and Innovation Expo cum Summit (GIES), the largest gerontechnology public education event in Hong Kong, again on 2-5 November 2022. During the 4-day exhibition, the Speech Therapy team illustrated the application of the ultrasound imaging technology in the assessment and treatment of dysphagia to policymakers, stakeholders of rehabilitation service sector and the general public. A total of 23,000 visits was recorded in GIES this year.