Department of Translation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Educational Qualifications

PhD, Macquarie University
MA, The University of Queensland
GradDip, University of the Sunshine Coast
BA, Macao Polytechnic University

Fields of Research/Teaching

Translation theory
Translation and ideology
Translation quality assessment and NAATI certification preparation
Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)
Corpus linguistics
Multimodality
AI tools for English language enhancement

Research Grants/Projects

2022-23 “Interlingual reinstantiation and multimodality: Examining visual and verbal elements in translated works”, The International Indexed Publication Grant of Universitas Indonesia (Co-Investigator)
2019-21 “Multimodal translation and Communication”, Grant from the National Social Science Fund of China, hosted by Hunan University (Co-Investigator)
2020-21 “Corpus-based study of pronominal references in academic writing”, Grant from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Co-Investigator)
2019 SEED Grant, School of Humanities and Languages, The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) (Co-Investigator)

Research Statement

My research focuses on the ideologies around representing contemporary China in English via a first-person, translational lens: highly valued English works (autobiographies/fictions) by Chinese migrant writers. The Chinese translations of such works present a highly unusual phenomenon where the source texts were translated “back” to the authors’ native language, often as a collaborative effort between the source author and the translator. Through rigorous text analysis, I uncovered motivated linguistic consistencies that point to strong influence of ideologies in both the source texts (i.e., Orientalism) and the Chinese translations.

I believe multilingual studies and big data empower translation scholars to isolate translators’ motivated choices from those that are a mere reflection of either typological differences or features potentially inherent in translated language. I have complemented descriptive translation studies with systematic analysis of English and Chinese based on systemic functional linguistics (SFL) (i.e., analyzing linguistic systems such as transitivity, modality, and appraisal). In this process, I have extended descriptions of contrastive linguistic differences between English and Chinese (see Li 2017 and Li & Wu 2019), which are hopefully applicable to future translation studies. In addition, I have adopted and further refined innovative methods from corpus linguistics and multimodal discourse analysis (see Li, Li & Miao 2019; Li 2021). I believe that a combination of comparative grammar, digital humanities, and multimodality can enhance the depth and objectivity of translation studies. I am interested in supervising well-motivated projects that embrace one of these research methodologies.

I am currently co-investigator in three research projects in China/Indonesia on translated book covers and ESL writing. Further, I have engaged in bilingual or English-oriented research projects in Australia including 1) investigating evaluative language in digitally mediated Chinese discourses via the appraisal framework, and 2) critical engagement of AI-based English diagnostic tools by self-directed learners of English.

My current research interests including extending my corpora to the opposite translation directionality of highly valued contemporary English texts by Chinese writers: Chinese books that have become well-known through an English translation. I continue to investigate the evolving ideologies around the representation of “China” in English.

Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLE AND BOOK CHAPTERS

Li, Long. 2021. 'A translated volume and its many covers: A Diachronic, Social-Semiotic Approach to the Study of Translated Book Covers', in Kim M; Munday J; Wang Z; Wang P (ed.), Systemic Functional Linguistics and Translation Studies, Bloomsbury, London and New York, pp. 191 – 210.
Li, Long, and Li, Xi. 2021. 'Who ‘let all this happen’? Shifts of responsibilities in representing the Cultural Revolution in Jung Chang’s Wild Swans', Language and Literature, vol. 30, pp. 54 - 77, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0963947020960293.
Li, Xi, and Li, Long. 2021, ‘Reframed narrativity in literary translation: an investigation of the explicitation of cohesive chains’, Journal of Literary Semantics 50(2): 151-171, https://doi.org/10.1515/jls-2021-2035.
Dreyfus, Shoshana, and Li, Long. 2021. ‘Development of the Involvement System to Describe Social Positioning in Digitally Mediated Communication from China’, Research in Applied Linguistics 12(2), 74-88, 10.22055/RALS.2021.17010.
Li, Long. 2020. 'Shifts of agency in translation: a case study of the Chinese translation of Wild Swans', Meta: Journal des traducteurs, vol. 65, pp. 168 - 168, http://dx.doi.org/10.7202/1073641ar.
Li, Long, Li, Xi & Miao, Jun. 2019. “A translated volume and its many covers – a multimodal analysis of the influence of ideology”. Social Semiotics, 29:2, Pages 261-278 DOI: 10.1080/10350330.2018.1464248.
Li, Long, and Wu Canzhong. 2019. “DEGREE OF INTENSITY in English-Chinese translation: a corpus-based approach”, Functional Linguistics (6)3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-019-0068-1
Li, Long. 2017. “An examination of ideology in translation via modality: Wild Swans and Mao’s Last Dancer”. Journal of World Languages, 4:2, 118-144, DOI: 10.1080/21698252.2017.1417689.

Awards and Honors

2018 Macquarie-Fudan-Hamburg Trilateral Conference Scholarship for Early Career Researchers
2017 Macquarie University Postgraduate Research Fund (PGRF) for an extended conference trip
2010-2012 The Australian Endeavour Scholarships from the Department of Education

Conference/Workshop

Professional Development (PD) for the Australian Institute of Translators and Interpreters (AUSIT), June 2022: “The balancing act of accuracy and fluency in Chinese-English translation”.
Department of Linguistics, Universitas Indonesia, April 2022: “One book, many covers: A diachronic, social-semiotic approach to the study of translated book covers” (invited speaker).
International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA) World Congress 2021, the Netherlands, August 2021: ‘Role of technology in enhancing the availability, scalability and sustainability of a self-directed course of English language enhancement’ (symposium chair).
The 46th International Systemic Functional Congress (ISFC), Santiago, Chile, July 2019: The ‘Theme Choices in Multilingual Translation’ Colloquium (colloquium organizer).
The Friday Seminar of the Department of Linguistics of the University of Sydney, April 2019: ‘Investigating the Shifts of Ideology in the Translations of the Politically Volatile Autobiographies of Wild Swans and Mao’s Last Dancer’ (invited speaker).
The 4th Roundtable on Translation & Discourse Analysis, Universitat Jaume I, Spain, Nov. 2018: ‘Shifts of Responsibilities in Representing the Cultural Revolution’ (invited speaker).
The 9th International Corpus Linguistics Conference, Birmingham, the U.K., July 2017: “Patterns of Motivated and Ideologically-invested Shifts in Translation”.

Academic/Professional Service

Reviewer for articles published in journals including Meta, Text & Talk, and Gender and Language.
Abstract reviewers for conferences including The AUSIT (Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators) National Conference, The FIT (International Federation of Translators) Congress, and The ASFLA (Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association) Conference
Australian NAATI Chinese/Mandarin Examiner
Professional translator and interpreter with expertise in the legal and healthcare settings
Reader of PhD theses at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)
Former committee member of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT)
Presenting professional development for translation/interpreting practitioners through AUSIT

Professional Qualifications

Australian NAATI Certified Professional Translator (Chinese <> English)
Australian NAATI Certified Professional Interpreter (Mandarin <> English)