About me
I am Senior Lecturer in Translation and Interpreting Studies. I hold a PhD in Pragmatics from Loughborough University, UK, and a Master degree in General Linguistics and Applied Linguistics (with Distinction) plus a Bachelor degree in English for Science and Technology, both from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, P.R. China. I was trained to be a translator and interpreter throughout my Bachelor and Masters study programmes while also trained in foreign language teaching. I am a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.
I have been freelancing translation and interpreting for many years in addition to my academic work. I was also a distance-learning tutor for the Diploma in Translation (DipTrans) course of the Chartered Institute of Linguists for many years. My professional work furthermore includes teaching scientific/technical translation and Consecutive and Liaison Interpreting, as well as research and supervising PhD at UCL's Centre for Translation Studies (formerly housed at Imperial College). Details can be found here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/european-languages-culture/people/caiwen-wang.
I am an academic reviewer for Routledge and a number of leading academic journals in my research fields, including The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, Journal of Pragmatics, Translation and Interpreting Studies (John Benjamins), and META.
Teaching
My teaching covers a wide range of modules from translation, interpreting, Chinese academic register to Chinese as a foreign language. For translation and interpreting, I teach both theoretical and practical aspects and lead all PG translation modules.
At the PG level, I taught Interpreting Project, Chinese Public Service Interpreting (for 10 years), Chinese Simultaneous Interpreting, Chinese Consecutive Interpreting and Chinese Technical Translation; I led our MA Interpreting Project, and all practical interpreting modules. At the UG level, I taught Translation 1, Translation 2, Work-integrated Simulation for Translators and Chinese from the beginners' level to the advanced; I was Module Leader of a number of language modules.
Research
My research interests are theoretical and empirical studies of translation and interpreting, and applied linguistics in general, and I have published in all the three areas in a number of leading journals.
My co-edited book 'Translation and Interpreting as Social Interaction: Affect, Behaviour and Cognition' by Bloomsbury (www.bloomsbury.com/9781350279315) is listed in the Bloomsbury Advances in Translation series, with Professor Jeremy Munday being the series' general editor.
My co-edited book 'Empirical Studies of Translation and Interpreting: The Post-Structuralist Approach' by Routledge (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003017400) is listed in the Routledge Advances in Translation and Interpreting Studies series.
My paper titled ‘Can Computer-assisted Interpreting Tools Assist Interpreting?’ (2019) is cited in a report (titled ‘Translation and Interpreting technologies and their impact on the industry’) written for Australia’s National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) by Professor Marc Orlando, Professor Jan-Louis Kruger, and Dr Sixin Liao (2024).
My paper titled ‘Interpreters = Cultural Mediators?’ is cited in Chapter 38 (‘Intercultural Mediation in Mental Health Care’; https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780198833741.003.0038) of the Oxford textbook ‘Migrant Psychiatry’ published by Oxford University Press in 2021.
I led a Students as Co-Creators Project at the University of Westminster in November 2023-May 2024. The title of the project is 'Enhance Employability of Translation and Interpreting Postgraduate Students at the School of Humanities'. The project has created a series of five episodes of interviews with successful professional translators and interpreters. The aim is to boost career prospects of our MA translation and interpreting students. The professionally edited recordings of the interviews are accessible via the University's YouTube channel. The YouTubes links are as below:
Episode 1: https://youtu.be/Bdxh-Qm9O9I
Episode 2: https://youtu.be/TJVJ5S6-onk
Episode 3: https://youtu.be/jsIcoI8qwI4
Episode 4: https://youtu.be/5wcD5GEUBGo
Episode 5: https://youtu.be/fWgvMDomuW0
I led a Global Engagement Project for Translation Studies at UCL in July 2018-July 2019.
I collaborated in a professional translation project for the Rare Dementia Support at UCL funded by Arts & Humanities Education Enhancement funds and National Brain Appeal via the Selfridges Foundation in October 2021-September 2022. The outcome is rare dementia support services at the Rare Dementia Support are now provided in 16 languages in addition to English to patients and their families all over the world. Official acknowledge of my work, along with others', can be accessed here: https://www.raredementiasupport.org/translated-resources/.
I collaborated in a Beacon Bursary project at UCL in October 2017-July 2018.
I co-organised the International Symposium on Translation and Interpreting as Social Interaction: Affect, Behaviour and Cognition, held at UCL online 17-18 July 2021. One of the outcomes is the aforementioned book 'Translation and Interpreting as Social Interaction: Affect, Behaviour and Cognition'.
I have spoken at national and international conferences, and have been invited to give public lectures in a number of universities home and abroad.
I supervise MA translation projects, MA interpreting projects and MA theses in translation and interpreting. I also supervise PhD in Translation and Interpreting Studies.
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.