Dr SONG, Ge
宋歌 博士
Assistant Professor
Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies
Contact
ORCiD
0009-0007-8801-0543
Phone
(852) 2948 7453
Email
gsong@eduhk.hk
Address
10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong
Website
https://pappl.eduhk.hk/rich/web/person.xhtml?pid=321933&name=SONG, Ge
Scopus ID
57211409578
Research Interests
Sociolinguistics;
Linguistic/semiotic landscapes;
Multilingualism in cities;
Translation studies;
(Inter)cultural studies;
AI and translation pedagogy;
Hong Kong/Macao/Chinatown studies.

Personal Profile

Dr. Ge SONG (宋歌) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong. He was former Associate Professor at the Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University.


He studies urban textscapes, linguistic/semiotic landscapes, sociolinguistics, digital cultural heritage and museum in cross-cultural contexts, Chinese culture in global contexts, translation and language use on social media, and translation (pedagogy) in the age of AI. He has published in major journals in translation studies, sociolinguistics, intercultural communication, and cultural studies, such as Translation Studies, Translation and Interpreting Studies, Babel, Perspectives, Translator, Language & Communication, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Language and Intercultural Communication, Semiotica, Cultural Studies, Critical Arts, Interventions, Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies, Translation Quarterly, Foreign Languages and Translation Horizons.


He is an Editorial Board Member of journals such as Translation and Global Communication, The International Journal of Chinese and English Translation & Interpreting, and Humanities & Social Sciences Communications (SSCI, A&HCI). He is the editor of Multilingual Education Yearbook 2025, and the author of the book 多元與混合：香港文化漫步 (Diversity and Hybridity: A Stroll through Hong Kong Culture) (in Chinese). He also contributed to writing textbook chapters on translation history and global communication.


He is the Principal Investigator (PI) of a General Research Fund (GRF) from Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC), a Teaching Development Grant (TDG) from Hong Kong's University Grants Committee (UGC), a Ministry of Education grant from the People's Republic of China, and two research grants from China's Guangdong Province.


He is a guest editor for the special issue “Making Multilingualism Visible: Visual Methods in Translanguaging and Translation Pedagogies” for the journal Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts. Guest editors: Vander Tavares (University of Inland Norway), Ge Song (The Education University of Hong Kong), Liang Cao (The Education University of Hong Kong), and Angel M. Y. Lin (The Education University of Hong Kong).


He is also a guest editor for the special issue “Language in the making of cities: Semiotics, aesthetics, and interdisciplinary encounters in the Asia Pacific region” for the journal Journal of Asian Pacific Communication. Guest editors: Ge Song (The Education University of Hong Kong), Chonglong Gu (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), and Ke Zhang (Shandong University).


He is a scientific committee member for the conference The 11th Asia-Pacific Translation and Interpreting Forum (2025), and is the organizer for seminar The Semiotics of Space: Studies of Landmarks in Contemporary China (2026). He serves as a judge and paper setter for the translation competition organized by The Hong Kong Translation Society (Youth Translation Competition) (2025, 2026).



Research Interests
Sociolinguistics;
Linguistic/semiotic landscapes;
Multilingualism in cities;
Translation studies;
(Inter)cultural studies;
AI and translation pedagogy;
Hong Kong/Macao/Chinatown studies.

Research Outputs
Scholarly Books, Monographs and Chapters
Luo, Lin & Song, Ge (2026). Exploring themes in Chinese science fiction through metaphor: A corpus-based study of The Wandering Earth and its English translation. Y., Gu, Y., Wu, & M. Riccardo (Eds.), Chinese science fiction in translation and its world impact: connecting futures (174-192). Routledge.
SDGs infomation: 17 - Partnerships for the Goals
Song, Ge (2026). Translation and the development of national languages. H. Sun (Eds.), A Concise History of Translation in China and in the West (0-0). Shanghai, China: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2025). 書畫文化 (The culture of Chinese calligraphy and painting). X. Liu, et al (Eds.), 中原特色文化英譯與傳播研究 (Translating the Culture of the Central Plains for Global Communication) (0-0). Zhengzhou, China: Henan University Press.
Song, Ge (2025). 武術文化 (The culture of Chinese martial arts). X. Liu, et al (Eds.), 中原特色文化英譯與傳播研究 (Translating the Culture of the Central Plains for Global Communication) (0-0). Zhengzhou, China: Henan University Press.
Song, Ge & Chen, Xuemei (2025). A Holistic Approach to Translation for Multilingual Education with a View to Cultural Diaspora in the Digital and AI Age. Song, Ge & Chen, Xuemei, Translation Practices as Agents of Transformation in Multilingual Settings (Multilingual Education Yearbook 2025) (1-20). Springer.
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge & Chen, Xuemei (2025). Translation Practices as Agents of Transformation in Multilingual Settings (Multilingual Education Yearbook 2025. Series Editor: Indika Liyanage). Springer.
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2023). Translating Chinese Martial Arts for a Global Audience: A Multimodal Perspective. Jiao, Dan & Li, Defeng, Understanding and Translating Chinese Martial Arts (37-48). Springer.
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2023). Re-conceptualizing Foreignness: Strategies and Implications of Translating Chinese Calligraphic Culture. Roberto A. Valdeón & Youbin Zhao, Literary Translation Research in China (Chapter 9). Routledge.
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2021). Imagining Online Exhibition in the Pandemic: A Translational Perspective. Simon Zhao, et al, COVID-19 Pandemic, Crisis Responses and the Changing World (243-256). Springer.
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education, 10 - Reduced Inequality
Song, Ge (2018). Cultural Evolution and Cultural Translation: A Case of Malaysian-Chinese and Singaporean-Chinese. Olaf Seel, Redefining Translation and Interpretation in Cultural Evolution (121-140). IGI Global.
SDGs infomation: 10 - Reduced Inequality

Journal Publications
Song, Ge (2026). Is Time Travel Possible? Accidental Signs as Sociolinguistic “Wormholes”. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, online-first publication, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.70297
SDGs infomation: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Gu, Chonglong & Li, Zhi & Song, Ge & Hu, Guangwei (2026). “Chinese city with Russian characteristics”: a linguistic and semiotic landscape account of Harbin’s Saint Sophia Cathedral and Central Street areas. Semiotica, online-first publication, 1-40. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2026-0017
SDGs infomation: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
SONG, Ge (2026). Neon signs and the red-light district of Hong Kong: from the 1960s to the present. Cultural Studies, online-first publication, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2026.2653502
Song, Ge (2026). Playful signs in the city: Toward a semiotics of transgression in urban linguistic landscapes. Language & Communication, 107, 84-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2026.01.005
SDGs infomation: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Song, Ge (2026). Bridging Cultures and Languages through Cosmopolitan Translation: A Case of Macao’s Chinese-Portuguese Bilingual Street Signs. Language and Intercultural Communication, 26, 57-71. https://doi.org/DOI:10.1080/14708477.2024.2376608
SDGs infomation: 10 - Reduced Inequality, 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Song, Ge (2025). Intralingual translation as performance of identity: Linguistic negotiation in Mandarin across the Taiwan Strait. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 2025(12), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101961
Song, Ge (2025). Towards a ‘Cyberpunk Translation’ for Global Cities: A Study of Kowloon City in Hong Kong. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, online-first publication, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2025.2509029
SDGs infomation: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Song, Ge & Lee, Tong King (2025). Semiotics of disappearance: Hong Kong’s neonscapes. Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, online-first publication, 1-23.
SDGs infomation: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Song, Ge (2025). Neon Signs in Cold War Hong Kong: Between Language Politics and Visual Hybridisation. China Perspectives, 140, 19-30. https://www.cefc.com.hk/article/neon-signs-in-cold-war-hong-kong-between-language-politics-and-visual-hybridisation/
SDGs infomation: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Song, Ge & Gu, Chonglong (2025). Deciphering translation practices in Macao's casino wonderland of Cotai. International Journal of Multilingualism, online-first publication, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2025.2456063
SDGs infomation: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Song, Ge (2024). The Linguistic Landscapes of Chinatowns in Canada and the United States: A Translational Perspective. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45(9), 3505-3523. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2102643
SDGs infomation: 10 - Reduced Inequality, 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Gu, Chonglong & Song, Ge (2024). ‘Al-Hay As-Sini’ explored: the linguistic and semiotic landscape of Dubai Mall ‘Chinatown’ as a translated space and transnational contact zone.. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, online first publication, 1-25. https://DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2024.2407912
SDGs infomation: 10 - Reduced Inequality, 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Song, Ge (2024). Authenticating Otherness: The English Translation of Chinese Thinking on Painting. Translation and Interpreting Studies, online first publication, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.22039.son
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2024). Towards a Translational Landscape: A Study of Coloane’s Urban Features Through the Lens of Translational Spaces. Translation Studies, 17(2), 352-373. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781700.2023.2255607
SDGs infomation: 10 - Reduced Inequality, 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Chen, Xuemei & Song, Ge (2023). Gender Representation in Translation: Examining the Reshaping of a Female Child’s Image in the English Translation of the Children’s Novel Bronze and Sunflower. Children’s Literature in Education, online first publication, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-023-09539-7
SDGs infomation: 5 - Gender Equality
Song, Ge & Chen, Xuemei (2023). Re-conceptualizing Cultural Dissemination in the Lens of Translational Spaces: A Case of the English Dubbed Journey to the West. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, 32(4), 650–668. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2023.2268151
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2023). Cross-cultural Exchange of Heritage in Museums: A Study of Dunhuang Art in the Hong Kong Heritage Museum from the Perspective of Cultural Translation. Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies, 37(2), 85-99. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2023.2237094
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2023). The English Translation of Chinese Aesthetics: The Case of Chinese Calligraphy. Babel, 69(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00305.son
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2022). 中國書法隱喻的百年英譯：策略和啟示” (Strategies and Implications of Translating Chinese Calligraphic Metaphors into English over the Past Century). 《外國語》(Journal of Foreign Languages), 45(6), 151-159. http://jfl.shisu.edu.cn/CN/Y2022/V45/I6/110
Song, Ge (2022). Cosmopolitan Translation in Multilingual Cities: A Macao Experience. Language and Intercultural Communication, 22(1), 35-49. https://doi.org/DOI:10.1080/14708477.2021.1990309
SDGs infomation: 10 - Reduced Inequality, 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Song, Ge (2021). Hybridity and Singularity: A Study of Hong Kong’s Neon Signs from the Perspective of Multimodal Translation. The Translator, 27(2), 203-215. https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2020.1829371
SDGs infomation: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Song, Ge (2021). Justifying the Strategies Applied to the English Translation of The Condor Heroes from the Perspective of Cultural Translation” (從文化翻譯的視角看《射雕英雄傳》郝玉青譯本的語境化策略). Translation Horizon (《翻譯界》), 12, 1-13.
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2020). Conflicts and Complexities: A Study of Hong Kong’s Bilingual Street Signs from the Functional Perspective on Translation. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 41(10), 886-898. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2019.1663860
Song, Ge (2020). Re-conceptualizing Foreignness: Strategies and Implications of Translating Chinese Calligraphic Culture into English Since the Twentieth Century. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, 28（5）, 777-791. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2019.1639780
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2019). Toward Standardization: The English Translation of Chinese Terms Related to Calligraphic Scripts. Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies, 6（1）, 17-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/23306343.2019.1605763
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2017). Voices of Art: Cultural Translation in the Exhibition of ‘Between Declarations and Dreams: Art of Southeast Asia since the 19th-Century’ in National Gallery Singapore. Translation Quarterly, 85, 71-96.
SDGs infomation: 10 - Reduced Inequality
Song, Ge (2017). The Chronological Corpus of English Texts on Chinese Calligraphy: Establishment and Application” (中國書法的英語歷時語料庫: 創建與應用). Translation Teaching and Research (Second Series) (《翻譯教學與研究》）, 2, 25-37.
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education
Song, Ge (2016). Chinese Thought on Translation: A Chronological Survey in the Light of the Development of Traditional Chinese Thought in General” (以“學術嬗變虛實相救” 之規律考察中國翻譯思想的流變). Journal of North China Electric Power University (Social Sciences)(《華北電力大學學報》) (社會科學版), 2016（4）, 94-99.
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education

Creative and Literary Works, Consulting Reports and Case Studies
Song, Ge (2024). 多元與混合：香港文化漫步 (Diversity and Hybridity: A Stroll through Hong Kong Culture). Shanghai, China: 中西書局 (Zhongxi Book Company).
SDGs infomation: 4 - Quality Education, 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Song, Ge. etc. (2017). Trans(loca)lating the MTR: A Polyphonic Exhibition. Postgraduate Studies Conference Grant of the Research Grant Council, Hong Kong. Hong Kong

All Other Outputs
Song, Ge (2026). Review of Yao (2025): Power, Affect, and Identity in the Linguistic Landscape: Chinese Communities in Australia and Beyond. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication (1-6). https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.26001.son
SDGs infomation: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
Song, Ge (2021). On the Linguistic Landscape of Macao’s Public Places” (淺談澳門公共空間的語言景觀) (published in Chinese). Shanghai
Song, Ge (2017). On the Linguistic Landscape of Hong Kong’s MTR Stations” (小議香港地鐵的語言景觀) (published in Chinese). Shanghai

Projects
Hong Kong as a City of Translations: The Semiotics of Place-making in Linguistic and Cultural Dynamics
This project examines public signs in Hong Kong as a holistic system of everyday discourse, situating developments from 2015 to 2027 within a broader historical and sociopolitical context. Through fieldwork across diverse neighborhoods, from text-rich vernacular areas to text-poor financial districts, I will investigate the interaction of signage with color schemes, architectural details, and other semiotic resources in constructing urban visual identity. The research theorizes anew China-Western convergence by conceptualizing Hong Kong as a “city of translations”, where language and semiotic affordances mediate cultural interaction across China, the West, and beyond. Archival research and theoretical analysis of collected data will support an innovative framework for urban languages and semiotics, and the role of translation in shaping civic participation. An interactive digital platform will be established to serve as both a research corpus and a public engagement tool, which will enable continuous documentation of Hong Kong’s evolving linguistic landscape and fostering community participation in cultural preservation and creative imagination.

Project Start Year: 2027, Principal Investigator(s): SONG, Ge
SDGs Information: 4 - Quality Education, 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
 

Empowering Bi/Multilingual Students in the AI Era: A Multimodal, Translanguaging and Hermeneutic Approach to Translation Pedagogy in Hong Kong
The project aims to develop a curriculum that integrates AI tools with hermeneutic translation theories, and investigate how students can critically engage with AI while enhancing their intercultural communication skills, and explore how translation thinking can be transferred to academic, professional, and community contexts. Empirical methods include classroom action research, longitudinal observation, reflective journals, interviews, and surveys. Fieldwork will be conducted to document translation practices in culturally hybrid urban sites, and students will engage in multimodal tasks such as image-text interpretation, Audio Description (AD), and Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (SDH).
This project will generate measurable improvements in students’ translation competencies and foster ethical, creative, and culturally attuned professionals. It will support curriculum renewal at the PI’s university and contribute to Hong Kong’s development as a global hub for inclusive language services. By reconceptualizing translation as a set of transferable communicative competencies, this project tries to offer a sustainable model for translation education in the AI era. In addition, expected outcomes include a peer-reviewed publication contributing to global scholarship on AI-integrated translation education; a self-developed translation competency test measuring students’ AI literacy, critical thinking, and knowledge transferability; and a comprehensive teaching portfolio with fieldwork-based materials, assessment rubrics, and best practice guidelines.

Project Start Year: 2026, Principal Investigator(s): SONG, Ge
SDGs Information: 4 - Quality Education
 

Linguistic Landscapes in Different Sociocultural Contexts: Tokyo, Yunnan, and Amsterdam as Experimental Sites
This project studies how language and signs in public spaces reflect the culture, history, and politics of three very different locations, namely Tokyo/Osaka in Japan, Yunnan in China, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Each site is chosen for a specific reason. Japan is selected for its manga culture, Yunnan for its ethnic minority communities pushing back against dominant language policies, and Amsterdam for the unique character of its red-light district and Chinatown. Through field trips, photography, and analysis, the project aims to build a new research framework that brings together linguistics, translation, and cultural studies, ultimately producing two academic journal articles. The total budget is approximately HK$287,000, and the project runs from 2025 to 2027.

Project Start Year: 2025, Principal Investigator(s): SONG, Ge
SDGs Information: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities