Negotiating meaning and identity through translation in the linguistic landscape in Shantou: Addressing Post-Multilingualism challenges in a postcolonial Chinese city

ABSTRACT

As a former treaty port and a current Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in China, Shantou occupies unique position in China’s interaction with colonialism and globalisation. Through an analysis of English translations in the linguistic landscape (LL) in Shantou, it was found that international, local and regional factors work together to shape the city’s LL. Shantou’s resistance to the hegemony of English is encoded in the creative strategies that are adopted in translation, which include transliteration punning, cultural manipulation and hybrid translation. Drawing on the model of English as a lingua franca (ELF), this paper analyses how these strategies reflect the creative, flexible potential of English. These creative strategies can be interpreted as an expression of foreignisation, through which the sign writer consciously deviates from established norms in English to preserve local cultural traits and articulate local identity. Since LL reflects how meaning is negotiated in authentic social settings, incorporating LL projects in the classroom allows language learners and translator trainees to assume an active role in meaning negotiation in their sociolinguistic context. Ultimately, LL projects can empower students to exercise agency in articulating their own culture and constructing their social identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Linguistic landscape
• translation
• ELF
• postcolonial
• China

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Guangdong Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science under Grant GD22CWY11 and the Department of Education of Guangdong Province under Grant 2018WTSCX037.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The 2021 Shantou Asian Youth game, originally scheduled in November 2021, was first postponed to November 2022, due to COVID-19 concerns. In May 2022, the Olympic Council of Asia announced the cancellation of the game. Shantou claims the city has benefited from the preparation of the game in terms of enhanced urban infrastructure and increased city visibility (Pavitt, 2022). Many of the changes made to Shantou’s LL in the build-up to the game remain in place.

2 A transliteration system of Chinese place names introduced by postal authorities in the early 20th century.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Department of Education of Guangdong Province [grant number 2018WTSCX037]; Guangdong Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science [grant number GD22CWY11].