Self-translation for tapping into affinity with Chineseness: The case of a badminton athlete
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This study aims to investigate how Viktor Axelsen, one of the world's most renowned badminton players, employs self-translation via Instagram to forge a stronger bond and affinity with the Chinese-speaking audience. We use ambient affiliation and appraisal frameworks to analyse the athlete's communing approaches. We have identified six approaches characteristic of his online communing: Entertaining, Embodying, Endorsing, Empathising, Encouraging, and Ensuring. The nonequivalence of his horizontal English to Chinese self-translation, as evidenced by the shift in communing approaches, points to an unstable self-epistemology that enriches the self-translator's life experience. This requires the self-translator to adopt a different voice and persona, thereby contributing to the expansion of their ambient affiliation and the overwhelming positive couplings of ideational and interpersonal meaning. •Self-translation can be employed to gain ambient affiliation. •Axelsen's communing approaches are used to engage with Chinese-speaking audiences. •Affiliation and Appraisal can elicit affiliation strategies.
Authors: Jooyin Saejang, Narongdej Phanthaphoommee
Institution: Mahidol University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,180
OpenAlex ID: W4414715719