Translation of Trendy Expressions as Extralinguistic Culture-bound References: the Case Study of If You Are The One

Since it was introduced into Australia from China in 2013, the Chinese-to-English subtitled dating game-show If You Are The One (Fei Cheng Wu Rao / 《非诚勿扰》) has been maintaining its super high ratings on the Australian national TV station SBS for all these years. The frequently appeared trendy expressions in IYATO, as the concentrated embodiment of Chinese popular culture, are the significant and inevitable difficulties to the interlingual subtitling of the show. On the premise that the trendy expressions in the text are regarded as Extralinguistic Culture-bound References (ECRs) (Pedersen, 2005, 2011), by employing the systematic translation strategy and influencing parameter proposed by Jan Pedersen (2005, 2011) for rendering and analyzing ECRs in audiovisual works, this paper aims to investigate the specific solution adopted by the subtitler in the translation of typical trendy expression cases in the latest season of the show, so as to bring inspiration and reference to the Chinese-to-English interlingual subtitling of the language-intensive shows in the future.

Exploring local meaning-making resources

This study examines various combinations of visual and textual meaning-making resources in a popular Chinese meme. The meme features an exogenous image – the grinning facial expression of a U.S. wrestler, D’Angelo Dinero – that has been recontextualized into numerous other visual texts, to create semiotic ensembles with local meanings, which are then distributed across Chinese social media platforms. We analyzed 60 of these image macros, and our findings show that local meanings are created when Dinero’s facial expression is blended with visual references to Chinese digital culture, Chinese popular culture, Chinese social class issues, Chinese politics, and Chinese institutions. The majority of textual elements in the image macros are Chinese; however, the handful of examples that also include other languages typically involve multilingual wordplay and carnivalesque themes. We argue that although the multivalency of the wrestlers’ facial expression invites interpretations of a wide range of affective meanings, an overarching rebellious or transgressive stance is consistent across individual texts.

Constructing identities and negotiating ideologies with Chinese popular culture in adult Mandarin learning

Despite the emergence of Chinese as a global language, little research has been done to explore how learners of Chinese as an Additional Language (CAL), and Mandarin specifically, utilize semiotic resources in Chinese popular culture to negotiate their own and others’ language ideologies and identities. This study argues that popular culture is a rich site for ideological and identity work in which four sorts of questions can be explored: (1) Which language(s)? (2) Whose language? (3) Which texts and discourses? (4) What social implications? Employing this framework, this study draws on three focal adult participants’ reported experiences of engaging with Chinese popular culture as a means of improving their Mandarin proficiency. We discuss such themes as gender and heritage learner identity, and political ideologies and dispositions arising from the study. We conclude, briefly, with some implications for Chinese language education and for future research on this topic.

Epilogue

In the new millennium, Cantopop has been overtaken by Mandapop as the trendsetter of pan-Chinese popular culture. The rise of a global Chinese music industry and media and the subsequent loss of the hybridity of Cantopop is the major reason behind its decline. Cantopop, some say, have been replaced by ‘local’ pop – including Mandapop, Japanese, Korean and English pop songs. While there would be possible hybridity of these genres, the survival of a more diversified Cantopop can contribute to the development of Hong Kong and the Chinese music industry. This chapter discusses the possibility of a “new” Cantopop in this context.

Public Attitudes toward an Emerging China in Latin America

In the past two decades, China has substantially increased its economic presence in Latin America. The impressive rate of economic growth in China has resulted in a voracious appetite for Latin American commodities and energy sources. China has also become a major investor in the region, and has loaned billions of dollars to Latin American countries. This paper evaluates how aware Latin American citizens are of this increased economic presence of China, and also studies citizens’ attitudes toward the rising influence of China in Latin America. Public attitudes toward the Chinese economic and political model, and evaluations of the Chinese popular culture are also presented and discussed. The evidence suggests that the image of China is improving in Latin America as a result of its new economic role in the region. However, Chinese soft power faces several limitations in the region. The Chinese political and economic models, and the Chinese popular culture are still not very attractive in Latin America.

Rethinking China’s Soft Power

What has been dubbed “China’s rise” has been met with trepidation or outright fear. The increasing economic and political power of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is often read as a harbinger of the West’s imminent decline, and as a threat to a Western dominated global order. To match its growing ‘hard’ power, leaders in China have outlined intentions to cultivate the country’s soft power, or its appeal and influence globally. These efforts too have been read in largely negative terms in a body of literature that has sprung up around Chinese soft power. Yet, these works tend to assume negative implications without being grounded in empirical research. The contributors to this issue were tasked with reconsidering China’s soft power in the light of research which attends to the ideas and practices of its mediums – mediums such as the expansion of China’s global media network, the opening of Confucius Institutes around the world, and the increasing presence of Chinese popular culture in global forums. This introduction, in particular, considers some of the lessons that considerations of Chinese soft power can learn from the field of global studies.