Volume 44, Issue 2

This article compares recent multilingual (auto)ethnobotanical books from Tanzania, Thailand, and Taiwan in terms of the role that the “insider translator” might play in linguistic, cultural, or environmental conservation or development. The books were motivated by similar concerns, but differed in the backgrounds of the authors, including translators and compilers. How did the backgrounds of the authors – as cultural outsiders or insiders – condition the form and content of the (auto)ethnobotanical books? What approach to authorship might be most effective for achieving the intended aims of the (auto)ethnobotanists? Based on textual analysis, interviews, and fieldwork, the main findings are as follows. The interlingual translation in the Tanzanian and Thai cases was unidirectional out of the local language, because the compilers, who were outsiders, were more concerned about the conservation of endangered languages, cultures, and environments. There was no division of labor between compiler and translator in the Taiwanese case, and the translation was bidirectional, because the authors were committed to the development of their language. It stands to reason that an autoethnobotanical effort, one made by cultural insiders, to conserve traditional plant knowledge or develop an ancestral language would be more effective than an ethnobotanical one; but the long-term effectiveness of any of the multilingual (auto)ethnobotanical books needs further comparative research.

This article explores the impact of market-driven corporate philanthropy on educational institutions and their social actors, with a focus on how ideas of English and women’s empowerment become institutionally entrenched with subject-making processes in the context of higher education in Bangladesh. While questions about how late capitalism as a global phenomenon shapes language education policy and practice have been raised and discussed widely within the applied linguistics and sociolinguistic literature, we argue that there has been less academic attention to how these logics penetrate institutions of higher education through partnerships between private universities, local governments, work industry and multinational philanthropic organisations. The potential social cost of accepting the offer or seeking social responsibility from the philanthrocapitalists for educational institutions, particularly for women in the Global South, has also evaded scholarly scrutiny in the language disciplines. Drawing from an ethnographic study of a group of women garment workers from socio-economically less privileged backgrounds studying in a private international university, the article addresses these gaps by examining the communicative modelling of the social persona of an “empowered woman”, with attention to the affects and effects involved in the process.

While language dominance has been crucial in the study of bilingualism, recent research has called for more detailed measures to systematically account for the observation that bilinguals use different languages in different domains, a phenomenon formalized in the Complementary Principle. Few studies have systematically measured these language–domain relationships. Addressing these gaps, this study employs a novel, mixed-methods approach to identify the links between domain (i.e., topic) and language and to examine the effect of language dominance on language–domain relationships. Spanish–English bilinguals in the U.S. ( N  = 443) responded to open-ended prompts about the topics they discuss in each of their two languages and when code-switching. A qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify relevant topic categories and examine the relationships between topic and language. Subsequent analysis examined variability in language-domain mappings of bilinguals from across the language dominance continuum. Results showed that Spanish was most associated with topics of family and day-to-day life and English with academics and work. Little differentiation in language–domain mappings was found between English-dominant, Spanish-dominant, and balanced bilinguals. Findings are discussed with a focus on the methodological contributions and the implications for integrating the Complementary Principle in measures of language dominance.

The use of English in advertising across non-English-speaking countries is pervasive, often seen as a strategy to evoke prestige, modernity, and global appeal. However, its effectiveness may depend on factors such as text length, linguistic complexity, and local language use, which remain underexplored. This study investigates how Spanish and Polish consumers respond to English-language advertisements of varying lengths (for a cream, a watch, and a perfume) featured in women’s glossy magazines, examining whether English is as effective as often assumed or if its impact is moderated by these factors. The study involved 210 university students: 105 from the Catholic University of Murcia (Spain) and 105 from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (Poland). Findings reveal that while both Spanish and Polish participants generally favored advertisements primarily or partially in English (i.e., code-mixed) over those solely in their native languages, this preference did not consistently enhance their evaluations of the advertised products. Products were rated more favorably when presented in the native language, especially in longer, more linguistically complex ads. By contrast, shorter ads elicited more positive attitudes towards the product when English was used. These findings suggest that the symbolic appeal of English interacts with linguistic complexity and cultural factors, indicating that English is not universally effective in advertising. While English remains attractive to consumers, its use should be balanced with considerations of clarity, comprehension, and the cultural resonance of the local language to avoid undermining advertising effectiveness. Results highlight the nuanced role of English in advertising, challenging assumptions about its universal appeal and providing insights into designing multilingual campaigns that resonate with diverse audiences across Europe.

This article investigates the performability of in-yer-face theater that is recontextualized from the British to the Chinese context. We propose an interdisciplinary approach that uses sociolinguistic tools to empirically examine relevant issues for theater translation studies. By analyzing audience reactions from both online and offline platforms, we find that different audiences in China link this form of theater to context-specific indexical meanings . Our study reveals that Chinese audiences associate in-yer-face theater with the social persona of the wenyi qingnian  – a stereotype of a pretentious youth with niche interests in the arts – and with socially transgressive ‘tastes’ referred to as zhong kouwei “heavy taste” and da chidu “overboard”. Because of the mixed attitudes among various stakeholders, the findings underscore the controversial nature of in-yer-face theater in China, as it is neither fully accepted nor fully rejected. By focusing on audience perception and interpretation, our study enriches the broader understanding of theater translation. We hope this study could provide a foundation for navigating the complex field of indexicality and performability for in-yer-face theater in China.