Translanguaging:
Key Debates and Future Directions

This lecture is co-sponsored by FAHSS, the Pre-College Japanese Program,
and the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies
Date: Monday, March 25th, 2019, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Wang Center, Lecture Hall 1

Watch: Translanguaging (Key Debates and Future Directions)

Lecture Abstract

Translanguaging has captured the imagination of linguists while raising the eyebrows of many a sceptical critic. The concept has been subject to various
uses and abuses, expositions and misunderstandings. Yet it offers immense potential for articulating the language dynamic in this age of liquid modernity
and post-multilingualism.

In this collaborative work with Li Wei (UCL), I first trace the origin of Translanguaging and highlight the salient issues and debates surrounding the concept, in particular whether and how Translanguaging differs from Code-Switching. Examples will be used to explain how Translanguaging works in both everyday and aesthetic settings. This is followed by a discussion of the theoretical implications of deploying Translanguaging as a concept for multilingual studies, with a focus on the model of dynamic bilingualism, the notion of repertoire, and the idea of intersemioticity. The talk concludes with a hypothesis on the Translanguaging Moment, positing that such Moment occurs at the confluence of (Translanguaging) Space, (Translanguaging) Instinct, and (Translanguaging) Potential — or what we call the Trialectics of Translanguaging.

About the Speaker: Tong King Lee

Tong King Lee is Associate Professor of Translation at the University of Hong Kong. He is the co-author of Translation and Translanguaging (Routledge, 2019), author of Applied Translation Studies (Palgrave, 2018), and editor of the forthcoming The Routledge Handbook of Translation and the City.