A Study on Language Management Process of Shanghai’s Crisis Communication during the COVID-19

Zheng Yongyan

Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning ›› 2021, Vol. 6 ›› Issue (3) : 14-24.

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Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning ›› 2021, Vol. 6 ›› Issue (3) : 14-24. DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20210301

A Study on Language Management Process of Shanghai’s Crisis Communication during the COVID-19

  • Zheng Yongyan
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Abstract

Shanghai as an international metropolis provides a range of multilingual public services, but these services could not fully meet the needs of crisis communication during the COVID-19 outbreak. A large number of local university students who specialize in foreign language studies voluntarily translated important information of disease control and prevention measures into multiple languages as part of the city’s crisis management. This study adopted the framework of Language Management Theory and conducted semi-structure interviews to probe into the voluntary translation activities. Findings showed that the agents of crisis communication (including community workers and multilingual translators) exercised agency and drove the crisis communication language management process through several stages of Noting→Evaluation→Adjustment and Implementation→Feedback, in a bottom-up manner. Based on the findings, a language management process model of crisis communication was proposed, in which agents co-shaped several interconnected and iterative language management cycles. Findings also revealed the conflict between the implicit English monolingual ideology and the multilingual realities of urban settings and highlighted the dialectic interaction between micro-individual agency and macro-societal structure. It is recommended that a system be established to guarantee multilingual cities’ language management for crisis communication, expand the reserve of urban multilingual talents, and match individual agency with the grassroots needs.

Key words

crisis communication / language management process model / agency / multilingual capabilities / Language Management Theory

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Zheng Yongyan. A Study on Language Management Process of Shanghai’s Crisis Communication during the COVID-19[J]. Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning. 2021, 6(3): 14-24 https://doi.org/10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20210301

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