Tomorrow? Jayaji! (자야지)

Abstract

Translanguaging refers to the dynamic meaning-making process whereby multilingual language users make full use of their communicative repertoires by crossing the boundaries between named languages and other semiotic and modal resources (García and Li 2014). Director Bong Joon-ho is well-known for utilising such border-crossing practices in his films, specifically, for his strategic and creative use of multiple languages and translation. He also extends this practice to his live interviews where an interpreter is usually present. This article focuses on understanding Director Bong Joon-ho’s translanguaging practices in interviews. It first examines how he communicates through translanguaging and for what purposes, and secondly how he and his interpreter collaboratively and strategically make use of translation as translanguaging. Through the study, we wish to make the case for (a) approaching translation as collaborative translanguaging practices and an act of democratisation, and (b) understanding translanguaging practices in connection with speakers’ positioning and experience in navigating values and ways of speaking which may be culturally and linguistically specific. These translanguaging practices provide powerful arguments against any assertion that named languages exist as separate and discrete systems, challenge the default position of English as the lingua franca in global communication, and offer a corrective to the prestige and power associated with English.