Translanguaging and multimodality in workplace texts and writing

Abstract

Professionals working in international companies in Sweden are expected to speak, read, and write in Swedish and English in their daily work. This article discusses professional writing in different languages. Through the use of methods from linguistic ethnography, we aim to enrich the understanding of workplace literacy by studying writing and texts in multilingual business contexts. Our results show that professionals are expected to navigate between a translanguaging mode and a more monolingual mode in everyday communication. Also, when they opt for producing monolingual texts, literacy practices that surround those texts are often multilingual. Moreover, they imagine a future, secondary audience for their texts, often resulting in the choice of English for reaching out, or in the choice of Swedish as a way of keeping matters local. Knowing when to choose a translanguaging mode or a more monolingual mode is a necessary skill or competence in this type of workplace. Our results also show that the use of multimodal resources includes the material placement of texts, and that old materialities such as pen and paper are still essential. Different linguistic and semiotic resources are used, including resources from academic, business and personal discourse.

Tekniikan asiantuntijat jäsentämässä työpaikan saksalais-suomalaista viestintää

“…Yllätyksenä tapahtunut avaintapahtuma muutti primäärivuorovaikutuksen sekundäärivuorovaikutukseksi (Scollon & Scollon 2004) ja aiheutti Pekalle huolta kielellisen resurssin riittämisestä uudessa tilanteessa. Esimies-alaissuhteen vuorovaikutuksessa työntekijä voi herkemmin kokea vieraalla kielellä kommunikoidessaan epävarmuutta kielellisistä resursseistaan, vaikka sitä ei muussa yhteydessä esiintyisikään (Jonsson & Blåsjö 2020). Kun identiteetti ymmärretään vuorovaikutuskontekstissa kielenkäytön avulla tuotetuksi itsensä asemoinniksi, jonka tavoitteena on tulla tunnustetuksi ja hyväksytyksi yksilönä (Gee 2000), siitä on johdettavissa, miksi Pekka päätyi niinkin vahvaan avaintapahtumaan kuin työpaikan vaihtamiseen kokonaan toiseen yritykseen (esimerkki 3).…”

“…Esimerkit osoittavat, että vuorovaikutusjärjestykseen vaikuttavat moninaiset seikat toimijahistoriasta fyysisiin olosuhteisin. Eri kulttuuriympäristöjen kasvatit tunnistavat toistavansa omalle työkulttuurilleen tyypillistä vuorovaikutusjärjestystä (Jonsson & Blåsjö 2020). Sen lisäksi, että suomalainen toimija asemoi itse itseään (esimerkki 14), myös saksalainen kollega asemoi haastateltavaa tiettyyn positioon.…”

Workplace communication in flux: from discrete languages, text genres and conversations to complex communicative situations

“…In the direction touched upon above, from the study of discrete, established genres, there are also studies that examine the roles and mutual relationships between spoken interactions and written texts in organizational practices, such as risk analysis (Karlsson 2009b) and organizational planning (Honkanen and Nissi 2014). These studies have shown that communicative processes at workplaces are often based on multimedial practices and complex intertextual chains that use both written and spoken language (see also Jonsson and Blåsjö 2020;Karlsson and Makkonen-Craig 2014). Some works have also analysed the very position of "talk" in contemporary workplaces, paying attention to new kinds of discursive devices that aim at "discoursing" across various professional and organizational boundaries, and by so doing, oblige workers to renegotiate their professional knowledge and identity (Iedema and Scheeres 2003).…”

“…Creese et al 2017;Zhu et al 2015) and on how professionals in their writing processes often use several languages (e.g. Jonsson and Blåsjö 2020). In studies about multilingualism, questions about language policies, language ideologies, and the statuses of different languages often become relevant (e.g.…”

”I don’t know if I can share this.”

“…Digital literacy is often described as the ability to use digital media in everyday, goal-directed, activities in work, school, or leisure real-life situations (Martin, 2006;Jones & Hafner, 2012;Barton & Lee, 2016). Such situations often entail a high degree of complexity when it comes to social roles and agencies, as well as different material artefacts, and different places, i.e., sociomaterial aspects (Wilber, 2008;Kress, 2010;Björkvall & Karlsson, 2011;Bhatt & de Roock, 2013;Jonsson & Blåsjö, 2020). This line of research is often in agreement that human actions and artefacts (e.g.…”