‘Tuesday, the mistress’: English relocalization by Vietnamese Facebook users

Drawing on the concept of relocalization, this study explores the ways in which English, when going digital, is relocalized by Facebook users in Vietnam. The analysis of Facebook data reveals that English relocalization practices are manifest in the repetition of English words, transliteration of English proper names to Vietnamese morphosyntax and orthography, and hybridity between Vietnamese and English. This relocalization process results in new meaning twists, making them incomprehensible to English speakers from other World Englishes circles because English is deeply integrated and embedded into the Vietnamese language system and the local sociolinguistic context. The findings provide more evidence to support the arguments that English is part of the local language. The study also suggests that English relocalization creates a playful space on Facebook where Vietnamese speakers can express themselves freely as the use of Vietnamese words or phrases is considered pejorative and offensive in the local culture.