Self-translation for tapping into affinity with Chineseness: The case of a badminton athlete

This study aims to investigate how Viktor Axelsen, one of the world's most renowned badminton players, employs self-translation via Instagram to forge a stronger bond and affinity with the Chinese-speaking audience. We use ambient affiliation and appraisal frameworks to analyse the athlete's communing approaches. We have identified six approaches characteristic of his online communing: Entertaining, Embodying, Endorsing, Empathising, Encouraging, and Ensuring. The nonequivalence of his horizontal English to Chinese self-translation, as evidenced by the shift in communing approaches, points to an unstable self-epistemology that enriches the self-translator's life experience. This requires the self-translator to adopt a different voice and persona, thereby contributing to the expansion of their ambient affiliation and the overwhelming positive couplings of ideational and interpersonal meaning. •Self-translation can be employed to gain ambient affiliation. •Axelsen's communing approaches are used to engage with Chinese-speaking audiences. •Affiliation and Appraisal can elicit affiliation strategies.