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'Never Seen Chinese People and Korean People Try to Learn Each Other's Language so Hard': Scaling Multilingualism and Digital Nationalism in Transnational Online Conflict

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Title: 'Never Seen Chinese People and Korean People Try to Learn Each Other's Language so Hard': Scaling Multilingualism and Digital Nationalism in Transnational Online Conflict
Language: English
Authors: Mengdi Liu, Luk Van Mensel, Robert Blackwood
Source: Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication. 2026 45(3):407-435.
Availability: De Gruyter Mouton. Available from: Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 121 High Street, Third Floor, Boston, MA 02110. Tel: 857-284-7073; Fax: 857-284-7358; e-mail: service@degruyter.com; Web site: http://www.degruyter.com
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 29
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Language Role, Language Usage, Nationalism, Computer Mediated Communication, Food, Multilingualism, Cultural Differences, Video Technology, Ownership, Culture, Web Sites, Language Attitudes, Multidimensional Scaling, Interpersonal Communication
Geographic Terms: China, South Korea
DOI: 10.1515/multi-2025-0212
ISSN: 0167-8507
1613-3684
Abstract: Although transnational digital platforms are often associated with global connectivity, they also provide powerful arenas for the interactional production of nationalism. This article examines how digital nationalism is enacted through multilingual practices in transnational online conflict. It analyzes comments on two YouTube videos by Chinese influencer Li Ziqi, whose pickle-making content sparked a Sino-Korean dispute over the origin and ownership of a pickle labelled "spicy Chinese cabbage" or "kimchi". Drawing on sociolinguistic scaling as a critical metapragmatic approach, this paper shows how participants mobilize the "scope" and "value" of linguistic resources through code choice, code-switching, code emplacement, and metalinguistic commentary to negotiate stance, visibility, legitimacy, and belonging before heterogeneous audiences. The analysis demonstrates that digital nationalism is not merely the online expression of pre-existing identities, but a situated performance through which national boundaries and broader global center-periphery hierarchies are constructed, contested, and reconfigured. It further shows that polarization in transnational conflict is non-linear: rather than producing a fixed "us versus them" dichotomy, participants repeatedly rescale these categories, expanding "us" toward broader witness, arbiter, and ally publics while narrowing "them" as a more isolated out-group. Multilingualism functions as both a communicative resource and a symbolic battleground in the co-production of nationalism, belonging, and hierarchy in everyday online interaction.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1508896
Database: ERIC
FullText Text:
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  Data: 'Never Seen Chinese People and Korean People Try to Learn Each Other's Language so Hard': Scaling Multilingualism and Digital Nationalism in Transnational Online Conflict
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Mengdi+Liu%22">Mengdi Liu</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Luk+Van+Mensel%22">Luk Van Mensel</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Robert+Blackwood%22">Robert Blackwood</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Multilingua%3A+Journal+of+Cross-Cultural+and+Interlanguage+Communication%22"><i>Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication</i></searchLink>. 2026 45(3):407-435.
– Name: Avail
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  Data: De Gruyter Mouton. Available from: Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 121 High Street, Third Floor, Boston, MA 02110. Tel: 857-284-7073; Fax: 857-284-7358; e-mail: service@degruyter.com; Web site: http://www.degruyter.com
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  Data: Y
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  Data: 29
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  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+Role%22">Language Role</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+Usage%22">Language Usage</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Nationalism%22">Nationalism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+Mediated+Communication%22">Computer Mediated Communication</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Food%22">Food</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Multilingualism%22">Multilingualism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cultural+Differences%22">Cultural Differences</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Video+Technology%22">Video Technology</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ownership%22">Ownership</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Culture%22">Culture</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Web+Sites%22">Web Sites</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+Attitudes%22">Language Attitudes</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Multidimensional+Scaling%22">Multidimensional Scaling</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Interpersonal+Communication%22">Interpersonal Communication</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22China%22">China</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22South+Korea%22">South Korea</searchLink>
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  Data: 10.1515/multi-2025-0212
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  Data: 0167-8507<br />1613-3684
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Although transnational digital platforms are often associated with global connectivity, they also provide powerful arenas for the interactional production of nationalism. This article examines how digital nationalism is enacted through multilingual practices in transnational online conflict. It analyzes comments on two YouTube videos by Chinese influencer Li Ziqi, whose pickle-making content sparked a Sino-Korean dispute over the origin and ownership of a pickle labelled "spicy Chinese cabbage" or "kimchi". Drawing on sociolinguistic scaling as a critical metapragmatic approach, this paper shows how participants mobilize the "scope" and "value" of linguistic resources through code choice, code-switching, code emplacement, and metalinguistic commentary to negotiate stance, visibility, legitimacy, and belonging before heterogeneous audiences. The analysis demonstrates that digital nationalism is not merely the online expression of pre-existing identities, but a situated performance through which national boundaries and broader global center-periphery hierarchies are constructed, contested, and reconfigured. It further shows that polarization in transnational conflict is non-linear: rather than producing a fixed "us versus them" dichotomy, participants repeatedly rescale these categories, expanding "us" toward broader witness, arbiter, and ally publics while narrowing "them" as a more isolated out-group. Multilingualism functions as both a communicative resource and a symbolic battleground in the co-production of nationalism, belonging, and hierarchy in everyday online interaction.
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      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Language Role
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      – SubjectFull: Language Usage
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      – SubjectFull: Nationalism
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      – SubjectFull: Computer Mediated Communication
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      – SubjectFull: Cultural Differences
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      – SubjectFull: Video Technology
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      – SubjectFull: Ownership
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      – SubjectFull: Culture
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      – SubjectFull: Web Sites
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      – SubjectFull: Language Attitudes
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      – SubjectFull: China
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      – SubjectFull: South Korea
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