#4006. Enacting multilingual entrepreneurship: an ethnography of Myanmar university students learning Chinese as an international language

September 2026publication date
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Journal’s subject area:
Language and Linguistics;
Linguistics and Language;
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Abstract:
This study extends the field of inquiry of neoliberal language learning by exploring Chinese as an international language. Based on a large-scale ethnography of university students conducted between September 20XX and July 20XX, this paper reports on a qualitative inquiry on how the neoliberal discourse permeates students’ language exploitation to enhance their worth and maximise their opportunities. Findings show that learning constitutes the formation of a neoliberal self through the valorisation of multilingual competence. However, the study demonstrates that the enactment of multilingual entrepreneurship only values certain languages, which aligns with the neoliberal logic of convertibility for communication market. The study also reveals that access to entrepreneurial ambitions through learning opportunities is largely constrained by citizenship status, socioeconomic conditions, and the fast-evolving demands of linguistic markets within and across national boundaries. The study concludes with some implications for language policy and language education.
Keywords:
Chinese; language learning; linguistic entrepreneurship; multilingualism; Neoliberalism

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