The Chinese Messaging Application WeChat as Used by German Speakers in China.

Usage Practices, Multilingual Environments, Emojis, and Beyond

Abstract

The article presents findings on how German-speaking expatriates in China use the multi-functional messaging application WeChat. The paper is structured as follows: After the introduction (1.), in which the societal relevance of WeChat and its potential for sociolinguistic research is addressed, the current state of research is presented (2.). Subsequently, the main features of WeChat are explained (3.). After that, the method used to acquire the data on China-based German speakers’ WeChat usage is described (4.): Between Nov. 2018 and April 2019, an online survey was conducted, and answered by 208 individuals. The answers provided form the basis of the results, which are presented in the fifth section. The last section (6.) contextualizes the findings and discusses perspectives for further research. After the bibliography, an appendix is given. It provides the link to the publicly available dataset on which the presented research is based.