This paper suggests a framework of separate and flexible multilingualism to describe multilingual phenomena in Macao. The aims are to capture both conventional and creative language practice and to explore what exactly is the state of multilingualism in modern Macao under the context of globalization, and more specifically how we can capture variation in multilingual practice.

The objectives are achieved by analyzing the interplay and distance between languages in multilingual texts, focusing on the multimodality and intertextuality of the texts.

The database is a collection of 300 posters for cultural and entertainment events in Macao. The distance of languages is analyzed at the unit level in multimodal texts; separate and flexible multilingualism are exemplified and further elaborated.

Multilingualism in Macao is mainly characterized by separate multilingualism, where different languages are demarcated clearly. However, Macao is undergoing a significant process of globalization, accompanied by a huge flow of people, and concomitantly flexible multilingualism is emergent and coexistent with separate multilingualism. Flexible multilingualism is often manifested in translanguaging. The various practices of translanguaging are performances of creativity and they show criticality by problematizing the widely accepted essentialist conceptions on boundaries between languages and modes.

This paper extends the framework of separate and flexible multilingualism to explain multilingual practice in general. We analyze multimodal data using a combined method of multimodality and multilingualism while focusing on the linguistic elements. The paper treats the posters as a special and less studied type of linguistic landscape in Macao, and it provides an original and realistic interpretation of the written multilingual linguistic landscape in a unique Chinese city.

This paper provides a new way of understanding multilingualism; translanguaging is broadened to account for written data. Multilingualism can be understood better by observing language-related practice in multimodal texts.