This research …

1. TOURISTIC PROMOTION IN PARALLEL AND COMPARABLE CORPORA Differences in persuasion through Interpersonality in English and Spanish websites Francisca Suau JiménezIULMAUniversitat de ValènciaR+D Project Ref. FFI2011-24712 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación)

2. Thisresearch… • …part of the COMETVAL projectthataimstoanalysetravel and tourismwebgenresthroughdiscourse and lexis in English, Spanish, French and Arabic. • Firstattempttoanalyse comparable ones(translatedintoEnglish and Spanish) inhotel websites. • Hypothesis: iftheinterpersonalitypattern of target languageisnotconsideredfortranslation, functional and genericdamage can happen. • Implicationsforthetravel and tourismindustry: communicationwithcustomers can be disrupted and/or be inefficientifwebsites are notdesignedfollowinginterpersonalityconventions.

3. COMETVAL(Corpus Multilingüe en Turismo Universitat de València)

4. Introduction: Advertisingtourismthroughthe internet… Internet and web technologies: bestmeanstoadvertisehotels, cities, regions and countries. Websitesprovideaccurateinfowithoutintermediaries. Thiscreates a competitive image and develops customer’s satisfaction. Competition is achieved by delivering customer value through quality services (like information) (Yoke and Ab Hamid 2011).

5. Introduction: a new marketing strategyforthetourismindustry Developing a goodcustomerrelationshipthroughthe internet can increasecustomer’ssatisfaction, loyalty and retention. CRM (customerrelationshipmanagement) isthemostimportant concept in modern marketing (Kotlerand Armstrong2010). Development of Web 2.0 requires businesses to collaborate and engage with their customers through purposeful use of this technology (Greenbery 2010).

6. Redesigningwebsitesforhotels, cities and regionstomeetcustomers’ demands… The use of 2.0 websites has increasedby $10b a year online travel sales (WorldTourismOrganization –WTO- 2008). Thus, websitesneedto be redesigned and updatedto match customers’ demands. Thisalsoimpliestranslatingwebsitesintolanguagessuch as English orSpanish, tonamemajorones. Persuasionisthekeyfunctionthat has to be constantlyreassessed in terms of culture, language and genre.

7. Howinterpersonalityconveyspersuasion… Interpersonalityreliesontheauthor/readerrelationship in thetextitself and isexpressedthroughcertainmarkers (Crismoreand VandeKopple1997; Hyland 1998, 2005). Rhetoricalfunctionssuch as persuasion, evaluation, opinion, etc. are conveyedthroughthesemarkers, leadingthereadertowards a pre-determinedgenericaim. Persuasionisone of themajorfunctionsthatpermeates a variety of genreswithintravel and tourism (Mapelli 2008; Pierini 2009; Suau Jiménez 2012).

8. Theimportance of interpersonalitywhentranslatingtourismgenres… Eachlanguagedisplaysan interpersonal metadiscursivepatternbuiltupon cultural, generic and linguisticpremises. Therefore, source and target languageusuallycontaindifferentinterpersonalitypatterns and markers. Ifwebsites are notproperlytranslated, consideringthemetadiscursivepatternof the target language, they can be damaged in theircommunicativepurpose, i.e.persuasion.

9. Number and types of translationsfound in hotel websites in ourdatabase • Of 500 hotels’ websitescollected in our COMETVAL databasefromthe UK, the US, France, Spain, Canada, Chile and Argentina, only 10% offeredotherversions in majorlanguages (Spanish, English, French). • Therest of hotel websitesledtodifferentgenres (travelsearchers) ortranslatingapplicationslike: • Google translator • Booking.com • TripAdvisor, etc. forversions in otherlanguages, providingonlybasicinformation.

10. Example 1 of hotel website: TRUMP HOTEL, New Yorkhttp://www.trumphotelcollection.com/central-park/new-york-city-hotel.php

11. Exampleof TravelSearcher (Booking.com) text in SpanishforTRUMP HOTEL, New Yorkhttp://www.booking.com/hotel/us/trump-international-new-york.es.html

12. Example 2 of text in hotel website: THE SETAI, New York. http://www.lhw.com/Hotel/The-Setai-Fifth-Avenue-New-York-NY In a city where space is perhaps the most limited commodity, The Setai Fifth Avenue presents elegantly appointed accommodations that are among the largest in New York. Exoticmaterials create warmth, harmony, and a balance between modern design and intimate allure. Duxianabeds, Pratesilinens, and floor-to-ceiling rain showers leave guests breathing easy, if not breathless. Ai Fiori, from internationally acclaimed Chef Michael White, features a sophisticated Mediterranean menu. Auriga spa treatments reflect the energies of the lunar cycle and its salon offers personalizedservices. WORDS IN RED: INTERPERSONAL MARKERS CONVEYING PERSUASION

13. Example 2 of TravelSearcher (Booking.com) text in Spanishfor THE SETAI, New Yorkhttp://www.booking.com/hotel/us/the-setai-fifth-avenue.es.htmlNew York

14. Example of text in website: AGORA SPA & RESORT, Peñíscolahttp://www.agorahoteles.com/peniscola/hotel/

15. Example of TravelSearcher (Booking.com) textfor AGORA SPA & RESORT, Peñíscolahttp://www.booking.com/hotel/es/agora-spa-centro-convenciones-peniscola.html

16. Reference patternsfound in previousresearchthroughinterpersonalityin hotel websites in original language Persuasionisconveyedthroughdifferentinterpersonalitymarkers (Dafouz 2008; Mapelli 2008; Pierini 2009; Suau Jiménez 2011, 2012) : Therefore (in order of importance) . reader’spronouns, self-mention and hedgesare salient in English . boosters are salient in Spanish.

17. Methodologyfollowed in thisresearch… Hyland & Tse’s (2004) interpersonal markerstaxonomy+ specificmarkers of tourismgenresfor English and Spanish(Mapelli 2008; Pierini 2009; Suau-Jiménez 2011, 2012). Ant.Conc.3.2.4w free concordancer software. Appliedtoextractmarkersfrom COMETVAL comparable sub-corpora (translated) for English and Spanish hotel websites (100.000 words).

18. Resultsforinterpersonality in websitestranslatedinto English and Spanish

19. Differences of interpersonal markers in original and translatedtextsfor hotel websitesENGLISH

20. Differences of interpersonal markers in original and translatedtextsfor hotel websitesSPANISH

21. Discussion/Conclusion 1 • Ourresults show thatanalysedwebsitetranslations show patternsforinterpersonalitydifferentfromreferenceones. • This can disruptthewaypersuasionisconventionallyexpressed, sincethe interpersonal pattern of the target languagewasnotfollowed. • Translations must necessarily follow interpersonality principles (markers) in order to maintain the same liability level of the original interpersonal pattern in hotel websites.

22. Discussion/Conclusion 2 • Otherwise, readers/customersmay • notrecognizehowpersuasionisshownthroughthetext. • not be attracted at allby hotel information. • Unefficienttranslation of hotel websitesmaynotachievetheircommunicativeaim of conveying a messagethatattractscustomerslike original messagesdid. • Translated and original texts of hotel websites should show similar interpersonal patterns and markers, if persuasion is to be conveyed/attained.

23. Implicationsforthetourismindustry • Customers’ demands and qualityservicealsoapplyto a gooddesign of hotel websitesthatincludepragmatic and discursiveconventionslikeinterpersonality, basedongeneric and cultural principles. • Thetourismindustrymustalsotakeintoconsiderationtheappropriatetranslation of websiteswhichmany times relyonpoorapplicationslikesearchenginesor machine translatorsthat do notconsiderpragmaticaspectslikeinterpersonality. • These are aspectsthatmaycontributetoguarantee: • customers’ satisfaction, loyalty and retention. • customer relationship management (Kotler and Armstrong 2010).

24. Thanksforyourattention!!! francisca.suau@uv.es