IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Sep 2024 Open Access

Positive Evaluation in the Translation of Online Promotional Discourse in the Cheese Industry

Belén Labrador ; Noelia Ramón

Abstract

Background: The bulk of international trade has led to increasing demand for specialized professional communication texts in multilingual contexts. Persuasive language is required in promotional discourse to sell products. When transactions are carried out with foreign countries, translation becomes essential for successful commercial exchange. Literature review: Persuasion requires the use of positive evaluation to describe products. This article addresses the need to contrast the expression of positive evaluation in English and Spanish online promotional cheese descriptions. Research questions: 1. What are the linguistic resources used to express positive evaluation in English and Spanish in online promotional texts of the cheese industry? 2. What is the distribution across parts of speech and semantic categories and subcategories between these two languages? 3. How can semantic tags in bilingual comparable corpora provide useful information for translation practice? Methodology: Empirical data have been extracted from Online Cheese Descriptions (OCD), a semantically tagged English-Spanish corpus, and classified using the Appraisal Framework into the subcategories of appreciation, judgment, affect, and graduation. Results and discussion: Tests of statistical significance have revealed cross-linguistic differences, mainly in appreciation, thus leading to a qualitative analysis. The findings also include a large inventory of all evaluative items that express appreciation for cheeses in both languages and general guidelines for translators. Conclusions: This multilayer corpus-based analysis has yielded relevant data that can be used to enhance the second-language writing and translation processes required for marketing cheese in English and Spanish, thus supporting international professionals in their communication in multilingual contexts.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
2024-09-01
DOI
10.1109/tpc.2024.3417056
CompPile
Open Access
OA PDF Green
Topics
discourse analysis argument assessment professional writing multilingual writers grammar and mechanics affect and writing book reviews
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Ishizaki et al. (2026)
    From Sensory to Narrative: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Wine-Tasting Notes in Int…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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