Taiwanese Hot Dog: Exploring commercial multilingualism in Lleida
Over the last decades of the 20th century, and more so in the 21st, the adoption and assimilation of English as the international language in various civilizations has demonstrated a notorious influence on the public language practices, particularly in non-English-speaking societies, like Catalonia, where the contact and competition between local and global languages like English is more and more visible (Llurda & Mancho-Barés, 2021). Such influence has extended beyond the various contexts in which English is used usually (academia, businesses…) to more basic items including words and images exposed in public spaces via banners, posters, handwritten notes, and other "public communicative inscriptions" that we called linguistic landscapes (LL) (Shohamy & Gorter, 2008). Having said this, the project that follows aims to trace the Englishization of the city of Lleida by observing how the English language is taking ground and assuming its position and accommodation within Lleida streets’ culture.
The linguistic landscape (LL) selected in this project is a chalkboard advertisement located in Lleida (Catalonia, Spain). Due to the bustling commercial, social, and cultural life in the city centre where we found it, this area is vibrant and changing sociolinguistically. The LL chosen is named ‘Taiwanese Hot Dog’ as it summarises the message that is wanted to be sent to the public. The primary use of a chalkboard is to easily and inexpensively communicate a message to a large audience, in this case, an advertisement scribbled on a chalkboard. These signs are utilised for branding, advertising, and selling objectives by various business types and they offer versatility regarding their size, shape, visual aids, and designs.
The linguistic token that will be analysed is a multilingual and commercial chalkboard from a restaurant called ‘kawaii’ (from Japanese "nice", "soft"). In this LL token we can find English used as the dominant language, we notice this in “Hot Dog” (see figure 5) because the size of the words are bigger. Also because it is used more than the other languages (Spanish, Chinese and Korean) as we see words like “new” and “delicious” apart from the word “Hot Dog” (see figure 5). As said, we can see Spanish (“al estilo de TAIWÁN” and “DELICIOSO”), Chinese (“可口的” which means delicious) and Korean (“맛있는” which also means delicious) as secondary languages. They are used in the standard form as we cannot find any heterography in them. As the languages presented in the chalkboard use the Roman, Han and Hangul alphabet, we will say that this chalkboard is polyglossic with a bottom-up production as it is created by citizens, in this case by kawaii’s owners, therefore it is a non-official language policy. Its activity domain is hospitality.
According to Sabaté Dalmau (2023), the creator of the project of which this work will be a part, the principal goals of this project require, on the one hand, students to reflect on and critically analyse the linguistic diversity and to focus on English as a Lingua Franca for international communication. It is important to give them knowledge about the local and international languages that are in contact in Lleida. On the other hand, to understand how to do sociolinguistics research using collaborative knowledge technologies (particularly, Technologies of Knowledge Acquisition, TAK, and Technologies of Empowerment and Participation, TEP), in this case, a blog or a map (both public).
Our main objective is to demonstrate the incorporation of English into the commercial realm in Lleida, it being associated with cosmopolitanism and internationalisation of the people, in this case, Chinese and Korean people making Taiwanese food in Lleida and using different language repertoires to accomplish their aim: being as much known as possible (commercial purposes).
CONTEXTUALISATION
Our linguistic landscape alludes to various relationships concerning the city's Catalan/Spanish bilingual community's use of English in commercial advertising services and the rise of local internationals (like tourists) interested in and investing in international (fast) food. If we take into account the area where it was discovered, the city's major thoroughfare for commerce, we must provide an accurate description of the type of commerce and the type of social groups that inhabit it, encompassing the various traits that enable the locals to create a depiction of the overall multiculturalism present in Lleida.
The selected token is situated on Plaça Sant Joan, 30 in the oldest and most renowned area of the city, Centre Històric (see Figure 1). It is connected with the most profitable street in Spain (Paeria, 2023): the Carrer Major (see Figure 2). In fact, approximately 9,300 pedestrians wandered through this street daily in 2022 (Paeria, 2023). If we summarise the neighbourhood's characteristics throughout the analysis, registers and censuses of many studies, we will recognise that, according to municipal data, 44.81% of the neighbourhood's residents are foreigners (Sabaté Dalmau, 2023 as stated in Paeria, 2013). This will both explicitly and obliquely refer to the numerous languages and cultures that are present in the same area of a community. Since then, the region has seen an increase in the number of non-native speakers, mostly migrants and tourists. As a result, the existence of numerous languages, mostly English, within a single community suggests a significant role in contemporary society.
Figure 1. Map of the neighbourhood.
Source: Sabaté Dalmau (2023). https://www.gifex.com/Europa/Espana/Cataluna/Lerida/Lerida/Politicos.html
Figure 2. Street view map of its surroundings. Source: Photo taken by the authors on 02/03/2023.
The linguistic landscape was spotted in front of Kawaii, a new Asian restaurant, that explains the presence of Korean and Chinese hospitality services caterers since Kawaii is employed as an indexical of Japanese or Taiwanese food in Catalonia, as there are several restaurants with the same name, e.g., in Barcelona and Igualada. In 2001, a wave of migration led to a significant increase in the population of this particular area. Low-income immigrants were drawn to this neighbourhood by the affordable rent, and between 2001 and 2011, a 10-year period, 4,000 immigrants became citizens. The town council of Lleida has made an effort to raise the area's standing by putting social and economic policies into effect that are meant to encourage the revitalisation of the area's socioeconomic situation and culture (Cerezuela, 2016), trying to economically make the zone dynamic and modernised.
Last but not least, it is important to note that the business under research sells a variety of products, some of which include hot dogs, which are advertised on the chalkboard, milkshakes, bubble tea, and other items that are typically American and Asian. However, the majority of these international products are written in English (see Analysis section below), raising concerns about the growing influence of English and the effects of globalisation on Catalan culture.
To analyse this linguistic token, we have adopted a critical sociolinguistic approach, which means investigating and identifying linguistic landscape tokens in public spaces looking into them from society's point of view that is, into what they tell us about the social meanings of using English to sell international food services. This is accomplished via ethnographic observation, this way we can observe our token in its natural surroundings making us see its context and making us experience local and global languages in contact in a particular time and space. The first visit was on 17/02/2023 at 03:37 p.m. We were walking around Carrer Major explicitly looking for LLs and this token caught our attention. It is a new establishment in Lleida (in 2021/22), therefore we have noticed it but we did not pay much attention to it and to the variety of languages used there until we started this project. On this first visit, we took the first picture (see “Figure 5”). The second visit was on 02/03/2023 at 04:13 pm, in this visit we took pictures of the surroundings (see “Figure 3”) for the moment everything was the same.
On the third visit, 07/03/2023 at 05:27 p.m., we went explicitly to observe and listen to the users and servers, through fieldwork. We noticed plenty of people as we were there for the first time after 05:00 p.m. (the establishments’ opening time). Outside we saw migrants and locals but we were interested about the inside so as to prove if the multilingual and multiculturality on the chalkboard is also present in the establishment. Then we found that in this establishment they use mostly Spanish with the customers and Chinese and Korean between themselves. We asked them about English as they used it a lot on the chalkboard but we did not notice it in the establishment. They answered that they only use English with tourists and in advertisements as they claim to use simple words that are widely known so as to be international. In our words, they claimed to use only "advertising English", for selling/branding-making purposes, as attention gatherers, accessible to both users and non-English users. As we were in the interior of the restaurant we also saw that there was multiculturality among customers. There was a Romanian couple at the tables outside (see “Figure 3”) who was speaking Romanian and also a group of friends talking in Catalan and Spanish.
As we have previously said, our LL token is situated in Lleida, Catalonia, an autonomous bilingual community in Spain, where two languages—Spanish as the lingua franca and nation-state language and Catalan as a minoritized vernacular language—coexist (Estatut d'autonomia de Catalunya, 2016). In order to control the usage of Catalan, the Ajuntament de Lleida (2014) produced a bulletin with top-down policies. According to Article 14, all types of public signage must normally be written in Catalan. Article 17.2 states that advertising outside of the linguistic field must be in a bilingual version, either in Spanish or Catalan depending on the target territory (Ajuntament de Lleida, 2014).
Yet, because the decision regarding which languages to utilise in the establishment is made by its owners as individual business people, our LL token is recognised as a bottom-up rather than a top-down language policy. An establishment has the authority to choose what it wants to do when it creates an advertisement. In our LL token, we can see how they choose to utilise English as the primary language while simultaneously using Spanish, one of the territory's official languages between others (Chinese and Korean). Here, we can observe their attempts to interact with Lleida's top-down policy. Also, we observe that English serves as the primary language in their commercial endeavour. As English is not the official language in the region but is a popular and effective language on a global scale, it is clear from this that they have chosen to utilise a multilingualism strategy for advertising (commercial multilingualism) (Eldelman & Gorter, 2010). Advertising in English and the usage of the language is more of a linguistic fetish than a useful tool for marketing. In other words, it is a tactic the establishment employed to present itself as modern, global and cosmopolitan (Cenoz & Gorter, 2009).
Figure 5. LL token. Source: Photo taken by the authors (17/2/2023).
According to the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia (2023), our LL of choice (see “Figure 5”) unveils a multiplicity of values. On the one hand, it reveals an aesthetic effort for the name of the commerce has been carefully thought of. A variety of colours (red, pink, and white) and typographies, namely, capital-letters and exclamation marks, have been incorporated into its design to make it more visually engaging. Furthermore, three different alphabets - Roman, Hangul and Han - and three different codes - Spanish, Korean and Chinese - appear alongside. The preeminence of multimodality semiotically conveys the willingness to talk to the world, for instance, note the usage of different alphabets in a connotational manner (“Delicious”) to target different communities of speakers.
This arrangement is not arbitrary, but rather it illustrates a will to target different ethnolinguistic communities thus, it also indexes two sorts of identity. On the one hand, Taiwanese identity comes to the fore as the business defines itself as Taiwanese. On the other hand, there are hints of Spanish identity too as part of the title is circulated in Spanish (“al estilo de Taiwán”) so as to target Spanish readers. The greater the number of potential clients that are targeted, the better. Consequently, it could be adduced that while this LL encompasses identity traits and an aesthetic effort, the productivity value is integral to it.
At first glance, this LL could be conceived of as a linguistic chaos as languages are scrambled across the chalkboard with no apparent syntony nor structure. Nevertheless, there is an underlying linguistic hierarchy. Note the preeminence of English in “Hot dog”, “new”, and “Delicious!”. Additional information regarding the hot dog is circulated in Spanish: “al estilo de TAIWÁN”. Korean (“맛있는”), Chinese (“可口的”), and once again (Spanish: “Delicioso!”) convey the very same notion of deliciousness in different codes in order to make it transparent to locals. This linguistic ensemble puts forward the idea that English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean are landmarks of societal organisation. The inclusion of Spanish in detriment of the nonappearance of Catalan in a Catalan city might illustrate how Spanish is higher in the linguistic ladder and relishes in greater status, at least in the commercial realm. There is a latent transgressiveness in the mobilisation of Korean and Chinese as they index a will to surpass the overshadowing of immigrant voices. Thus, this LL could be perceived as a scene of confrontation and competition between codes imposed by language policies and immigrant-mediated linguistic repertoires. This scenario goes to show how demographic and socioeconomic transformations permeate in an area’s linguistic mosaic. One piece of chalkboard may contribute to the storytelling of Lleida’s societal/linguistic organisation.
The interference of English borrowings in this particular multilingual setting puts forward the conception that English is accommodating into the Catalan language, and it does so in contact with other foreign languages, namely, Korean and Chinese. English as a lingua franca permeates in Lleida’s society as a result of increased mobility and globalisation. The product per se (the Taiwanese Hot Dog) is advertised in English. This preeminence showcases the supremacy of the English language in the commercial realm, particularly, in fast food chains. Associations between English and economic profit come to the fore, namely, by the inclusion of attention-gatherers/linguistic fetishes in English (“new”) as commercial strategies. This brings us to the realisation that it is not conversational multilingualism that is at stake, but rather commercial. The English employed is market-oriented, that is, it does not pursue a communicative aim but rather it a profit-making one. In this case-study, the commercial multilingual practices take a root at the notions of uniqueness and exoticism. Crupi and Vicat-Cole (n.d.) claim that East Asian restaurants in Lausanne play with the constructedness of East Asian identities through language and “ethnically based themes” to make a profit. Within the hospitality domain, multilingualism is marketed in an attempt to “exploit linguistic difference” and commercialise the experience of gaining insight into a foreign culture, in this case, Taiwanese culture through its cuisine. That is why alphabets and foreign expressions are advertised and highlighted under commercial purposes (Edelman & Gorter, 2010).
Solidarity and identity come to the fore as relevant quids by the mere inclusion of Korean and Chinese in the menu. Migrant-regulated commerce targets particular social groups through an act of linguistic identity. This space, this restaurant, undergoes a transformational process and becomes a symbolically-constructed place (King & Carson, 2016) for those who align with the identities projected, that is, national, cultural and linguistic pride through the marketing of Asian gastronomy. Therefore, this LL is a relevant discourse maker that prompts acts of identity and alliances of minority languages in light of globalisation and mobilisation.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
All in all, this collaborative ethnographic project has enabled us, students, to not only engage in, but also to lead a citizenship sociolinguistics task. Through participatory research, by directly observing, analysing, and photographing an LL, we have become linguistically aware of our immediate surroundings. We have undergone a metareflection on the diversity of languages that fledge our society and their social uses.
We have taken into account the pervasiveness of English as a lingua franca and we have directly observed to which degree does ELF materialise in Lleida’s society. Moreover, we have come to understand from a critical point of view the social meanings and the commercial implications that LLs display in our city. Therefore, it can be asserted that LLs make an enriching pedagogical tool as they empower non-experts to become competent observers. This change in paradigm bestows students, traditional knowledge-receivers, with the ability to grow into disseminators of knowledge. Thus, LLs align with TEP (Technology of Empowerment and Participation) and TKA (Technology of Knowledge Acquisition) as they foster students' curiosity and allow them to make real connections between lecture theory and the world.
REFERENCES and WEB SOURCES
Ajuntament de Lleida. (2014). Butlletí Oficial de la Província de Lleida. Número 212. Retrieved from http://bop.diputaciolleida.cat/faces/consultaF/servlets/donarEdicte/?id=2014_212_9251
Cerezuela Sanjulián, A. (2016). Dinàmica i estructura comercial al cor del Centre Històric de Lleida (Bachelor's thesis). http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/57031
Crupi, S., & Vicat-Cole, C. The Hospitality Industry in Lausanne: Attraction of Ethnicity and Commercial Multilingualism.
Durk Gorter, & J. Cenoz. (2009). Language economy and linguistic landscape economy and linguistic landscape. In: E. Shohamy & D. Gorter (eds.), Linguistic landscape: Expanding the scenery (55-69). New York / London: Routledge.
Edelman, L., & Gorter, D. (2010). Linguistic landscapes and the market. Language and the Market, 96-108.
King, L., & Carson, L. (Eds.). (2016). The multilingual city: Vitality, conflict and change. Multilingual Matters.
The Landscape Observatory of Catalonia. (2023). Glossary. The Landscape Observatory of Catalonia. http://catpaisatge.net/eng/glossari.php?idglossari=#g
Paeria. (2023). 25 anys de l’Oficina de Turisme de Lleida al carrer Major. (n.d.). La Paeria - Ajuntament De Lleida. Https: //www.paeria.cat/ca/actualitat/noticies/25-anys-de-l2019oficina-de-turisme-de-lleida-al-carrer-major
Parlament de Catalunya (2016). Estatut d'autonomia de Catalunya. Barcelona.
Sabaté, M. (2023). Project Information_Assessments_Steps_Outcome. Universitat de Lleida. https://cv.udl.cat/access/content/group/101266-2223/Part%20A%20Sociolinguistics/Project%20Localising%20English%20in%20Lleida/Project%20Information_Assessment_Steps_Outcome.pdf
Shohamy, E., & Gorter, D. (eds.). (2008). Linguistic Landscape. Expanding the Scenery [New York, Routledge. Retrieved from https://api.taylorfrancis.com/content/books/mono/download? identifierName=doi&identifierValue=10.4324/9780203930960&type=googlepdf
Comments
Post a Comment