En Busca del GOLDFISH: The Catchy English Use in Lleida


En Busca del GOLDFISH: The Catchy English Use

(for what purposes?)

in Lleida

by

Juanjo Pérez, Prosper Ogbeide, Sergi Mateo


Universitat de Lleida


Figure 1 (this goes on TOP of the picture; 'source' below: Our linguistic landscape: Poster, Source: Picture taken by authors (29/2/24)




Maria Sabaté Dalmau / Estudis Anglesos 








INTRODUCTION


For the last 50 years, the world has experienced a huge change within culture and language. This is caused by globalization which is, in fact, caused by the exponential advancement of technology. With the invention of the internet, the world saw an enormous connection within itself. This interdependence we all humans share nowadays was impossible to imagine from our grandparents. Smartphones somehow linked humankind into mixing and creating new societies.   references needed for these claims

 references? repetitive?

The chosen token we analysed is a poster found stuck to a wall and it is located in Carrer del Bisbe Messeguer, 2, in the university zone of Lleida. In our token we can see 5 different languages, Spanish, being the predominant one, and English, Japanese and French as secondary languages, meaning the poster is polyglossic using at the same time the Latin alphabet and the Hiranaga alphabet.  This poster is used for commercial purposes, in other words, its activity domain is commerce. This linguistic landscape is top-down, posted by the business owners. 

This token is a clear example of English and Japanese as a commercial means, it uses these two languages in order to create a sense of professionalism and to draw the attention of everyone (?? unclear), as Japanese is not a common language to see in the streets of Lleida. Business area? state this here







CONTEXTUALIZATION


The notion of the "golden fish" is more typically connected with mythology than with culture in particular. Various civilizations worldwide have stories and traditions about a magical or supernatural fish that fulfils wishes or signifies good fortune, which appears to be a golden fish. One of the most well-known stories about a golden fish is the Russian folktale "The Fisherman and the Golden Fish", by Alexander Pushkin (ref?). In this story, a poor fisherman captures a golden fish, and this fish, scared for his life, promises to accomplish the fisherman's desires if he promises to let him go away. In a similar way, in Eastern civilizations such as Japan, myths and stories involve specific fish, commonly carps, kois or golden fishes that have supernatural characteristics that reflect power and good fortune (refs).

In the poster we are analysing, we can see a mixture of both: the Russian folk story with characteristics of Asian culture, such as the clothes the octopus is wearing or the fishing rod itself, which is entirely made of wood. Seeing it from a commercial sight, the octopus would be the reader and the potential consumer, who has just found a discount for having a tattoo done.Moreover, our LL token is located in a historically relevant building, which is no more and no less than the first university of Catalonia and one of the oldest ones in Europe: Universitat de Lleida (Facultat de Lletres), built in the year 1300 (ref?). Its recognition and prestige made people around Europe and even from foreign countries come to visit the city, until today. This has been greatly reflected in the multilingualism and multiculturalism surrounding the University, where we can find from kebab establishments to Arabic small shops and to Asian tattoo buildings, as we can see in the following table name the table FIGURE 2; explain; and tell the exact % of YOUR neighbourhood:

                                                                                                                                                Figure 2 (Source: Sabaté-Dalmau 2024. Appendix 1)


The area where this poster was found is totally alive and is constantly undergoing sociolinguistic changes, as a result of the social and cultural activity involved in the neighborhood surrounding it: Universitat [3] (see Figure 3).


                            Figure 3 (Source: Sabaté-Dalmau 2024. Appendix 1)







METHODOLOGY


The first time we took a glance at it was on the 16th of February for a class activity just before ending the class, during 10:40 by taking a picture of it with our mobile phone. After that day after day every time we passed through that location, we always looked at it to see if it was still there since we often see it when we go to “Copisteria Low Cost”. We believe it is there to stay as well as there might be other locations where this poster could be posted since it is from a local tatter trying to bring his name out and get customers.

Figure 4 (Source: WhatsApp Image sent by Isaac to us)



A friend of ours named Isaac, a former classmate, told us that he had gone there to get a tattoo of a Y2K dragon on his right leg, honestly with an amazing result as seen in the following image in figure 4.

Isaac told us that the design and all the procedures were done by him and was very pleased with the outcome of everything. With that being said, we believe that with his catchy advertisement of the poster we found and with great reviews such as this from our colleague, the artist is doing a great job for himself and others. 

We ourselves, also went to his tattoo shop and took a good look at the facility where he makes his work and we were quite astonished at how the place looked. 

so be more academic: qualitative methodology; fieldwork trip to the placxe + visual materials...


language policies by Paeria??



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION


The poster we found in Carrer del Bisbe Messeguer in Lleida, represents how different cultures, languages and businesses come together. It uses Spanish, English, Japanese and French showing the mixes of languages as well as cultures (repetitive). The poster combines Russian and Asian styles, appealing to people with different backgrounds. mention multimodality: the use of more than one mode of communication: text + images + signs + typefaces/colours.

We believe it is meant to attract customers by using languages and cultural symbols to look professional and interesting, catching many people’s eyes the way it did ours (expression). When we looked at the poster and talked to people, we saw how it could influence what people buy. Isaac, as mentioned previously, had a good experience, showing that the poster works well in bringing in customers. The poster turns out to be of great success in displaying how different languages and cultures affect people to like, buy and interact with the artist’s message.   

VALUES? ENGLISHISATION IN LLEIDA? ADVERTISING ENGLISH? MANY KEY ASPECTS ARE MISSING. YOUTH CULTURE?





CONCLUSION


Finally, our project "Focalizing English in Lleida" demonstrates how the world has changed significantly over the previous 50 years as a result of globalization and modern technologies. This has resulted in cultural and linguistic mixes more than ever before. Our research focused on a poster in Lleida that displayed Spanish, English, Japanese, and French, demonstrating how numerous languages can be spoken in our community. (WE DO NOT EVEN KNOW IF THEY ARE SPOKEN OR JUST COMMERCIAL MULTILINGUALISM...)

The poster is located in a popular area near the university where people from all cultures interact (REPEATED SEVERAL TIMES). It's intriguing since it incorporates aspects from several civilizations, such as Russian folklore and Asian forms. This combination attracts people's attention and helps the poster stand out.

We observed that the poster achieves its purpose well since it calls customers. For example, our colleague Isaac got a tattoo after viewing the advertisement and had an excellent experience. This demonstrates how language and culture may impact individuals' decisions. Overall, our study focuses on how languages and cultures interact in our globalized world and how they influence our daily lives.











REFERENCES

ACADEMIC REFERENCES MISSING. NOT ALL REFS ARE INCLUDED IN THE MAIN TEXT...

Gené, J. M. (2006). La creació de la Universitat de Lleida 1991-1992: Aspectes Juridicolaborals (1st ed., Vol. 1). Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida.


Google. (2024.). [Google Maps Carrer del Bisbe Messeguer, 2 Parking]. Retrieved February 16, 2024, from: https://www.google.es/maps/@41.6153969,0.6185383,21z?hl=es&entry=ttu


Sabate-Dalmau, M. (2023), Handout Unit 2 [Online] Available at: https://cv.udl.cat/access/content/group/101266- 2223/Part%20A%20Sociolinguistics/Unit%202/Hand-out_and_Ppt_Unit_2_19_20.pdf.


Sabate-Dalmau, M. (2023), Handout Unit 3 [Online] Available at: https://cv.udl.cat/access/content/group/101266- 2223/Part%20A%20Sociolinguistics/Unit%203/Hand-out_and_Ppt_Unit_3_19_20.pdf.


Semenova, S. N. (2017). Thesaurus of Fairy-Tale Genre (the Study of A.S. Pushkin’s “The Tale of The Fisherman and the Golden Fish” and its Translations into English and Armenian). RUDN Journal Of Language Studies, Semiotics And Semantics, 8(2), 293-300. doi: 10.22363/2313-2299-2017-8-2-293-300.




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