Similarities in generic structure between Vietnamese and English tourist advertisements

Nguyễn Thị Diệu Hà Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 88(12): 59 - 62 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – Đại học Thái Nguyên 59 SIMILARITIES IN GENERIC STRUCTURE BETWEEN VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH TOURIST ADVERTISEMENTS Nguyen Thi Dieu Ha * Faculty of Foreign Languages- TNU ABSTRACT Tourism is considered as a potential industry in many countries. To draw the attention from foreign tourists, each country has its own campaig and tourist advertisement has become a useful tool for this purpose. With the development of high-tech, tourist advertisements can be found everywhere, every time through leaflet, brochures, press or even throgh the Interenet. This article mainly focuses on the similarities in generic structure between Vietnamese and English tourist advertisements. Keywords: Advertisement, customer, discourse, generic structure, tourism. INTRODUCTION * Advertisement is an important form of promotion, the consequence of marketing strategies used by companies to communicate with their existing and potential customers. Advertising is a key element in the marketing and advertising expenditure takes a rather big account of many companies budget. The main target of advertising is to influence consumer‟s behavior, stimulate them towards actions such as sales promotion, hire purchase and special offer. For different purposes, advertising can be defined in many ways. Brow (1983) [4] defines advertising as “a tool to promote desire for purchasing goods and services”. According to Colly (1990) [5] “an advertising goal is a specific communicate task and achievement level to be accomplished with a specific period of time”. From the linguistic point of view, advertising is an activity of verbal communication not only to present information but also to win mind and heart of advertisement receivers and the potential customers. As a result, advertisers benefit. As far as we know, there are many forms of advertising from the simplest one like leaflet to the most complex one like soap opera (film for advertising). An advertisement is an * Tel: 0918 322 992; Email: dieuha268@gmail.com effective combination of language and sound as well as picture or other visual aids. It is a common golden rule to bear in mind of advertisers to follow strictly the psychological process: AIDMA [12] A = the advertisement must be eye-catching and easy to read and understand so that it can draw the viewers‟/ readers‟ ATTENTION. I = This naturally creates INTERESTS for viewers/ readers. D = From this stage, customers are push to a higher level by an invisible hand to get a DECISION to try products and services. M = The customers read the advertisement, feel like it and what they have read will stay in their minds and be kept in their MEMORY. A = To advertisers, the most wanted respond from customers is their ACTION. It is not enough if customers only like, enjoy and remember the product and service. What the advertisers really want is that the customers will purchase their product and service. This is tangible profit and also the final target of any advertising strategy. Based on advertising objective, advertisements can have different focuses to inform, persuade or remind. Similarities in generic structure between Vietnamese and English tourist advertisements Tourism can be defined as “the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from Nguyễn Thị Diệu Hà Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 88(12): 59 - 62 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – Đại học Thái Nguyên 60 interaction of tourists, business suppliers, host government and host communities in the process of attracting and hosting these tourists”. [11] To inform Telling the market about a new service Suggesting a new change for a programme Informing the market of price and discount Explaining the function Describing available services Correcting false impression Reducing buyer‟s fears Building a company image To persuade Building brand preference Encouraging switching to your brand Changing buyer‟s perception of product Persuading clients to take the chance now Persuading clients to receive a sales call To remind Reminding clients that the service may be necessary in the near future Reminding clients where to register it Keeping in the buyer‟s mind during off seasons Maintaining it to mind awareness “Tourism encompasses everything from the planning of the trip, the travel to the place, the return and the reminiscences about it afterwards”.[12] It is clear that context is an important factor to be considered in the process of discourse analysis. To make a perfect advertisement, the logical and systematic structure is essential. The tourist advertisement, as other kinds of discourse, is often divided into three parts: beginning part, developing part and ending part. It is convenient for us to have a look at each part to work out the similarities between them. In this article, several tourist advertisements of the six countries which are famous for beauty landscapes and peace in Asia as VietNam, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan and Singapore are chosen to compare. Headline The headline is the first singal to draw readers‟ attention so they can decide whether it is worth reading or not. The main function of the headline is to introduce the discourse content to readers. In addition, a headline is also an elment to judge which discourse is more important and more interesting to readers themselves. A similarity between headlines of Vietnamese and English tourism advertisements ia names of places functioning as headlines. For example: Vịnh Hạ Long, di sản văn hóa thế giới. [17] Sentosa, Singapore’s Favourite Island Resort.[22] Beginning part As far as we concerned, location and geographical features are always found at the beginning of any advertisement discourse. This is the way to make clear and give a view to visitors. For example: Đà Lạt nằm trên cao nguyên miền trung, ở độ cao 1500m. (Đà Lạt) [19] The Philippines lies in the heart of Southeast Asia, stretching more than 1,840 kilometers. (The Philippines) [28] Another common structure which is often found in both English and Vietnamese tourist advertisements is the distance + central, cities, town + distance + name of the landscape. For example: Cách Hà Nội 400km theo đường chim bay về hướng Tây, (Điện Biên Phủ) [20] Located at the crossroads of the developed western world and the Orient, The Philippines [28] The other common way to start Vietnamese and English tourist advertisements is the form: Name of the place, the position, and the most general idea about the place. Nguyễn Thị Diệu Hà Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 88(12): 59 - 62 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – Đại học Thái Nguyên 61 For example: Nha Trang, đầy nắng đầy gió, miền đất huyền ảo và đầy truyền thuyết.(Nha Trang) [26] Chiangmai, known as “The rose of Singapore is instant Asia Northern Thailand”. (Thailand) [23] Also for the purpose of introducing the place in a natural way, many advertisements start by giving a brief explanation of the place‟s name, foundation process or historical events related to it. For example: Chính quá trình núi đá vôi bị bóc trần và hòa tan đã tạo nên quần thể đẹp đẽ này với một hồ nước xanh bao bọc bởi những núi đá vôi với hệ sinh thái còn khá nguyên vẹn. (Hồ Ba Bể) [25] One of the capital of Japan for over 1000 years, Kyoto is a city well known for its history and tradition. (Kyoto) [27] Developing part After giving general description and introduction about the landscape, both English and Vietnamese tourist advertisements provide readers with details of beautiful sights and other outstanding attractions. For example: Biển Đồ Sơn mênh mông hào phóng, còn núi thì uốn lượn trầm tư. (Đồ Sơn) [18] Geogetown, the island’s capital is a delight, a sprawling, lively city. (Penang) [24] One important factor contributing a successful tour is food. To attract tourists, special food is a „must‟ in the content of tourist advertisements both in Vietnamese and English. For example: Khách đến nhà, chủ nhà sẽ mời khách những món ăn nhiều hương vị: cơm lam, thịt thú rừng, măng chua, mộc nhĩ, nấm hương. ( Điện Biên Phủ) [20] Space ribs, crab, prawn and chicken dishes all served with delicious spicy sauces. (Penang) [24] Apart from that, the quality of service and people are also described in advertisements. For example: Người dân Đà Lạt hiền hậu, thân thiện và mến khách. (Đà Lạt) [19] And its hospitable people, the native are among the friendliest in the world. (Penang) [23] Ending part To end up the advertisements, general appraisal and comment are mentioned to emphasize again the attraction of the place to all readers and confirm its appeal. For example: Với những huyền thoại diệu kỳ của Đồ Sơn rất lôi cuốn du khách, làn phong phú tâm hồn bạn, bạn sẽ thấy cuộc đời đầy giá trị và ý nghĩa biết bao. (Đồ Sơn) [18] An exciting place and a most enjoyable and rewarding place to move to. (Malaysia) [23] Moreover, some warnings are also included but not frequently as in these two parts of the two advertisements: Quí khách đừng mang đi những gì của vườn ngoài những bức ảnh và không để lại gì ngoài những dấu chân. (Vườn quốc gia Bạch Mã) [16] Trafficking in illegal drugs carries the death penalty. (Malaysia)[23] CONCLUSION In brief, Vietnamese and English tourist advertisements share the same purpose of supplying the most interesting and attractive information about a landscape in a sufficient way to encourage readers or visitors to go and to enjoy. This purpose also implies some competition among different advertisers to draw the attention and inspire for the reader- traveler, so the information must be seen, identical selective, unique and suitable with Nguyễn Thị Diệu Hà Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 88(12): 59 - 62 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – Đại học Thái Nguyên 62 readers‟ psychology. Some listed information above show the similarities in generic structure between Vietnamese and English tourist advertisements. REFERENCES [1]. Hồ Sĩ Hiệp. (1999). Phương pháp viết quảng cáo hiện đại. Đồng Nai: Nhà xuất bản Đồng Nai. [2]. Mai Xuân Huy. (1997). Về khái niệm và phân loại quảng cáo. Hà Nội: Hội Ngôn Ngữ học Việt Nam. [3]. Hoàng Văn Vân. (1999). Introducing Discourse Analysis. 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London: Penguin Group. [15]. Teleman, Guido. (1999). From Discourse to Pragmatics. Hanoi: College of Foreign Language, VNU. [16]. n+quoc+gia+bach+ma/ [17]. ongdisanthiennhienthegioi/ [18]. g/do+son/ [19]. [20]. oi+an/ [21]. vu/type.php?iCha=10&iCat=81&module=news [22]. [23]. [24]. [25]. ho+ba+be/ [26]. g/ [27]. [28]. philippines-department-of- tourism/ philippines-department-of-tourism/ TÓM TẮT VÀI NÉT TƯƠNG ĐỒNG TRONG CẤU TRÚC DIỄN NGÔN QUẢNG CÁO DU LỊCH BẰNG TIẾNG VIỆT VÀ TIẾNG ANH Nguyễn Thị Diệu Hà* Khoa Ngoại ngữ - ĐH Thái Nguyên Du lịch được coi là nền công nghiệp trọng điểm ở nhiều quốc gia. Để thu hút du khách nước ngoài, mỗi quốc gia đều xây dựng cho riêng mình một chiến dịch quảng cáo và ngành quảng cáo du lịch trở thành công cụ hữu ích giúp cho mỗi quốc gia đạt được mục tiêu đó. Với sự phát triển của khoa học công nghệ, những quảng cáo du lịch có thể được thấy ở mọi nơi, mọi lúc từ những tờ rơi cho đến những ấn phẩm và thậm chí cả trên mạng Internet. 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