scholarly journals Getting the Full Picture in English and Spanish?

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
María José García Vizcaíno

Drawing on the mental model theory of fictional characters (Schneider, 2001) applied to audio description (Fresno, 2016), this paper examines the audio description (AD) of characters in English and Spanish for the Netflix series Élite. The study is based on the premise that semantic descriptions of characters, rather than merely visual descriptions of physical traits, contribute to a better understanding of the narrative complexities of a film, favour AD users’ memory, and reduce cognitive effort (Fresno et al., 2016). This contrastive analysis shows how pertinent description of action movements and appearances together with lexical accuracy can trigger helpful semantic meanings that reveal characters’ psychological features. Because Élite is a thriller in which the majority of the characters are murder suspects, accessing all types of information about them is essential to fully understand the plot. In addition, this analysis indicates that the English AD emphasizes certain character attributes which are absent from the Spanish AD, a distinction that influences the semantic domains, filmic cohesion and coherence of the narrative. This finding underscores the fact that cross-linguistic and cultural differences actually affect the reception of a fictional character by AD users (Orero, 2008; Mazur & Chmiel, 2012) and consequently, their appreciation and enjoyment of the program in question. Lay summary This paper examines the audio description (AD) of characters in English and Spanish for the Netflix series Élite. Based on previous studies (Fresno, 2014; Fresno, 2016), this analysis shows that not only physical traits, but also the description of action movements and looks can trigger helpful semantic inferences that reveal crucial characters’ psychological features. Because Élite is a thriller in which most of the characters are murder suspects, grasping all types of information about them is essential to fully understand the plot. In addition, this paper indicates that the English AD emphasizes certain character attributes which are absent in the Spanish AD. This finding underscores the fact that cross-linguistic and cultural differences actually affect the reception of a fictional character by AD users (Orero, 2008; Mazur & Chmiel, 2012) and consequently, their appreciation and enjoyment of the show in question.

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuo Jing-Schmidt

Contrastive analysis of Chinese and American maternal affective speech acts revealed significant differences in the quantity of child-directed positive and negative speech acts. There were also important qualitative differences in specific types of maternal affective input. Results are consistent with available knowledge of cross-cultural differences in parenting approaches, and have implications for cross-cultural emotion and pragmatic development. Differential cultural values were addressed to account for the observed linguistic behaviors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1009
Author(s):  
Ali Elhami

Due to an increasing number of migration of Iranians to Spain and language and cultural problems they might face in the new society, a model of socio-pragmatic contrastive analysis was used with the intention of comparing the Spanish and Persian verbal and nonverbal greeting forms with the aim of helping Iranian immigrant in Spain for having a better understanding of cultural differences in greeting forms. In this study, the naturalistic context was used for both Spanish and Persian forms of greeting. This study shows two Spanish and two Persian patterns for greetings to show the differences and similarities between Persian and Spanish greeting to be a help for Iranian immigrants who are newcomers in Spain to be able to adapt themselves to Spanish culture which greeting is a part of it.


2009 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 31-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan D. ten Thije

Intercultural communication is a fast growing interdisciplinary research field. Its interdisciplinary character leads to four types of linguistic analysis which build on each other: 1. contrastive analysis, 2. interlanguage analysis, 3. interaction analysis, 4. transfer analysis. In this article, Master theses using these types of analyses (except the interlanguage analysis) are presented in relation to each other. The studies are mosdy explorative because there are few methods, concepts that are readily applicable in this relatively new field. However, the studies show the relevance of each of the methods of analysis. The contrast of analysis supplies insights necessary for an interaction analysis, since the latter detects the effects of cultural differences in ongoing discourse. Moreover, the interaction analysis investigates structures that can not be traced back to the cultures in contact and result from the contact itself. The results of both contrast and interaction analysis are necessary to study how aspects of intercultural competence can be taught and learned, which the focus of transfer analysis is.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-98
Author(s):  
Tatjana Grigorjanová ◽  
Marina Matytcina

Abstract The article aims to provide cross-cultural insight into the examination of emotion “envy” through comparative description of the emotional worldviews in Slavic (Russian and Slovak) and non-Slavic (English) linguistic cultures represented in the form of the concept. The obtained results have allowed us to clarify some common and different features of Slavic and non-Slavic nations in the realm of display the emotion “envy” to explore cultural peculiarities of nations and to contribute to the professional training and practices of professional dealing with international communication. The article also seeks to enhance public awareness on the following important issues: how cognate are perceptions of Slavic and non-Slavic nations; what universal features and cross-cultural differences are in regulation, somatization, the degree of prototypically of a seemingly equivalent concept, and how cultural rules influence the shaping of meaning and the expression of the investigated emotion in discourse.


Author(s):  
Raquel Sanz-Moreno

Abstract Audio Description (AD) is a modality of audiovisual translation that consists of making cultural products accessible to people who are blind or partially-sighted. Our study focuses on the contrastive analysis of the AD of four films in English and Spanish, our objective being to determine how the same visual cultural reference is described in two languages and for two target cultures. Using a descriptive methodology, we categorise and analyse cultural references following Díaz Cintas and Remael’s (2007) classification and determine the translation strategies used. Our research shows that the decisions that the describer makes are conditioned by the distance, not only geographical but above all cultural, that exists between the audience and the culture that is reflected in the film. The describer becomes a mediator between cultures; that is why the greater the cultural distance, the higher their presence and involvement.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beichen Liang ◽  
Joseph Cherian

American (i.e., Western) thinking favors the analytic style, focusing on the focal object and internal attributes; Chinese (i.e., Eastern) thinking favors the holistic style, paying attention to the context and whole system. This research investigates whether such holistic and analytic thinking styles affect attitudes towards holistic ads which contain many types of information (availability, price, company, etc.) and attribute ads which contain only one type of information (product feature). The first study showed that (i) American consumers prefer attribute ads more than Chinese consumers do; (ii) both American and Chinese consumers prefer holistic ads more than attribute ads; and both prefer the holistic ads equally well. The second study showed that the impact of cultural differences in thinking styles on ad attitudes were not influenced by thinking speed – whether the thinking was fast and automatic or whether the thinking was slow and effortful. The stable and verifiable managerial implication is that ad content in the East and West, in the US and China must include more, diverse information.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Del Giudice

Abstract The argument against innatism at the heart of Cognitive Gadgets is provocative but premature, and is vitiated by dichotomous thinking, interpretive double standards, and evidence cherry-picking. I illustrate my criticism by addressing the heritability of imitation and mindreading, the relevance of twin studies, and the meaning of cross-cultural differences in theory of mind development. Reaching an integrative understanding of genetic inheritance, plasticity, and learning is a formidable task that demands a more nuanced evolutionary approach.


Author(s):  
J. M. Cowley

The comparison of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) with conventional transmission electron microscopy (CTEM) can best be made by means of the Reciprocity Theorem of wave optics. In Fig. 1 the intensity measured at a point A’ in the CTEM image due to emission from a point B’ in the electron source is equated to the intensity at a point of the detector, B, due to emission from a point A In the source In the STEM. On this basis it can be demonstrated that contrast effects In the two types of instrument will be similar. The reciprocity relationship can be carried further to include the Instrument design and experimental procedures required to obtain particular types of information. For any. mode of operation providing particular information with one type of microscope, the analagous type of operation giving the same information can be postulated for the other type of microscope. Then the choice between the two types of instrument depends on the practical convenience for obtaining the required Information.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1247-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateusz Dyla ◽  
Sara Basse Hansen ◽  
Poul Nissen ◽  
Magnus Kjaergaard

Abstract P-type ATPases transport ions across biological membranes against concentration gradients and are essential for all cells. They use the energy from ATP hydrolysis to propel large intramolecular movements, which drive vectorial transport of ions. Tight coordination of the motions of the pump is required to couple the two spatially distant processes of ion binding and ATP hydrolysis. Here, we review our current understanding of the structural dynamics of P-type ATPases, focusing primarily on Ca2+ pumps. We integrate different types of information that report on structural dynamics, primarily time-resolved fluorescence experiments including single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer and molecular dynamics simulations, and interpret them in the framework provided by the numerous crystal structures of sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase. We discuss the challenges in characterizing the dynamics of membrane pumps, and the likely impact of new technologies on the field.


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