https://tidsskrift.dk/her Aarhus University, Faculty of Arts, School of Communication and Culture en-US HERMES - Journal of Language and Communication in Business 0904-1699 <p>Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:</p> <p>a. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><span style="color: #4f372e;">Creative Commons Attribution License</span></a> that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.</p> <p>b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.</p> <p>c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See <a href="http://opcit.eprints.org/oacitation-biblio.html" target="_new"><span style="color: #4f372e;">The Effect of Open Access</span></a>).</p> https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/135381 <p>Brand names are assets in marketing: a good name can help to sell products. Although research has made several recommendations on how “good” brand names should be created, the complex process is not easily adapted to every product category. Little research is done on a particular product category: the brand names of vaccines. This paper contributes to vaccine brand names in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The theoretical part of the paper first describes the characteristics of “good” and “bad” brand names, and then the focus is narrowed down to the characteristics of drug brand names and to the processes that influenced the naming of coronavirus vaccines. In the empirical part of the paper, Hungarian students perform brand recognition, recall, and association tasks connected to vaccine brand names. It will be shown that the vaccines are known by their public brand names (e.g., <em>Pfizer</em>) and not by their actual brand names (e.g., <em>Comirnaty</em>). The rating of the brand names shows that public brand names are considered to be better than the actual brand names, while brand associations collected for the actual brand names show mixed results. In the last part of the paper, theoretical implications are discussed, and recommendations for pharmaceutical companies are formulated to show what steps these companies could take to overcome the impasse between public and actual brand names.</p> László Kovács Copyright (c) 2024 László Kovács https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-02-18 2024-02-18 64 1 21 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.135381 https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/137856 <p class="Hermesabstracttekst"><span lang="EN-US">A huge amount of marketing literature focuses on communication among customers about products, services, or providers, which is referred to as Word-of-mouth (WoM). However, only a small part of the literature discusses in which situations and between which individuals WoM occurs. This article derives theoretically that the tie strength and the contextual reference between individuals can be regarded as important predictors for the occurrence of WoM: More precisely, we suggest that a higher tie strength and a contextual reference has an association with the likelihood that WoM occurs. We apply several scenarios with different levels of disconfirmation of expectations – which are regarded as escalations levels. Afterwards, a quantitative empirical study proves that individuals are more likely to tell others about certain events if these people have a higher tie strength. Also, we provide evidence that the contextual reference has an impact. The article underlines the importance of WoM for businesses and contributes to the existing literature.</span></p> Janek Mücksch Markus Ziemann Florian U. Siems Copyright (c) 2024 Janek Mücksch, Markus Ziemann, Florian U. Siems https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-03-13 2024-03-13 64 23 35 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.137856 https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/140355 <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This article addresses the challenges and opportunities posed by the use of machine translation (MT) and post-editing (PE) in the training of legal translators in the Spanish-Italian combination. The aim is to find out whether students who do not have specific training in MT and PE, but a sufficiently developed translation competence, are able to successfully apply the MT and PE concepts learned during a short workshop in their Specialized Translation course and, as a result, produce a satisfactory post-edited translation of acceptable quality. The results show that students have an inward critical attitude towards the use of MT, so they are not influenced by the MT output. Moreover, they have adequate skills to immediately detect not only most of the errors related to concordance and lack of logic, but also the more hidden ones that require a subsequent revision.&nbsp;</span></p> Francesca Accogli Copyright (c) 2024 Francesca Accogli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-07-02 2024-07-02 64 37 59 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.140355 https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/132534 <p><em>This article examines the application of project management principles in the field of applied linguistics, using the author's doctoral research experience as a case study. It explores the challenges, strategies, and lessons learned in managing linguistic research projects. By highlighting best practices and encountered obstacles, the study aims to enhance understanding of project management within applied linguistics. The insights provided are valuable for researchers and practitioners navigating the complexities of linguistic research endeavors.</em></p> Matthieu Bach Copyright (c) 2024 Matthieu Bach https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-07-11 2024-07-11 64 61 73 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.132534 https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/143879 <p>Virtual influencer marketing is a global emerging phenomenon in social media research. Research on traditional influencer marketing and practices has been the locus of attention for years, but fairly scarce research deals with the rise and influence of virtual influencers, also known as artificial intelligence influencers (AIIs) or computer-generated influencers (CGIs). In this article, an explorative, qualitative single case analysis of the Japanese CGI influencer Imma is presented to identify how the CGI is visually constructed on Instagram in a marketing campaign. Two supplementary semiotic lenses are applied, i.e. a visual compositional analysis and a semiotic image analysis. The results indicate that the CGI influencer Imma is visually presented by and large with the same characteristics and attributes as found in similar studies of human influencers. Moreover, the findings indicate subtle yet essential differences in the visual framing of the CGI character to enhance a human-like appearance. Concludingly, this study has preliminary implications for research, practitioners, prospective marketers, and future innovation leaders in the virtual marketing industry, and it is proposed to consider reconceptualizing our understanding of virtual influencers and acknowledging the rise of Virtual Influencer Marketing as a field in its own right.</p> Jeanette Landgrebe Copyright (c) 2024 Jeanette Landgrebe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-09-09 2024-09-09 64 75 102 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.143879 https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/148947 <p>This short paper aims to highlight and concisely explore – but not &nbsp;address in depth -some aspects related to translating and teaching English for specific purposes (mainly English for Legal Purposes) The following questions will be briefly considered: What is the impact of comparative law on legal translation? How can tricky terms in legal translation be taught effectively? How can mediation activities and student self-reflection be utilised to train legal skills? How can teaching plain English to PhD students improve their writing in a scientific context? The paper starts with a brief introduction to the concept of language and communication for specific purposes, with a particular emphasis put on English for Legal Purposes. The second section of the essay refers to issues connected with legal translation; its specificity and the role of comparative law in the quality of translation and interpretation. The third and last part of the paper is dedicated to the issue of instructing languages for specific purposes. It mainly tackles the problem of equipping students with such linguistic competencies, skills, and knowledge which are most valuable for their study and work.</p> Halina Sierocka Copyright (c) 2024 Halina Sierocka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-10-10 2024-10-10 64 103 109 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.148947 https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/147304 <p>The confrontation of the laws and languages of different legal systems that occurs in the process of legal translation has naturally inspired interest in comparative law among translation scholars. However, while references to comparative law in legal translation literature are abundant, they tend to be somewhat superfluous and selective, focusing mainly on the traditional functional method and saying little about how exactly legal translators can use comparative law in their practice. Nor is there much in-depth theoretical discussion of how both fields relate. Hence, the present paper aims to discuss the various approaches to comparative law and its role in legal translation adopted by legal translation scholars and to juxtapose them with a comparative account of the goals and processes of legal translation and comparative law. Taking a closer look at the oft-repeated statement that legal translation is <em>an exercise in/of comparative law</em>, the author demonstrates that, despite its rhetorical value, it actually misrepresents both fields. The results of the present research lead to the conclusion that, while comparative law and legal translation are clearly related and potentially useful for each other, the mutual recognition of autonomy could improve understanding between comparatists and legal translation professionals and allow them to learn more from each other.</p> Przemysław Kusik Copyright (c) 2024 Przemysław Kusik https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-10-10 2024-10-10 64 111 124 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.147304 https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/147310 <p>Legal translation competence includes a high number of sub-competences that legal translation trainees need to master. Therefore, trainers may have no time to tackle issues at the very micro level that are challenging not only for legal translation trainees, but sometimes even for professional translators. Although many such issues are identified in legal translation textbooks, the prevailing holistic approach to teaching legal translation may have led to such issues being sidelined in the legal translation classroom. Drawing on the author’s experience as a legal translation trainer, this paper attempts to fill this vacuum and offer a systematic approach to addressing at least some of these phenomena. A selection of tricky terms will be presented, together with practical activities designed to raise trainees’ awareness of such issues and teach them how to approach them confidently when translating from and to English. Four groups of terms are covered: false friends in general and legal language; vague terms such as <em>good </em>and<em> reasonable</em>; non-transparent terms where complex legal meaning is packed into a simple term (<em>constructive, in lieu of</em>), and enantiosemous terms (<em>apparent, qualified</em>). It is believed that when such phenomena are tackled in isolation, trainees may become better equipped to deal with them successfully the next time they encounter them in an English source text or to use them actively when translating into English. </p> Ondřej Klabal Copyright (c) 2024 Ondřej Klabal https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-10-10 2024-10-10 64 125 136 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.147310 https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/147478 <p>A general trend in adult education across the disciplines has been the gradual shift from teaching specialized knowledge to developing various skills. The inclusion of professional skills in the area of Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) is often based on the results of complex needs analyses of the target situation that leads to effective course design both for in-service and pre-service learners. While major law schools have recently started putting a greater emphasis on the training of legal skills, the present article suggests that some of those legal skills can be effectively developed in the ELP (English for Legal Purposes) classroom as well, i.e. among L2 learners of specialist language. That holds particularly for the soft skill of linguistic mediation. Promoted by CEFR, mediation is characterized by the situation when an expert speaker needs to overcome a communicative gap arising from a difference in the technical or linguistic knowledge of the interlocutors.<br />The present article shows how a sample activity can be used for teaching linguistic mediation in the ELP classroom and how it can serve as an opportunity for enhancing students’ critical self-reflection. It describes a custom-made activity – a role-played lawyer-client interview – and analyses students’ subsequent comments on the activity. The paper suggests that self-reflection is deeper if the theory is supplied after the task and that such a practice enhances students’ learning process. It is suggested that the findings are applicable not only to teachers’ syllabus design and classroom activities design but also more generally to pedagogic theory, e.g. the field of LSP teacher training.</p> Barbora Chovancova Copyright (c) 2024 Barbora Chovancova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-10-10 2024-10-10 64 137 148 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.147478 https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/147980 <p>Numerous scientists disseminate their research results in English-medium journals because their careers are often tied to publishing in English. Journal gatekeepers expect them to use correct scientific English in their manuscripts to make them publishable. However, many non-native English-speaking junior researchers do not know how to meet these expectations. The tentative study described in this article investigated the relevance of teaching plain English to Polish research students and its impact on their writing in scientific contexts. To answer three research questions, the Author employed a case study design in which thirteen PhD students at Bialystok University of Technology (Poland) became the participants of the didactic intervention. The study found that teaching plain English should be integrated into the PhD language programme because it brings numerous linguistic and extra-linguistic benefits to research students. Given the scarcity of research on this topic in Polish educational settings, the study may attract interest from scholars researching writing science for publication purposes or from teachers of English in doctoral programmes.</p> Monika Śleszyńska Copyright (c) 2024 Monika Śleszyńska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-10-09 2024-10-09 64 149 163 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.147980 https://tidsskrift.dk/her/article/view/148527 <p><strong>Treatment of pharmaceutical terminology in the digitized version of the <em>Dictionnaire de l’Académie française</em>. <br /></strong>This article aims to examine the treatment of pharmaceutical terms in the digitized version of the <em>Dictionnaire de l’Académie française</em> on the example of pharmacy terminology. After a brief presentation of the dictionary microstructure and its current edition, the authors describe the terms marked as belonging to the field of pharmacy, presenting the reasons of these changes, the appearance and disappearance of the terms, the migration of terms between several fields, the passage of words from the common language into terminology and vice versa. The article also shows certain inconsistencies in the treatment of terminology in the <em>Dictionnaire de l’Académie française</em>.</p> Jan Holeš Zuzana Honová Copyright (c) 2024 Jan Holeš, Zuzana Honová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 2024-11-05 2024-11-05 64 165 177 10.7146/hjlcb.vi64.148527