To show that Italian hoteliers do not take into
account cultural traits of English-speaking
tourists
Leading to
disrupted communication and inefficiency in the
promotional sector
Talk outline
Corpora data
Facts and figures of the corpus
Analysis
Results and Conclusion

The HIR Corpus is made of two sub corpora:
◦ The HIR ITCorpus
◦ The HIR ENCorpus
 Italian is the source language.
 The hotels are three-star hotels located in Rome
 Each sub-corpus was compiled including the
following micro-texts:
o Description (taken from the homepage)
o Rooms
o Services
 Crowded homepages
 No simple surfing
 Texts are easy to read
 Several sections (all translated into English –
other languages available)


No specific target audience
Language is
◦ Impersonal
◦ Simple
◦ Straightforward
Sub-corpus
Word types
Word tokens
HIR ITCorpus
950
3119
HIR ENCorpus
888
950
N
Word
Freq.
N
Word
Freq.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
THE
AND
#
A
WITH
HOTEL
OF
IN
TO
OUR
IS
ROOM
ARE
114
107
92
91
64
53
53
47
43
34
33
33
30
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
ALL
FREE
SERVICE
YOU
CONDITIONING
DOUBLE
SAFE
FACILITIES
INTERNET
OR
BREAKFAST
COFFEE
COMPLIMENTARY
21
21
21
21
20
19
19
18
18
18
17
17
16
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
ROME
FROM
AS
ROOMS
AIR
FOR
TV
28
27
24
24
23
23
23
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
BED
HAS
SQUARE
OFFERS
ON
ONE
PRIVATE
15
15
15
14
14
14
14
N
Word
Freq.
N
Word
Freq.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
DI
E
#
CON
LA
PER
IL
A
È
HOTEL
I
IN
CAMERE
131
122
86
77
56
56
52
50
34
34
34
32
30
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
INTERNET
ARIA
CONDIZIONATA
LCD
SERVIZI
CASSAFORTE
COLAZIONE
UN
CORTESIA
DELLE
LETTO
DOCCIA
AL
22
21
21
21
21
20
19
19
17
17
17
16
15
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
ROMA
TV
CAMERA
DA
LE
SERVIZIO
GRATUITO
30
27
25
25
24
24
23
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
CAFFÈ
DEL
MATRIMONIALE
BAGNO
IMPERO
L
TELEFONO
15
15
15
14
14
14
14




Precisely nouns and qualifying adjectives
No proper nouns
Disregarding the term ‘hotel’
Cut-off point: 10 occurrences for both corpora
N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
HIR ITCorpus
Word
Freq. Texts
CAMERA/E
55
4
TV
27
5
SERVIZIO/I
45
5
GRATUITO
23
3
INTERNET
22
5
ARIA
21
4
CONDIZIONATA
21
4
LCD
21
4
CASSAFORTE
9
COLAZIONE
10
CORTESIA
11
LETTO
12
DOCCIA
13
CAFFÈ
14
15 MATRIMONIALE
BAGNO
16
TELEFONO
17
PRIVATO
18
SET
19
ALBERGO
20
WIRELESS
21
BAR
22
RICHIESTA
23
TERRAZZA
24
TUTTI
25
WI-FI
26
20
19
17
17
16
15
15
14
14
12
12
11
11
10
10
10
10
10
4
5
2
3
5
3
3
4
4
3
2
4
1
4
5
3
5
4
N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
HIR EN Corpus
Word
Freq.
Texts
ROOM/S
57
3
TV
23
5
FREE
21
4
SERVICE
21
5
DOUBLE
19
3
SAFE
19
4
FACILITIES
18
3
INTERNET
18
5
BREAKFAST
9
COFFEE
10
11 COMPLIMENTARY
BED
12
SQUARE
13
PRIVATE
14
SHOWER
15
SINGLE
16
LCD
17
MINIBAR
18
TEA
19
TELEPHONE
20
BATHROOM
21
OPERA
22
STAR
23
ACCESS
24
BAR
25
WI-FI
26
17
17
16
15
15
14
14
14
13
13
13
12
11
11
11
10
10
10
4
3
2
3
2
4
5
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
3
3
4
5





Predominance of nouns
No significant adjective (such as, exclusive,
elegante…
Borrowings regard everyday language
Apparent literal translation
Main semantic fields:
◦ Food
◦ Electronic facilities


Camera/e
Room/s
No interesting findings
Concordance of camera/e
1
La struttura conta 70 eleganti camere arredate con cura e pa
2
zetto è in stile classico e le camere ( tutte con bagno priv
3
i marche dello stile italiano. Camere arredate con lusso min
4
Hotel Opera Roma SRL Camere e suite a due passi dal
5
l'Opera Hotel Opera Roma offre camere e suite esclusive nel
6
malista Hotel Opera Roma offre camere superiori e suite (que
7
e crudo, formaggini. Tutte le camere (dotate di bagno priva
8
9
10
nt gratuito, wi-fi gratuito in camera , cassaforte digitale,
e) con vasca idromassaggio. Le camere sono su 2 piani e il p
a fondo pagina). Servizi delle camere : : - bagno privato con
N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Word
CAMERE
CAMERA
DELLE
MINIBAR
METRI
STRUTTURE
MISURA
PIÙ
QUESTA
PIACEVOLE
CON
E
LETTO
MATRIMONIALE
INCLUDE
1
LA
LETTO
LE
E
With
camere
camera
camere
camera
camera
camere
camera
camera
camera
camera
camere
camera
camere
camere
camera
camere
camera
camera
camere
camere
Texts
Total
4
2
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
3
30
25
11
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
6
6
6




Unexpected results
No adjectives describing the room
References to the facilities in the room
P.S. The same should be done with the English
corpus


New keyword: gratuito
Concordances of gratuito= 28 hits
 but in only 3 hotels
Concordances of ‘gratuito’
1
a elettronica - internet point gratuito , connessione wi-fi g
2
su richiesta ), come la pay tv gratuita , la vasca idromassag
3
scelta di moderni servizi ( Pc gratuito su richiesta ), come
4
e wi-fi gratuita, pc portatile gratuito serrature elettron
5
, connessione wi-fi gratuita , pc portatile gratui
6
internet point gratuito, wi-fi gratuito in camera, cassafort
7
iave magnetica, internet point gratuito , wi-fi gratuito in c
8
l'accesso wireless ad Internet gratuito
resterai connesso co
9
l'accesso wireless ad Internet gratuito resterai connesso co
10
l'accesso wireless ad Internet gratuito
resterai connesso co
11
l'accesso wireless ad Internet gratuito resterai connesso co
12
Accesso wireless a Internet - gratuito
- Parcheggio nelle v
13
roviaria (supplemento) - Wi-Fi gratuito
- Servizio in camera
14
L'accesso wireless a Internet gratuito ti consente di resta
15 anze (a pagamento) - Colazione gratuita Camera accessibile
16
hé accesso wireless a Internet gratuito
e supporto per la pr
17
Accesso wireless a Internet - gratuito * Parcheggio nelle v
18
l'accesso wireless ad Internet gratuito resterai connesso co
19
l'accesso wireless ad Internet gratuito resterai connesso co
20
roviaria (supplemento) * Wi-Fi gratuito * Servizio in camera
21
l'accesso wireless ad Internet gratuito resterai connesso co
22
ci, collegamento WIFI Internet GRATUITO , bollitore con the e
23
vo, collegamento WIFI Internet GRATUITO , bollitore con the e
24
ci, collegamento WIFI Internet GRATUITO , bollitore con the e
25 anze (a pagamento) * Colazione gratuita * Camera accessibile
26
ci, collegamento WIFI Internet GRATUITO , bollitore con the e
27
ci, collegamento WIFI Internet GRATUITO , bollitore con the e
28 partecipazione è completamente gratuita . Per prenotazioni in
Collocates of gratuit*
N
Word
1
GRATUITO
2
INTERNET
3
CON
4
WIRELESS
5
RESTERAI
6
CONNESSO
7
AD
8
BOLLITORE
9
FI
10
WIFI
11
WI
12
THE
13
GRATUITA
14 COLLEGAMENTO
15
A
16
CAMERA
17
IN
18
NELLE
19
LA
20
SERVIZIO
Texts
Total
3
3
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
3
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
25
18
12
11
7
7
7
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
3
3
2
2
2

Only three hotels use gratuito, so the other hotels
don’t offer any complimentary objects/services??

Cortesia? When is it used??
17 hits in 2 hotels, the same two that have already
been using gratuito





Concordances and collocates of free
Concordances and collocates of complimentary
FREE tends to be used with electronic devices
COMPLIMENTARY tends to be used with
toiletries
Free /gratuito
Free tends to appear more frequently in English
while its counterpart in Italian is obtained by
expressions such as I nostri client troveranno a
loro disposzione, vi attende….


Clear literal translation
The analyzed hotels do not keep in mind specific
foreign cultures:
◦ Ex: in Britain the star ratings system depends a lot on the
location, therefore an ample description of the hotel
rooms is necessary for British to evaluate.
◦ The British rely a lot on customer reviews, even though
they may not always be accurate..The hotels of the
corpus do not contain any.

One hotel offers different services based on the
language:
◦ For Italian-speaking tourists, transfer from and to the
airport is available by hotel shuttle bus (price: 25 euros)
◦ For English-speaking tourists, transfer from and to the
airport is available by
 hotel shuttle bus (price: 25 euros)
 Private driver (price: 35 euros)
WHY?
Because English-speaking tourists prefer private drivers or
is it a RIP-OFF????

Websites need to be redesigned and updated to match
customers’ demands

Persuasion is the key function that has to be
constantly reassessed in terms of culture, language
and genre.