Original scientific paper

SPECIAL AND SPOTLESS? LANGUAGE MYTHS IN TOURISM

Višnja Kabalin Borenić orcid.org/0000-0002-2514-5359 ; Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Sanja Marinov orcid.org/0000-0003-0949-2964 ; Faculty of Economics, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Martina Mencer Salluzzo ; Vern – University of Applied Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to address two myths related to English as the language of tourism. One is that undergraduate students of tourism, similar to a signifi cant part of Croatian population, believe they have a
high level of profi ciency in English, and two, that they are with their high level of English, well equipped with the language they need for working in the tourism fi eld. The language of tourism is unique. Although it may not have a well-defi ned content and clear functional boundaries as it is infl uenced by a wide range of disciplines (Calvi, 2005), it has specifi c purposes and should be addressed as such, different from general English. It is structured, it follows certain grammar rules, has a specialised vocabulary and semantic content, and it adopts a special register (Dann, 1996). Furthermore, the language of tourism uses a special register with a corresponding set of genres that are appropriate for particular communication situations within the industry and with and among both tourists and tourees (Dann, 2012). Awareness of the existence of the specifi c language of tourism and its skilful usage should increase the quality of the tourism product. In order to weigh tourism students’ language skills against their perceptions, attitudes and expectations a written assignment designed to demonstrate students’ language competences has been combined with a specially designed targeted questionnaire. The survey will investigate students’ attitudes to and perceptions of the need for improving and refi ning their language skills (both English and other languages) as part of the undergraduate We believe that a high level of language competence is required in order to reach the ultimate aims of the language of tourism: to persuade, lure, woo and seduce millions of human beings and, in so doing, convert them from potential into actual clients (Dann, 2003:2).

Keywords

language of tourism; ESP; tourism students; language attitudes

Hrčak ID:

124026

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/124026

Publication date:

1.6.2013.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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