Describing creative products in an intercultural context: Toward a pragmatic and empirical account

Abstract

This study examines a neglected type of intercultural business communication: English descriptions of creative products designed and made in Asia where English is a foreign language. This type of discourse may be called creative product description (CPD) due to its creative use of language and its being used in the creative industries. Based on data collected from Taiwan's creative industries, it investigates what kind of product description would receive positive feedback and whether there exist general pragmatic principles for such descriptions. The data comprised 10 sets of CPDs, each set containing three versions featuring one and the same product: the original version collected online and two alternative versions written by the author based on each of the collected examples. Ten native English speakers (NESs) living in the UK were invited to comment on the 10 sets and choose their favorite in each set and explain why. This research design is aimed at investigating what discourse elements in CPDs contribute to generating positive effects and what factors other than a lack of English fluency could cause negative feedback in global business communication. The analysis shows that appropriate uses of length, information content, manner of presentation, and cultural empathy are key elements. Together with these crucial elements, three types of pragmatic principles are utilized to elucidate why some descriptions were favored and some were rejected: Cooperative Principle, Interest Principle, and Moderate Principle.