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Article published In: The Journal of Internationalization and Localization
Vol. 6:1 (2019) ► pp.25–44

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Culture and persuasive discourse in localized NGO websites

 | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Published online: 16 May 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.19001.cha
Abstract
Non-governmental organisations set different goals than for-profit corporations. However, they need to be advertised in order to keep working. One of the basic means NGOs use in order to attract volunteers and donators is their website. Although the English language is considered as the lingua franca of the internet it seems to be inadequate when a global audience is aimed at. NGOs seem to have realized the need to communicate with potential donators or volunteers in their native language and have started providing localized versions of their websites. In this paper we are going to examine the persuasive discourse adopted by NGOs in their English, French and Greek website versions. According to Aristotle (Rhetoric, 1356a) (Aristotle. 2002. Rhetoric 1356 a. Introduction, Translation and Comments by Demetrios Lypourlis. Thessaloniki: Zitros.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) the three persuasive techniques used to change the audience’s beliefs are (a) pathos, which appeals to the audience’s emotions, (b) ethos, which establishes the good “character” and credibility of the author and (c) logos, which uses logic and evidence to convince the audience. Our aim is to examine both the use and the multisemiotic realization of the above mentioned techniques in different cultural contexts. For the needs of our analysis we will adopt methodological tools from the field of social semiotics (image and text relation (Barthes, Roland. 2007. Εικόνα-Μουσική-Κείμενο [orig. Image, Music, Text]. Translated in Greek by George Spanos. Athens: Plethron.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and the grammar of visual design and of colours (. 1996. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Kress, Gunther and Theo van Leeuwen. 2002. “Colour as a Semiotic Mode: Notes for a Grammar of Colour.” Visual Communication 1 (3): 343–368. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Translational theories such as Skopos theory (Reiss, Κatharina and Hans Vermeer. 1984. Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; . 1997. Translating as a Purposeful Activity: Functionalist Approaches. Manchester/Northampton MA: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) will provide the theoretical framework for the study of the adaptation techniques and strategies adopted when the Greek audience is addressed.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background and methodological tools
  • 3.Non-governmental organizations
  • 4.Ethos, pathos and logos
  • 5.Study corpus
  • 6.Case studies
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
  • Webpages
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Webpages
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

FRAME, Alexander & Will NOONAN
2024. Website Localization and the Cultural Dimension. In Digital Presences of Organizations, ► pp. 139 ff. DOI logo
Floros, Georgios & Parthena Charalampidou
2019. Website localization. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 6:2 ► pp. 108 ff. DOI logo
O’Hagan, Minako, Julie McDonough Dolmaya & Hendrik J. Kockaert
2019. Pandemic, localization and change of guard. The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 6:2 ► pp. 69 ff. DOI logo

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