This essay will analyse several texts in two languages, which is English and French in different websites. Each text's different aims will also be discussed in spite of being written in two different languages. In the analysis, background, target audience, structure, genre, purpose and the strategies used in achieving it, language use, font and layout, use of pictures, navigability and usability will be conducted with the application of theories. Comparisons on texts that have similarities and differences will also be discussed.
The two texts contain different background information. The English website entails all the agendas, visions, and plans of the far-right-winged United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). The party is against the majority of the policies of the European Union, especially the one that requires Britain to allow immigrants. In the website, UKIP has numerous manifestos that they have included to convince people to support, donate, and join them. It is also a fairly new political party since it was founded in 1993. Their current main agenda is opposing Theresa May’s EU withdrawal agreement that Gerard Batten states it is going to betray the 2016 referendum results, thereby urging people to vote for UKIP in the coming elections (“Ukip.org/index.php” 2018).
Nonetheless, in the French text, the far-right-winged nationalist and populist political party in France, Rassemblement National, is discussed together with their projects, diary, news, and organisation. The party is new since it was formed in June 1st, 2018. Their vision is to establish a France that is economic protected, zero tolerance on law and order issues such the brutalities against humanity, which the Yellow Vest protesters in Paris are being subjected to by the police (“Rassemblementnational.fr” 2018).
However, the two texts differ regarding their target audience. The phrase target audience refers to the specific person or group of people in which a product is intended to suit their needs (Burger, 2001, p. 81). The English website is destined for the working class. It states that hardworking men and women in the United Kingdom are being betrayed by a political class who has abandoned the Brexit plan. The hardworking people mentioned referring to all the employees in the UK. It also requires people to join the fight in supporting the Brexit by voting for UKIP in the next general election and donating around 4 pounds every month after joining. The working class can only do this since they are the citizens whose wages are often paid monthly, thereby being able to donate. However, on the French website, the text seeks the attention of all French voters. The party is seeking popularity in the next elections, especially in the president commitment section, in which Marine Le Pen highlights all her 144 presidential commitments that she aims to achieve once elected in office, thus, their attention in mitigating and finding solutions to tragic events in the country from economy to immigration issues.
Both of the two websites genres are a press release. In the French’s Rassemblement National, a recorded video of President Marine Le Pen together with other RN’s group members is shown discussing how human rights of France citizens are being violated in different scenarios. Also, they explain how the government lack of proper handling the economic issues of the country is the reason why terrible events are happening in the country such as the Yellow Vest protests. Similarly, in UKIP, a video release is shown regarding the conversation that UKIP’s leader, Gerard Batten Mep, had with a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reporter regarding the Brexit and the people who are affected, supporting, and frustrating the process. It also contains recorded information of the UKIP that is directed to every voter regarding the importance of voting for them in the upcoming general elections.
Each text follows a similar structure, which could be expected since they share the same genre. The two websites share the problem and solution structure. Here a problem is often identified then accompanied by a solution (Jordan, 1980, p. 228). In UKIP’s website, the press release aims to point out the issue facing many hardworking men and women in Britain, which is the abandonment of the political class who are betraying the democratically achieved Brexit plan. Hence, the solution is to participate in a political revolution by voting for UKIP and removing May from office as the Prime Minister (“Ukip.org/index.php” 2018). Correspondingly, in the French website, the problem identified is the yellow vest protests, thus, in dealing with the issue, one of the party’s press release writers, Wallerand De Saint-Just, wrote a proposal on behalf of the group to V. Pecresse, which would assist professionals in Paris to solve the protests. He uses numbers in trying to convince Pecresse regarding the effectiveness of their document with statistics. He states that the Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprise had just launched an inquiry into the soaring fuel prices’ impacts on businesses, in which around 87 percent of these have been found to be affected; hence, resulting to reduced margins of 66 percent, cash flow deterioration of 58 percent, thereby forcing some producers about 16 percent to defer their investments (“Rassemblementnational.fr” 2018). Wallerand further states that the solution that he is providing on behalf of Rassemblement National is for the Pecresse to seek help from professionals who are affected by the increase of fuel and find out how much they lost before agreeing on a remedy. Through this, he will be able to establish allocation to companies, which will regulate fuel use in every automobile used only for professional purposes.
They two also differed regarding their purpose. In the English website, its goal is to make people want to join the party and also pay the fee. That was going to be achieved through conducting several campaigns across the United Kingdom in pushing the agenda of UKIP. The purpose will also be obtained through holding a different public meeting by the party’s key members with the aim of giving confidence to the supporters and even recruiting new people, for instance, the scheduled UKIP public meeting in February 2nd, 2019 by Gerard Batten in the Forest of Dean. Whereas in the purpose of the French website is to bring all the French citizens together around a national recovery project. The strategy to achieve that will be through recruiting new members to join the movement through signing up into the website as members. Ask for donations to assist in championing their goals.
The two texts also differ concerning language use. In the English website, a lot of imperative languages is used, for instance, on the campaign page, the title states “Brexit must mean EXIT!” (“Ukip.org/index.php” 2018). The statement shows how Batten is trying to force the site viewers that they have no option regarding the Brexit plan rather than vote for it without thinking twice.
Nonetheless, on the French website, the language used is voluntary, for instance, in the donation and members block, “By your membership, you decide to support this dynamic that must unite us. For that, I want to thank you and tell you how happy I am to count you among the members of our great political family” (“Rassemblementnational.fr” 2018). The audiences are given the opportunity to “decide” in joining and supporting the party, thereby not being forced to take part.
However, both of the two texts utilise the first person plural possessive case, “our,” in the websites. The point of view creates a sense of ownership between the author and the readers, thereby readers feeling like part of the work (Chamber, 2017, p. 8). In the English text, first-person plural possessive case is also used to make readers feel part of the United Kingdom Independence Party, for instance, “our democratically achieved Brexit is being betrayed by a political class”; hence, making readers feel betrayed. The approach evokes sympathy in the audience, thus, making them participate in the election to disappoint the “political class” in the United Kingdom. Likewise, in the French text, the first-person plural possessive case “our” is used to create a mutual relationship between the party owners and the audience, for instance, “Our program for the French overseas territories.” The point of view makes the readers feel connected to the part and also offers them a sense of belonging. Rassemblement National is using this approach to make the audience to support and vote for Marine Le Pen. Thus, when analysing the language used in the two texts as per the press agent from Grunigs Public relations model, the two-way symmetrical model was used in both of them, thus, creating a two-way communication. The texts negotiate with the audience, find solutions to their problems, promote respect and mutual understanding between the party and the voters. Hence, with the aim of appealing to both of their audiences, the two-way symmetrical model will help them do so in their campaigns.
The two texts also differ in their language use, especially in the persuasive techniques. The English website text uses emotional language such as “betraying,” which evokes the sympathy of the site viewers. This technique is pathos, which is one of Aristotle’s three appeals used in the audience persuasion (Stucki, 2018, p. 5). The approach creates an emotional response in the audience, thereby influencing their opinions regarding Brexit; hence, the party getting sympathy votes. However, in the French text, logos are used in the persuasion segment to convince the audience regarding the party’s agenda with rational proof, which is statistics (Stucki, 2018, p.6). For instance, “The number of homeless people has more than doubled in ten years; the poor housing affects 3.5 million of our compatriots” (“Rassemblementnational.fr” 2018). The text gives the approximate number of France citizens who are facing the issue of housing, thereby making them place their trust on the party and vote for them to bring change in the lives of the homeless people. As per Aristotle, writers often appeal to logos by utilising numbers that evoke the audiences’ rational and cognitive response regarding their works. The two texts also share the breaking news aspect, in which they are updated continuously in their press releases. Recent events that concern their agendas are uploaded every time by the team of professionals.
The English and French website texts also have similarities and some differences in their layout and font. For instance, they both have a clean design, clear topography, simple block, several videos, banners with different functions, and they look more like news sites based on the regular press releases, which are presented by the experienced selected professionals. However, they differ concerning the colours utilised. For example, in English website layout and font, colour yellow and purple are used to signify that UKIP’s actions are a divine right. Thus, informing the viewers that their effort in achieving Brexit is right and protected by the divine. The same colour purple was used during the coronation of the current Queen Elizabeth II portraying that she is a divine right. Nonetheless, in French text, Rassemblement national uses colour blue and red to signify that their progressiveness in achieving their goals aimed at protecting the humanity of all French citizens.
The two texts both use pictures in places that are appropriate. On the French website, photos of the team of writers and critical contributing members are provided next to their information to make it easier for readers to identify them with their work. In the English one, photos of the people involved in some activities are also placed beside them. However, they differ regarding the colours set in the texts. In the French website, Bright colours are used in the National assembly where Marie Le Pen together with other RN members was discussing adverse issues that are affected French citizens to portray the energy and vigour that the party has in fighting for the rights of the citizens. On the other hand, in the English website, Gerard Batten is portrayed in Black and white image when offering a speech to show that he is transparent in his actions; hence, people can see true intentions towards the UK without finding any fault.
Even though the two texts are easy to use and comprehend when dealing with navigability and usability and are also reliable due to offering the latest information regarding incidents, in which they indicate, they differ regarding accurateness. The French website offers accurate details by using the logos appeal than the English one, which applies the pathos approach.
Conclusion
The two texts offer great information toward their audiences in spite of having similarities and differences. Concerning their similarities, they share genre, structure, font and layout, pictures, usability and differ in their language use, purposes and strategies utilised in achieving them. Nonetheless, their audience persuasion is functional in spite of the French text being much more effective due to the usage of Aristotle's logos appeal than the English one that applied pathos in evoking emotions of the readers.
References
Ukip.org/index.php., 2018. For the nation. [Online] Available at: https://www.ukip.org/index.php [Accessed 2 Dec. 2018].
Rassemblementnational.fr., 2018. Rassemblement national. [Online] Available at: https://www.rassemblementnational.fr/ [Accessed 2 Dec. 2018].
Stucki, I. and Sager, F., 2018. Aristotelian framing: logos, ethos, pathos and the use of evidence in policy frames. Policy Sciences, pp.1-13.
Chambers, J.K. and Trudgill, P., 2017. Pronouns and pronominal systems in English dialects. In Dialects of English (pp. 7-10). Routledge.
Jordan, M.P., 1980. Short texts to explain problem—solution structures—and vice versa. Instructional Science, 9(3), pp.221-252.
Burger, J. and Waishwell, L., 2001. Are we reaching the target audience? Evaluation of a fish fact sheet. Science of the Total Environment, 277(1-3), pp.77-86.
