Mediated Business Interactions
Intercultural Communication Between Speakers of Spanish
Published on 7. July 2011
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-0-7486-3720-1 (ISBN)
Description
This is the first monograph to examine mediated business interaction in Spanish. It focuses on communication between native speakers of Spanish from different Spanish-speaking countries with a view to informing our understanding of intercultural communication in a contemporary business environment. Using elements of pragmatics with tools from conversation analysis, the book examines the various activities that telephone conversationalists engage in to supply and demand a service over the phone through the mediational means of Spanish by addressing the following questions. * Do speakers of Spanish display similar communicative practices as those observed in other languages when requesting and being offered a service over the phone? * Do specifically located activities such as the call openings and closings display similar coordination and ritualisation as that observed in other languages?* Does the language seen as a cultural tool reflect a different orientation towards such activities? * What strategies do telephone agents and (prospective) clients employ to obtain a sale and either procure the best value for money or obviate it, respectively? And, what role does intercultural communication play in the construction of these practices?
Reviews / Votes
An excellent resource for anybody interested in what really happens during service calls. The book canbe useful to business managers interested in improving the quality of their call centres, researchers on spanish socio-cultural interactions, as well as students and faculty looking for a well-developed and detail-oriented example of excellent ethnographic and conversational analysis research. -- Marta Gonzalez Loret, University of Hawai'i * Spanish in Context * Mediated Business Interactions is a richly detailed account of institutional transactions between Spanish speakers from varied cultural backgrounds. It offers a unique perspective on the intersection of dialect with culture, and provides sophisticated insight into conversational dynamics as a site for intercultural communication. -- Kristine Fitch, Professor of Communication Studies, University of IowaMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
476 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7486-3720-1 (9780748637201)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Rosina Marquez Reiter
Mediated Business Interactions
Intercultural Communication Between Speakers of Spanish
E-Book
07/2011
Edinburgh University Press
€0.00
Available for download
Person
Rosina Marquez Reiter is Senior Lecturer and Programme Director, MA in Intercultural Communication with International Business and MA in Communication and International Marketing, University of Surrey.
Content
AcknowledgementsList of FiguresChapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Mediated business (inter)action 1.2 Service encounters over the phone1.3 Call centres and intercultural communication1.4 On the ordinary-institutional continuum1.5 Why openings and closings?1.6 Previous research on openings and closings in institutional callsChapter 2 Methodology2.1 Background to the research 2.2 Data and ethics2.3 Documentary analysis2.4 Non-participant observation2.5 Interviews2.6 Telephone conversations2.7 Analytic perspectiveChapter 3 Openings3.1 Introduction3.2 Inbound calls3.2.1 In-house rules for opening inbound calls3.2.2 Opening sequences of inbound calls3.3 Outbound calls3.3.1 In-house rules for opening outbound calls3.3.2 Opening sequences in outbound calls3.4 Concluding commentsChapter 4 The Negotiation of the Business Exchange4.1 Introduction4.2 The middles of inbound calls: fabricated ignorance4.3 The middles of outbound calls4.3.1 In-house rules for placing outbound calls4.3.2 First attempt calls: camouflaging4.4 Follow-up calls: honouring arrangements4.5 Some concluding commentsChapter 5 Closings 5.1 Introduction5.2 In-house rule for closing calls5.3 The English archetype closing5.4 Practices for closing Spanish service calls5.4.1 Arrangements5.4.2 Summarised upshot of the conversation topic5.4.3 Prior turn repetition5.4.4 Reiteration of the prior material5.4.5 Reason for the call5.5 Foreshortened and extended closings 5.5.1 Foreshortened closings5.5.2 Extended closings 5.6 Some concluding commentsChapter 6 Some Final Reflections: Toward an Understanding of Intercultural Communication in Spanish6.1 Introduction 6.2 Mediated intercultural communication across Spanishes6.2.1 On ambivalent si and unequivocal no6.2.2 Hiding behind the name of 'Difference' 6.3 Some final reflectionsAppendicesReferencesIndex