Reading the Advert Behind the Advert
A Year 12 student is analysing a recruitment advertisement for a Chinese-language customer service role in Sydney. The Chinese text describes the company as 发展迅速 and 团队年轻有活力, offers 底薪加提成, and states 需能吃苦耐劳, 有责任心. A separate English version of the same ad lists a fixed salary range, standard hours, and 'flexible working arrangements'. The student's draft response says the Chinese ad 'is more motivational and shows the company cares about employee attitude'. The teacher notes the student has treated the two versions as stylistic variants of one message rather than as two different texts aimed at different readers.
1. Explain why the two versions should be analysed as different communicative acts, using specific language from the Chinese text.
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The two texts are not translations of one message; they are audience-targeted constructions.
- 底薪加提成 (base salary plus commission) makes pay variable and performance-linked, whereas the English version gives a fixed range. This shifts financial risk onto the worker in the Chinese version.
- 需能吃苦耐劳 (must be able to endure hardship) is a culturally loaded expectation that signals long hours and pressure without stating them; the English version instead promises 'flexible working arrangements'.
- 团队年轻有活力 frames youth and energy as a selling point, which can also imply an age profile and a fast, demanding pace.
- 发展迅速 creates a growth narrative that justifies variable pay and high workload.
The Chinese ad addresses in-group applicants who read 吃苦耐劳 as a virtue signal; the English ad addresses a compliance-conscious external market. The student's 'more motivational' reading mistakes a recruitment strategy for a statement of care.
2. What does this comparison reveal about how language choices construct the relationship between employer and applicant?
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Language choice constructs two different power relationships:
- Moral framing in Chinese: 吃苦耐劳 and 有责任心 recast working conditions as personal character. The applicant is invited to prove virtue rather than negotiate terms, which discourages questions about hours or pay.
- Contractual framing in English: fixed salary and stated arrangements position the applicant as a rights-bearing party assessing an offer.
So the same employer presents obligation in one text and entitlement in the other. This is a register and framing judgement, not a translation-quality issue. A strong response notes the ethical dimension: the two texts are not equally transparent, and the analyst's job is to notice who is being asked to bear uncertainty. The student should revise from 'the company cares about attitude' to 'the Chinese text converts employment risk into a virtue test'.