AVIATION LANGUAGE: the gocalization phenomenon in Emirates and British Airways websites

Nowadays in the era of globalization, a lingua franca plays an important role allowing the communication among people with different mother tongues and with different cultures. This role is played by English. The use of a lingua franca meets particular needs and its role is considered important in various settings. In fact, English is not only the language adopted by people not sharing the same mother tongue but it can also be found in technical fields. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has an essential function as a lingua franca in the business environment. This research investigates the role of English in the aviation world and the linguistic strategies adopted by pilots and air traffic controllers (internal communication) and the kinds of tools used to communicate with passengers represented by airport signs, websites and mobile apps (external communication). In particular, this research focuses its attention on airline websites and on the strategies adopted to draw the attention of the user on the product. The most efficient strategy is the localization which consists of the adaptation of a product to a foreign target and to a different culture. It is more than a simple translation process because it is related not only to the linguistic transfer but also to the cultural one. Through different strategies and the appropriate choice of words, phrases, images, and colors website designers localize the content of a website to another culture in order to make the message clear and comprehensible by the target audience. Emirates Airlines and British Airways websites represent two interesting examples from this point of view.