The goal of this corpus based research monograph is twofold. On the one hand, the volume delivers a practice relevant theoretical framework which will enable linguists and internationally operating businesses to evaluate product and service comments of foreign customers written in their mother tongue and intended for their fellow nationals. The theoretical framework should be applicable to any language combination. On the other hand, a large-scale empiric study has been carried out building on our theoretical premises with the aim of determining the text linguistic structure and language use in Spanish, Dutch, French and German customer comments on hotel accommodation in two relevant applications of the Social Web (social network services like Facebook and comments on the webs of hotel reservations agencies). Our findings will enable Spanish and German companies to interpret the linguistic behavior of their German/Spanish clients sharing their accommodation experiences on the Social Web.

Raúl Sánchez Prieto is professor of German language at the University of Salamanca.