Bissot, 1

Erin Bissot

Prof. Johnson

Writ 2

13 June 2017

Genre Translation: A Recipe for Reform

Genre translation is the process of taking one piece of work from an

identifiable genre and changing the speaker, audience and message in order to

create and represent an entirely new genre. This process can be accomplished and

expressed in several ways, through the translation of news articles, journals and

other genres into contrasting genres such as comic books, childrens stories and so

on. With this prompt, I have chosen a particular topic and decided to completely

change the genre in order to reach and appeal to a new audience. Laura Bolin

Carroll, author of Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis,

reminds readers that in genre translation, rhetors can make all sorts of choices

based on their audience (2010). It is this new choice of audience that can determine

the specific language, formality, delivery and also the reasons used to make the

rhetors argument (2010). The primary source used for this assignment is Donald

Trumps Tax Reform That Will Make America Great Again, a government

document released April 26, 2017, translated into the genre of a cooking recipe

titled A Recipe for Reform, in order to reach a different audience while being able

to convey the same information originally supplied.

On April 26, 2017, President Donald Trump released his tax reform plan, an

online government document that he plans to implement into the US economy.

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Although only four pages in length, this primary source is based on the knowledge of

the US political background and current taxes that are in effect. In order to

understand this Tax Reform message, Trumps audience must be previously

educated on the policies and goals of President Trumps administration. Carroll

discusses how looking at the rhetorical triangle of writer, reader and purpose is

one way to understand the context of an authors piece of work (2010). The

audiences, or readers, that President Trump aimed his Tax Reform towards are

those who are old enough to pay taxes, those who own property, or those adults

who are directly affected due to the implementation of this reform. The genre of

President Trumps decisive tax reform limits the audience that can be reached due

to the common conventions of political reform documents. Through the use of genre

translation, previous limitations found in President Donald Trumps reform can be

expressed by altering the rhetor, the targeted audience or the authors exigence of

the message delivered. By changing language and formality, Trumps document

could reach a new audience with a different exigence.

By taking the primary source of President Trumps Tax Reform, I chose the

genre translation of a cooking recipe in order to reach a different community of

people while displaying a similar message to the one originally supplied. The

conventions of a cooking recipe can be seen through the creation of an ingredient

list, directions to accompany the ingredients, an expected cooking time and the final

expected result, along with tips and tricks to improve the recipe. The typical or

expected audience for the genre of a cooking recipe can have an extremely broad

range, from teenagers that have internet access to retired folks looking for
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something new to create. I chose the genre translation of a cooking recipe in order

to reach a different audience, the community of young adults or students, with a

simpler message. For this cooking recipe titled A Recipe for Reform, the rhetor has

been altered to the point of view of an undergraduate student, myself. It is

important to remember, Rhetorical messages always occur in a specific context; in

turn, the genre translation should also follow a new or interesting context (Carroll,

2010). The new audience that can be targeted by this change in genre and context, is

a younger crowd, such as other students or young adults who are interested in

learning how to cook. President Trumps original audience, as mentioned earlier, are

those who are directly affected by this change in taxation, such as those with jobs,

those who own property or those who file their taxes. Through this genre

translation, the targeted audience is changed from tax-payers and grown adults into

young adults and other undergraduate students who may not pay attention to the

latest political news.

I decided to create the genre translation of an online article into a cooking

recipe specifically because a different community of people, such as young adults

and college students, can be reached through the representation of the chosen topic.

Kerry Dirk, author of Navigating Genres, discusses the importance of learning

about genres and how they function (2010). Dirk states, It is this knowledge [of

genres] that helps us to recognize and to determine appropriate responses to

different situations or context (2010). In addition, tax reforms and other

government documents are typically biased and controversial. Ive chosen to take a

controversial topic and turn it into a simple yet fun recipe for the reform of the US
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economy, sending a similar message previously expressed by President Trump

himself through his tax reform plan. In order to effectively communicate the genre

translation of a cooking recipe with younger adults, I had to consider not only form

but also audience, purpose and genre (Dirk, 2010). I believe that attracting and

holding the attention of college students involved keeping an advanced language

without using an excess amount of political jargon and vocabulary.

I also integrated information from the primary source of President Trumps

government document into the new genre of a cooking recipe by using direct quotes

and statements. The implementation of information from the primary source also

involved understanding President Trumps key points and underlying message

being told. An example of primary evidence that I found useful for relaying

information to the new intended audience can be found in the Best Results section

of the recipe. The challenges faced within this genre translation that I performed

came from the selection of primary information. In order to connect to the new

intended audience of younger adults, I didnt want to use heavy political jargon or

vocabulary, as this might lose the audiences attention or prevent understanding of

the genre. In contrast, I also had to keep the vocabulary somewhat advanced due to

the knowledge and vocabulary retention of young adults; I couldnt make my recipe

too simplified to read or too advanced and political to understand.

Information that I decided to omit were the extraneous details listed

throughout President Trumps document. When I researched different online

recipes, a similarity that I found was that most recipes, if not all, were limited to the

length of roughly one page and nothing more. Knowing that I had to stick to the
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convention of cooking recipe genres, I had to omit the in-depth detail and

extraneous political steps needed to be taken in order to Make America Great

Again in order to fit the recipe within one page. The skills needed to perform this

genre translation were the identification of the primary sources audience, author

and their reasoning for creating a piece of work. Other skills necessary to perform

the translation into an online cooking recipe involved an awareness of how genres

function and the rhetorical effectiveness of [my] writing (Dirk, 2010). Upon

researching examples of online cooking recipes, I realized that the majority of the

recipes written had an u-beat and playful tone. With this in mind, I also had to

translate my Recipe for Reform with an underlying friendly tone; this will keep the

recipe from sounding serious and difficult to perform while attracting the attention

of younger, interested students and adults.

When performing a genre translation, one must understand the primary

authors intended audience and message. Following this, one must also be able to

identify common conventions of the genre they choose to translate into. Dirk and

Carroll both mention how understanding the context and tone of the primary source

are crucial in order to craft a proper genre translation. It is also important to

understand and explicitly state the intended audience that one is trying to connect

with and the constraints that come with that chosen audience. Most importantly, it

is the intended audience that determines the choices that the author makes, which

affects the outcome of the translated genre.

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Works Cited

Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical

Analysis." Writingspaces. 1 (2010): 45.

Dirk, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." Writingspaces. 1 (2010): 249.

Trump, Donald. "Tax Reform That Will Make America Great Again." (2017).