THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ADVERTISING TEXTS 1 Advertisements are designed to attract attention rather than give information Texts are short and related to striking ID: 550475
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Slide1
12. ADVERTISING TEXTSSlide2
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ADVERTISING TEXTS 1
Advertisements
are
designed
to
attract
attention
rather
than
give
information
Texts
are short and
related
to
striking
visual
images
Advertisements
are
usually
designed
by a
professional
,
well-paid
team
They
feature
mnemonics
, i.e.
linguistic
devices
to
make
a text easy to
remember
:
rhyme
and
rhythm
,
alliteration
(
repeated
use of the
same
consonant
) and
onomatopoeia
(the sound of the word
imitates
its
meaning
).
Mnemonics
represent
an
enormous
challenge
for the
translator
. An
imaginative
approach
is
essential
, and the task
is
often
to create
equivalents
rather
than
translations
.Slide3
No
Italian
word
rhymes
with Electrolux
What
can the translator do?
And
what
can the
Italian
-to-English
translator
do
here
?Slide4
Niente attira
Come Electrolux aspira
Change
the word
order
.
Use the
inflections
of
Italian
verb conjugations. The _are infinitives have great potential.
TRONY
Genuine,
never
phoneySlide5
Rhythm
Alliteration
Slide6
O
nomatopoeiaSlide7
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ADVERTISING TEXTS 2
The
language
is
typical of speaking rather
then
writing
The imperative mood is frequently usedOmission of function words and copular “to be”Parataxis
rather
than
hypotaxis
.
Comparatives
and
superlatives
are
used
a
lotSlide8Slide9
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ADVERTISING TEXTS 3
Creative word play of various
kinds
:
Puns
Homophones
Metaphors
Similes
Metonyms
NeologismsSlide10Slide11
Linguistic and Visual
MetaphorsSlide12
Similes: with
like or
as
…
asSlide13
Metonymy: “[…] an
attribute of an
entity
is
used in place of the entity
itself
. People are
using
metonyms when they talk about the bottle to mean ‘drinking’.” (Crystal 1992: 250)The White House = the US Government
Suits
= the
powerful
men
who
make
the
decisions
Fresh
blood
= new
people
The
pen
= the
written
word =
ideas
The
sword
= a
weapon
= force “The
pen
is mightier than the sword”Slide14
Neologisms =
invented
words
Entirely
new
expressions
: baby boomers,
yuppies
New
meaning for existing word: flake (USA), anorak (UK)Combining parts of two existing words to make
a new
one
:
smirting
(
sm
oking +
fl
irting
),
chuggers
(
ch
arity +
m
uggers
)Slide15
The translator’s
task
Quite
often
it is impossible to
translate
puns
, neologisms etc. But if we can’t translate the words, we can translate the communicative
intention
(
illocutionary
force) by
creating
a
broadly
equivalent
discourse
.
We
have
to
identify
what
aspect
of the
product
is
being promoted (style, flavour, modernity, price, association
with
youth
etc.) and
find
a way to
present
the
same
quality
to the
same
target consumers.
Nowadays
many
advertisements
are
presented
in a single
version
all
over the world (“
Nespresso
.
What
else?”).
However
,
there
are cultural
preferences
. Taylor (p. 144) notes
that
“English
advertisements
rely
very
heavily
on humour (English humour), and
thus
there
is
much
evidence
of word play and
intertextual
allusion
.
Italian
advertisers
can be
seen
to
place
more
attention
on the
aesthetic
attributes
of
products
in line with the
Italian
predilection
for style and
handsome
presentation
.”
And in
2016
the
female
body
is
still
used
(or
exploited
) to
advertise
a
great
range
of
products
.
Especially
in
Italy
.Slide16Slide17
And finally
, how
does
the advertising
industry
promote itself?Slide18Slide19
FALSE FRIENDS 12
What do you remember about
complexion
and
comprehensive
?
Concrete (adjective): like the Italian concreto. Not gossip but concrete/hard facts.
Concrete
(noun): like the Italian
cemento. There is an English word cement. In general cement is in powder form, concrete is solid.Concurrence 1: two events happen at the same time. The concurrence of the film festival in Bristol and the music festival in Manchester made it impossible to attend both.Concurrence 2: like the Italian consenso. An unexpected concurrence of opinion
between the parties.
Concorrenza
: competition. Our business is struggling because of competition from
Chinese firms.
Concorrenza
sleale
= unfair competition.
Concussion
: In Italian
trauma
cranico
. The rugby player left the field suffering from
concussion.
Concussione
:
extortion
(legal term),
graft
(journalistic expression)Slide20
THE DIARY OF A BRAVE TRANSLATOR VERILY IN LEG – PART 12
I don’t like political correctness because I think we should say bread to bread, wine to wine and use words that do not hide the truth. Of course, we don’t want to go back to the widespread use of the sexist and racist language of the 1950s, but some of the 21
st
century euphemisms are ridiculous. To prove whether an expression is really offensive or not, we should find out how the alleged victims describe themselves. I have met plenty of blind people in my time and they all described themselves as blind, not “visually impaired” or “suffering from vision loss”. It seems to me that some politically correct enthusiasts want to be more realistic than the king. Slide21
Dire pane al pane = Call a spade a spade (spade =
vanga)
Provare
= variously translated as
test
,
try, try out,
try on
,
feel
, rehearseProve = like Italian dimostrare or, in legal contexts, provare or fornire una provaEssere più realista del re: no equivalent expression in English.
A possible paraphrase would be: to support or defend a cause more fervently than people directly involved do.