Nardi, Valeria (2012) Translation in advertising : marketing cars in Italy and the UK since the 1980s. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis investigates the advertising strategies used in marketing cars in
Italy and the UK, with particular reference to the employment of translation.
Fieldwork has been undertaken within advertising agencies, with a view to
establishing how translation is used, whether translators in the industry are
professionally trained and how significant translation is generally
maintained to be. The role of advertising agencies in both contexts has been
considered in terms of their development over time and their cultural
prominence. A qualitative analysis of a corpus of Italian and British car
advertisements from the 1980s to the present has been undertaken, with the
aim of determining how car advertisements have changed across two
decades, during which advertising techniques have tended to become more
complex and both societies have undergone significant changes. This is
particularly apparent with regard to issues of gender representation and the
balance between verbal and visual text. The analysis of the corpus focuses
on the use of translation. It is suggested that car advertisements, as cultural
products, are reconstituted and rewritten when translated, so that
advertisements of the same product tend to be very different across cultures,
both in terms of textual content and visuals. Investigating the cultural value
of advertisements demonstrates the continuing tension between perceptions
of what is termed ‘mechanical translation’ and ‘creative rewriting’ as well as
the social and economic value ascribed to each in marketing discourses. The
general aim of the thesis is to establish the involvement of translation in
economic and cultural exchanges within which advertising plays a part. It is argued that despite what advertising professionals appear to believe, the
cultural and economic impact of advertising is assisted by translation, which
plays a significant role in the transmission of information and values.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Advertising campaigns -- Italy, Advertising campaigns -- Great Britain, Marketing -- Italy, Marketing -- Great Britain, Automobile industry and trade, Translating and interpreting
Official Date:	October 2012
Dates:	Date Event October 2012 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Bassnett, Susan; Marinetti, Christina, 1976-
Description:	Digitisation restricted because of copyrighted illustrations.
Extent:	394 leaves : illustrations.
Language:	eng

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