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la culture chute dans la marchandise

English translation: culture is reduced to a mere commodity

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:la culture chute dans la marchandise
English translation:culture is reduced to a mere commodity
Entered by: veratek

14:31 Dec 11, 2012
French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
French term or phrase: la culture chute dans la marchandise
Selon l’observation d’Armand Mattelart, à leurs yeux*, à travers de l'industrie culturelle, la culture chute dans la marchandise de manière exemplaire

* Adorno et Horkheimer ont élaboré une critique de la culture de masse en soulignant le souci de rentabilité et la mise en péril de la création artistique. La culture devient une marchandise, avec des conséquences négatives comme la perte d'originalité des messages et un appauvrissement des contenus.
veratek
Brazil
Local time: 00:49
culture is reduced to a mere commodity
Explanation:
This phrase appears in Armand et Michèle Mattelart's Histoire des théories de la communication (1995):

"L'industrie culturelle fixe de manière exemplaire la faillite de la culture, sa chute dans la marchandise."

That's on p. 42 of the 3rd Edition, published by La Découverte in 2004.
http://books.google.fr/books?id=rlNbHQAACAAJ&dq=Histoire des...


This book was translated by Susan Gruenheck Taponier and James Cohen as Theories of Communication: A Short Introduction. Here is the citation:

"The culture industry inevitably brought about the bankruptcy of culture, reducing it to a mere commodity."

That's p. 61of the paperback edition, published by SAGE Publications in 1999.
http://books.google.fr/books?id=Ua0NMm3GFk0C&printsec=frontc...

That's not the only possible translation of course, but it's good academic practice to refer to existing translations (and to make a note if there is a problem requiring re-translation).



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Note added at 19 hrs (2012-12-12 10:10:40 GMT)
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Citations can also be verified on Amazon.com.

Please also see http://www.proz.com/kudoz/5040517#11174386
Selected response from:

John Holland
France
Local time: 05:49
Grading comment
Thank you.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2culture becomes just another commodity
Yvonne Gallagher
3 +1culture is reduced to being a saleable item
Jane F
4culture is reduced to a mere commodity
John Holland
3culture falls to the level of a commodity
Marco Solinas


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
culture is reduced to being a saleable item


Explanation:
my suggestion, upon reflection

Jane F
France
Local time: 05:49
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 3

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  katsy: "saleable item" had also crossed my mind.. ."becomes nothing more than a saleable item"?
1 hr
  -> yes, that's good too
neutral  B D Finch: Rather misses the point of the Marxist theory behind A & H's writing.
22 hrs
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10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
culture falls to the level of a commodity


Explanation:
One way of expressing it

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Note added at 3 hrs (2012-12-11 18:05:47 GMT)
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make it "declines" instead of "falls":

"culture declines to the level of a commodity"

Marco Solinas
Local time: 20:49
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ItalianItalian
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18 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
culture is reduced to a mere commodity


Explanation:
This phrase appears in Armand et Michèle Mattelart's Histoire des théories de la communication (1995):

"L'industrie culturelle fixe de manière exemplaire la faillite de la culture, sa chute dans la marchandise."

That's on p. 42 of the 3rd Edition, published by La Découverte in 2004.
http://books.google.fr/books?id=rlNbHQAACAAJ&dq=Histoire des...


This book was translated by Susan Gruenheck Taponier and James Cohen as Theories of Communication: A Short Introduction. Here is the citation:

"The culture industry inevitably brought about the bankruptcy of culture, reducing it to a mere commodity."

That's p. 61of the paperback edition, published by SAGE Publications in 1999.
http://books.google.fr/books?id=Ua0NMm3GFk0C&printsec=frontc...

That's not the only possible translation of course, but it's good academic practice to refer to existing translations (and to make a note if there is a problem requiring re-translation).



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 19 hrs (2012-12-12 10:10:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Citations can also be verified on Amazon.com.

Please also see http://www.proz.com/kudoz/5040517#11174386

John Holland
France
Local time: 05:49
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Thank you.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
culture becomes just another commodity


Explanation:
similar to previous answers

culture becomes another commodity just like everything else

or just another marketable/marketing item


..

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Note added at 23 hrs (2012-12-12 13:46:59 GMT)
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I see John has found a previous translation. Personally I prefer "becomes" ("becomes a mere commodity/becomes merely another commodity becomes just another commodity") rather than "is reduced to" but obviously they are very similar

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 04:49
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  ormiston: maybe "a mere commodity" would convey "chute"
2 hrs
  -> thanks, that would definitely work too!
agree  Victoria Britten: I like "a mere commodity", too
3 hrs
  -> Thanks, agreed, or even "merely another commodity"
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