Inglese I - Media & Communication

Inglese i – media and communication

Vocabulary

Media and communication

Magazines (riviste, es: Time) vs newspapers (quotidiani, es: Sun)

Types of magazines

• Current affairs: L’Espresso, Time, Newsweek
• Women’s: Woman’s Own
• Cookery, Men’s, Parenting (genitori), House, wedding...

How do we get magazines?

• We buy them at a newsagent’s (giornalaio). La “S” del genitivo sassone indica lo shop
• We read them online -> e-magazines
• We get them through the mail (posta): we pay an annual fee and take out a subscription

Es: Are you subscribed to any magazines? To subscribe to a magazine. To take out a subscription. A subscriber = abbonato.

Magazine titles

• Vogue
• Simply Knitting
• Cosmopolitan
• What car?
• GQ
• Glamour
• PS3
• Beautiful Britain

Content

What’s it about?

Target audience

What kind of person / What kind of lifestyle is it aimed at (indirizzato)?

The readership

Insieme di lettori.

Magazine coverlines

Coverlines are short lines of text on the front cover of magazines which try to get the reader’s interest by describing some of the articles in the magazine. They highlight the internal contents. Their ultimate aim is to sell = il loro scopo è vendere.

Parole da ricordare

• Title
• Price Prezzo
• Issue Uscita/numero
• Date
• Bar code
• Coverline Titoletti copertina
• Slogan Testata principale
• Masthead con info sul giornale
• In advance In anticipo

Examples of magazines

• Good Housekeeping is the Masthead = prendersi cura della casa - Communication is informal and direct. The language used is simple because it tries to attract readers (es: Oliver wants you) - The language is excessive because it is the strategy, it wants to inflate (gonfiare un concetto), wants to sell. They engage with you.
• ADELE (Adel) Headline = rolling stones. Coverlines are in the right (or at the top, at the bottom, in the centre). Verbs are imperative because it is a direct use.
• GRETA THUMBERG (Tamberg) She wears a yellow jacket and a blue t-shirt. Yellow coverlines in which “a generation” is erased (=cancellato).
• VEGAN LIVING (vigan livin) The strategy is a list of food and the exclamation mark because you want to emphasize something, it's something positive and friendly. Nella rivista si dà del tu (you = a personal pronoun).
• GARDENERS’ WORLD (gardene world) Lot of colours.

The language of coverlines

Coverlines must attract the reader’s attention. To do this, they need to create variety in the language they use. They use different:

Sentence types

• Mayor sentences (frasi complete): subject + finite verb (tense-tempo, number) = coniugato col tempo e persona. ES: My ex spied on me. Brad spends night with Angelina’s friend.
• Minor sentences (frasi incomplete) sometimes no subject + no finite verb- are informal. Molto generale, senza soggetto. ES: Turning your flat into a film set -> no finite verb (in -ing), no sub. How to build a beach-ready body. How to build big arms.

Sentence functions (a cosa servono)

• Imperatives = is a direct way of speaking, colloquial and friendly, es: Be a lady killer!
• Declarative = Interrogative Exclamative affermative, una dichiarazione (a statement), es: Oliver wants you. Yes, really!

Design features (caratteristiche grafiche)

• Underlining = sottolineature
• Bolding = grassetto
• Italicization = corsivo
• Capitalization (capitalaization) = maiuscolo
• Front size = grandezza del carattere
• Colour (calar)

Tricks of language (trucchi del linguaggio)

Phonology

• Rhyming
• Alliteration: repetition of the same consonant sound: Six simple secrets to keep you looking fabulous -> Immagine: Shape up & Show off
• Assonance: repetition of the same vowel sound: Awesome Autumn Advice! -> Immagine: Beat the Heat

Vocabulary

• Vocabulary of excess: es -> hair special: zillions (+ dei miliardi) of styles to suit you! “Zillion” is a hyperbole = exaggeration
• Abbreviations: es -> the boy spesh = speciale ragazzo -> Immagine: Hard ABS!

Working for a magazine

1. What is the title of the person who is in charge of the part of a women’s magazine where tips are given on what should be worn this season (clothes, accessories..)? -> FASHION EDITOR (direttore di un’area)
2. What is the title of the person who is in charge of the part of a current affairs magazine where information is given about exhibitions, books, films..? -> CULTURE EDITOR
3. What is the title of the person who writes the captions that go with the photos in a magazines? -> COPY EDITOR

Planning the contents of a magazine

Imagine you want to launch a magazine which is aimed at women aged between 25 and 45. What features would this magazine have?

• Women’s magazines (25-46): fashion, beauty, house, design, cookery, romance (storie d’amore), shopping, true life stories, work and careers, romance, agony aunt (tipo scrivi alla zia, è una rubrica dove i lettori scrivono), reviews (recensioni).

True-life stories in magazines (storie di vita vissuta)

• Tragedies (illnesses, death of loved ones, crimes, addiction=dipendente, poverty)
• Love and relationships (a partner who cheats=tradisce, finding Mr or Ms Right)
• Life-changing events (winning the lottery, moving abroad, losing a lot of weight)

Narrative structure

• Setting (characters, place, time)
• Problem/Complication
• Solution
• Moral

An interview with a true-life stories journalist

• What kind of people read true-life stories? True stories appear in everything from broadsheet newspapers to weekly women's magazines. They're just packaged differently to suit the readership, which means they're read by everybody.
• Why did you decide to become a true-life stories journalist? Journalism is all about getting to the heart of a story. Finding out what makes people tick and the choices they make. Journalists are tomorrow's historians since we chronicle the age in the most contemporary way. True stories simply reflect that. I could never invent something. You're judged by everything you write so your credibility is on the line from story to story.

Book: Cambridge English for the Media

Ann and Matt Storm:

1. SETTING-> Ann and Matt
2. PROBLEM-> Matt has to have a liver transplant (trapianto di fegato) and then his wife Ann has to have a liver transplant
3. SOLUTION-> Both Matt and Ann have successful operations
4. MORAL-> This experience, which often causes couples to separate, has made Ann and Matt stronger and care for each other more

Use of verb tenses in true life stories

• Past tenses are usually used in the problem and solution parts of a true-life story
• The simple present is often used in the moral of the story. It does not express a habitual action, but it is used to bring a past story into the present so that it seems more relevant and “vivid”.

Use of direct speech (discorso diretto) in true life story

• Direct speech is introduced by a reporting verb (say, tell, shout, explain…). The words in direct speech are preceded and followed by quotation marks/inverted commas (“ ”).
• In true-life stories, direct speech is used to focus on a specific event or relationship in the story, to show a character’s personality, and to show the relationships between characters.

Newspapers

Format circulation (formato: where they are sold and how many copies/Target audience Political orientation/Slant stampa) they sell

• Broadsheet: Right National
• Tabloid: Left Local
• Compact: Centre
• Liberal
• Conservative

Broadsheet (brodshiit)

Quality press -> sono di qualità, su un ampio foglio ovvero un giornale con un formato largo (simile corriere della sera, la repubblica, la stampa)

• Format/size: larger
• Contents: more home and overseas news (notizie estere), political and economic news, extensive coverage of sports, finance and cultural events
• Fewer pictures (poche foto)
• Less advertising (meno pubblicità)
• Language = quite formal
• Readership = middle and upper class (caratteristica + impo)

Es: The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Times, Observer, Independent

Tabloid

Are popular newspapers (comuni) = formato small simile alle riviste italiane, in Italia non abbiamo i tabloid. Also gutter press = stampa spazzatura and redtops

• Format/size: smaller
• Contents: local news, personal perspective of the news, feature stories (often involving celebrities)
• Bold headlines, large photographs and more advertising
• Language = much more colloquial
• Readership = working class (caratteristica + impo)

Es: The Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Daily Star, News of the world, Daily Mail

Compact

Formato compatto/compresso (portable), è un formato specifico del broadsheet. Mette insieme i primi 2 formati. Commuters = per I pendolari. Mass transit = trasporti di massa. Compact is Broadsheet in the form of tabloid, il primo fu The Independent. Broadsheet-quality newspaper printed in a tabloid format. È di qualità!