Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
"Fille de pub” et de réfugiés catalans
English translation:
With advertising in her blood, the daughter of Catalan refugees
Added to glossary by
Tony M
Jun 5, 2013 10:08
10 yrs ago
French term
Translation, proofreading and editing
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English
"Fille de pub” et de réfugiés catalans
French to English
Bus/Financial
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
This is a sort of opening description of a very successful advertising executive. I just can't get my head around the first part. I've seen "fille de pub" used to mean someone who's mad about advertising (maybe an advertising enthusiast), but also someone who works in advertising. Are both correct and what would be right in this context as surely both would apply? Also what does the "de réfugiés Catalans" link to here, the "fille de"? Can you be a "fille de réfugiés catalans", it all seems very strange to me. If anyone can help clarify this for me I'd be most grateful. Thanks for your time.
“Fille de pub” et de réfugiés catalans, née espagnole et fière d’être devenue française, “féministe” assumée : c’est peu dire qu’elle détonne dans l’univers conformiste et policé du grand business français.
“Fille de pub” et de réfugiés catalans, née espagnole et fière d’être devenue française, “féministe” assumée : c’est peu dire qu’elle détonne dans l’univers conformiste et policé du grand business français.
Proposed translations
+8
30 mins
Selected
With advertising in her blood, the daughter of Catalan refugees
As for the 'réfugiés' part, you may need to do further research about the actual lady in order to find out if it is meant literally or figuratively; also consider the possibility of its being 'people who have taken refuge in Catalonia' instead of having fled from there.
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Note added at 1 hr (2013-06-05 11:26:07 GMT)
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OK, everyone, please disregard my comments under 'explanation' — being unaware of the true situation myself, I was only seeking to throw some ideas into the melting-pot to help Asker get her head round the whole issue.
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Note added at 1 hr (2013-06-05 11:26:07 GMT)
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OK, everyone, please disregard my comments under 'explanation' — being unaware of the true situation myself, I was only seeking to throw some ideas into the melting-pot to help Asker get her head round the whole issue.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
polyglot45
: Tony - this one is a classic - a whole heap of people in Catalonia fled to France (nearest border) in the Civil War days (Franco) - PS I wasn't around either but I know my history !
3 mins
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Thanks, P/G! Fair enough, something to add into my « culture générale » — luckily, I wasn't around in those days ;-)
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| neutral |
writeaway
: agree with polyglot45. Lots of Spanish fled to France during the Spanish Civil War. It's a well-known fact. 'with advertising in her blood' is one of a number of ways to express the 'fille de pub' idea (ps I wasn't around then either)/Colin's born with!
8 mins
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Thanks, though my aside concerning the refugee part doesn't really invalidate the rest of my suggestion, I don't think
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| agree |
Colin Morley (X)
: Whilst the explanation has been correctly queried by polyglot and writeaway, I believe the translation is sound. I think I would turn it on its head in English and say something like: "This daughter of Catalan refugees was born with advertising..etc.
17 mins
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Thanks, Colin! Quite, I regret now that I went to the trouble to discuss further (trying to help Asker). Your suggested word-order change would I feel sure help the flow of the sentence.
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| neutral |
Daryo
: it's not exactly "born with", it's more a "fan of" / "crazy about everything ads-related" etc...
46 mins
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I know it's not 'born with', but 'in her blood' is a way of saying that it is a very visceral thing for her... but without knowing the actual person concerned and her background, it's hard to know in what way she could be said to be a 'fille de pub'
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| agree |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: I'm with Colin here. The word order needs changing for a smooth-flowing bit of English.
1 hr
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Thanks, Nikki! Sure, I wasn't really seeking to offer a finished, drop-fit translation, but merely to help Asker get the ideas sorted out...
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| agree |
Carlos Segura
: Despite your doubt about the "réfugiés" aspect, the translations are fine - and I agree with you, "in her blood" does not necessarily mean "born with". I think Sonya can work with these two elements to build and finish this sentence in English.
2 hrs
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Thanks a lot for your support, Carlos!
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| agree |
Verginia Ophof
4 hrs
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Thanks, Verginia!
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| agree |
Emma Paulay
: I'd turn it round a little: "The daughter of Catalonian refugees, she is Spanish born and proud of her French citizenship. Yet it is advertising that flows in her veins." Something like that.
4 hrs
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Thanks, Emma! Yes, that sounds like it's going the right way...
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| agree |
Helen Shiner
: With Emma - she has come up through the ranks of the advertising world.
5 hrs
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Thanks, Helen! Yes, now we have that vital extra context, it certainly helps finding a better formulation.
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| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: I like this and I completely agree with your comments about "in her blood" and would retain
5 hrs
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Thanks, G2!
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| agree |
Yolanda Broad
14 hrs
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Thanks, Yolanda! :-)
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| neutral |
kashew
: "In her blood" made me think of the Python "Accountancy"sketch!
22 hrs
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Thanks, J! Don't know that one :-(
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you so much Tony and indeed everyone for your valuable input and ideas, you were a great help when I was having a real mental block."
3 hrs
Born in Spain...and brought up in the world of advertising
A little lengthy, but gets the meaning across.
I would omit the Catalan refugee thing altogether. Many English speakers are unlikely to be familiar with this piece of history (I was, for e.g) and so the word 'refugee' might conjure up unintended connotations. I wonder how many people actually know that Catalonia is in Spain...stick with the Spanish connection, leave Franco out, I say.
One would have to find another way to get the "proudly French" bit in there in my e.g. sentence. I think there's room for rearranging when it comes to bios in order to make the best impression in the target culture.
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Note added at 4 heures (2013-06-05 14:40:05 GMT)
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Of course, she may not actually have been born in Spain, just has Spanish parents...hmmm. Of Spanish birth, maybe, or born into a Spanish home / to Spanish parents; Spanish by birth, French by choice and brought up...something like that.
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Note added at 4 heures (2013-06-05 14:46:53 GMT)
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Spanish by birth, French by choice and proudly so, weaned by (the world of) advertising...?
I would omit the Catalan refugee thing altogether. Many English speakers are unlikely to be familiar with this piece of history (I was, for e.g) and so the word 'refugee' might conjure up unintended connotations. I wonder how many people actually know that Catalonia is in Spain...stick with the Spanish connection, leave Franco out, I say.
One would have to find another way to get the "proudly French" bit in there in my e.g. sentence. I think there's room for rearranging when it comes to bios in order to make the best impression in the target culture.
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Note added at 4 heures (2013-06-05 14:40:05 GMT)
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Of course, she may not actually have been born in Spain, just has Spanish parents...hmmm. Of Spanish birth, maybe, or born into a Spanish home / to Spanish parents; Spanish by birth, French by choice and brought up...something like that.
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Note added at 4 heures (2013-06-05 14:46:53 GMT)
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Spanish by birth, French by choice and proudly so, weaned by (the world of) advertising...?
Example sentence:
Born in Spain, raised in France and brought up in the world of advertising...
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
writeaway
: don't think that is what is meant at all
40 mins
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Tks W. It's a bit like "raised by wolves". If she's a daughter of advertising, then perhaps one could say she's been 'raised' by it (as opposed to in the world of).
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| neutral |
Tony M
: In the light of added context, I don't think either 'brought up' or (certainly not) 'weaned' works well here.
2 hrs
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Tks Tony. Scratch wean off the list, then :-)
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| neutral |
kashew
: Whatever - it's a good stylistic idea to invert the information
19 hrs
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Tks for your thoughts kashew.
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+2
11 hrs
Sophie Oliveau-Moore
Canada
Canada
Native in French
Canada
Finding "le mot juste"
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, French to English
A child of the advertisement generation and of Catalan refugees
The source text uses a zeugma, a figure of speech “where a single word is used with two other parts of a sentence but must be understood differently in relation to each other” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeugma ) as in “He took his hat and his leave”. This gives a certain quirkiness to the sentence that you may want to preserve in your translation.
Reference comments
1 hr
Reference:
Fille de pub
Posté dans Musique par D.
Je suis ce que l’on appelle une publivore. Je pourrais passer des heures et des heures à regarder des pubs télés et je dois dire que hormis quelques émissions que j’affectionne particulièrement, la pub est pour moi LE moment de télévision par excellence.
"Culture pub": voilà une émission qui n’avait pas volé son titre mais que j’ai malheureusement vu se vider progressivement de son sens, puis disparaître.
La pub est pour moi l’occasion de voyager, essentiellement dans l’esprit des publicitaires il faut le reconnaître mais parfois à la faveur d’une mélodie on se retrouve en plein dans la culture. Lorsque l’on est curieux comme moi, on fait d’immenses découvertes!
Comme cette chanson dans la pub pour ADP(aéroports de Paris). Une pub tout ce qu’il y a de plus banal mais avec ce petit plus qui n’a sans doute pas dû échapper à ceux qui l’ont avalisé. C’est là que la magie d’internet intervient puisqu’il m’a alors suffit de taper dans un moteur de recherche les trois mots du refrain si mélodieux pour découvrir moult versions de cette chanson qui m’a vraiment séduite "I Love Paris"
[http://bestofdblog.com/2008/10/16/fille-de-pub/]
Je suis ce que l’on appelle une publivore. Je pourrais passer des heures et des heures à regarder des pubs télés et je dois dire que hormis quelques émissions que j’affectionne particulièrement, la pub est pour moi LE moment de télévision par excellence.
"Culture pub": voilà une émission qui n’avait pas volé son titre mais que j’ai malheureusement vu se vider progressivement de son sens, puis disparaître.
La pub est pour moi l’occasion de voyager, essentiellement dans l’esprit des publicitaires il faut le reconnaître mais parfois à la faveur d’une mélodie on se retrouve en plein dans la culture. Lorsque l’on est curieux comme moi, on fait d’immenses découvertes!
Comme cette chanson dans la pub pour ADP(aéroports de Paris). Une pub tout ce qu’il y a de plus banal mais avec ce petit plus qui n’a sans doute pas dû échapper à ceux qui l’ont avalisé. C’est là que la magie d’internet intervient puisqu’il m’a alors suffit de taper dans un moteur de recherche les trois mots du refrain si mélodieux pour découvrir moult versions de cette chanson qui m’a vraiment séduite "I Love Paris"
[http://bestofdblog.com/2008/10/16/fille-de-pub/]
2 hrs
Alison MacG
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
United Kingdom
Patents and related material specialist
Native in: English (Variants: Scottish, UK, British)
Works in: German to English, French to English, Swedish to English, and 4 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
8
Reference:
French for Marketing: Using French in Media and Communications By R. E. Batchelor
Une fille de pub : cette expression fait référence à un double sens : c'est une fille dont la pub a fait un symbole, un objet ou un sujet. Elle est un outil publicitaire. Elle fait également allusion à l'ouvrage de Jacques Séguéla (professionnnel de la pub) : Fils de pub. Jacques Séguéla est un publicitaire français né en 1934. Il est co-fondateur de l' agence RSCG (Roux, Séguéla, Cayzac et Goudard) appartenant maintenant au groupe multimédias Havas.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lGevHT_4L2UC&pg=PA17&lpg=...
fils de pub
Composé de fils et de pub (« publicité »). Expression plaisante forgée pour sa paronymie avec l’expression injurieuse fils de pute. Popularisée lors de la parution du livre best-seller Fils de pub (1984) écrit par le publicitaire Jacques Séguéla.
http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/fils_de_pub
Does/did she work for Havas/Euro RSCG? If so, there could be a double meaning here.
Une fille de pub : cette expression fait référence à un double sens : c'est une fille dont la pub a fait un symbole, un objet ou un sujet. Elle est un outil publicitaire. Elle fait également allusion à l'ouvrage de Jacques Séguéla (professionnnel de la pub) : Fils de pub. Jacques Séguéla est un publicitaire français né en 1934. Il est co-fondateur de l' agence RSCG (Roux, Séguéla, Cayzac et Goudard) appartenant maintenant au groupe multimédias Havas.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lGevHT_4L2UC&pg=PA17&lpg=...
fils de pub
Composé de fils et de pub (« publicité »). Expression plaisante forgée pour sa paronymie avec l’expression injurieuse fils de pute. Popularisée lors de la parution du livre best-seller Fils de pub (1984) écrit par le publicitaire Jacques Séguéla.
http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/fils_de_pub
Does/did she work for Havas/Euro RSCG? If so, there could be a double meaning here.
Peer comments on this reference comment:
| agree |
kashew
: Nice references.
1 hr
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Thanks, kashew
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| agree |
Emma Paulay
3 hrs
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Thanks, Emma
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Discussion
And hey presto! you've also quoted another smashing example of zeugma: "pen and paper collar and stud"
To accountancy one day
With pen and paper collar and stud
Accountancy was in my blood
I'll scribble away and balance the books and sing an accountancy shanty! - Python.
Maybe advertising is like that too?
Did she work in advertising before ?
However, I think 'innate' is just as bad, suggesting as it also does that it is 'inherent' or 'inborn'
I think you might need to research your character more in order to find out just in what way she is this 'fille de pub'? If she wasn't born into a family of advertising professionals, then was she trained in it — or did she watch a lot of TV during long months in a sick bed? All this sort of background ifnormation could probably help you come up with the most apposite expression here.
I must admit, I did wonder if it was 'pub' in the EN sense, used a lot in FR — a bar-room child! But then I discounted that as purely entertaining conjecture ;-)