This thesis is primarily a study of George Baldwin (1743/4-1824), a British merchant and diplomat, and his efforts in developing an overland route through Egypt in the last decades of the...Show moreThis thesis is primarily a study of George Baldwin (1743/4-1824), a British merchant and diplomat, and his efforts in developing an overland route through Egypt in the last decades of the eighteenth century. The significance of the Egyptian overland route in this period has often been overlooked when compared to the later overland mail established by Thomas Waghorn in the 1830s and the Suez Canal. This thesis will provide a reassessment of the overland route’s commercial and geopolitical significance to the British Empire during the period of George Baldwin’s two residencies in Egypt; first as a merchant (1775-1779) and then as the first British Consul-General to Egypt (1786-1798). The growing realisation of the route’s strategic significance by British policymakers, like Henry Dundas, predates the Napoleonic Expedition and will be examined in relation to Baldwin’s consular appointment in 1786. The commercial value of the route will be assessed by looking at the private trade of Baldwin and his associates during both residencies and is something that casts doubt on the traditional view that the Middle East experienced commercial decline in this period. Most significantly, this thesis will focus on the strategic importance of the route to the British position in India. The significance of Egypt increased as the East India Company transitioned into a territorial power in 1770s and 1780s. This meant that Baldwin’s role was a strategic necessity; something shown by a series of case studies on the sieges of Pondicherry in 1778 and 1793 as well as the transfer of Ceylon to the British in 1796.Show less
The effectiveness of advertising texts largely depends on the way they are written. Torresi’s information-to-persuasion ratio is a way of defining the stylistic traits of advertising texts in terms...Show moreThe effectiveness of advertising texts largely depends on the way they are written. Torresi’s information-to-persuasion ratio is a way of defining the stylistic traits of advertising texts in terms of their informativeness and persuasiveness. This ratio can be used to determine the way an advertising text should be translated, so that the translated advertising text is effective. The purpose of this thesis was to experiment with Torresi’s theory by examining the effects different information-to-persuasion ratios have on readers, and to determine the potential this ratio holds for sales optimisation, using three translations of one English advertising text that have different information-to-persuasion ratios. One translation had the same ratio as the source text, one translation was more informative, and one was more persuasive. The results, gathered through a survey, did not always concur with Torresi’s theory. The results showed that translating texts in a more informative or persuasive manner may have a few benefits. For instance, it may provide readers with a better understanding of the product being sold. In addition, the general information about the product was considered more credible in the informative TT compared to the neutral TT. However, it appeared that changing the ratio may also have several negative effects that override the benefits. For example, it may lengthen the text to such an extent that the reader finds it more difficult to focus on the text. Moreover, the readers of the neutral TT found the product the most relevant for them. Overall, the neutral translation was the most effective translation. In other words, experimenting with the information-to-persuasion ratio did not improve advertising effectiveness in this case, and may therefore hold little to no potential for sales optimisation.Show less
