Italian>English pesky word list, suggestions for hard-to-translate Italian terms
Thread poster: Miriam Hurley
Miriam Hurley
Miriam Hurley  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:19
Italian to English
Jun 11, 2020

Hello all,

I've updated my list of Pesky Words:

https://miriamhurley.com/pesky/

Ideas for common, hard-to-translate words and phrases from Italian to English

Let me know in the comments if you have suggestions!

Thanks, Miriam


Josephine Cassar
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:19
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Good but Jun 11, 2020

Miriam Hurley wrote:

Hello all,

I've updated my list of Pesky Words:

https://miriamhurley.com/pesky/

Ideas for common, hard-to-translate words and phrases from Italian to English

Let me know in the comments if you have suggestions!

Thanks, Miriam



Very good, but I don't agree with half of them!

Here's a challenge that I didn't find on your list: "declinazione" (the noun).

I'm sure we have all tussled with that one in sentences like "la seta in tutte le sue declinazioni"

[Edited at 2020-06-11 10:18 GMT]


 
Miriam Hurley
Miriam Hurley  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:19
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Which part don't you agree with? Jun 11, 2020

Thanks, Tom. You don't agree that they're pesky or that the suggestions are apt? They're meant to be grist for the mill for the translator to choose the best option for the context. I'll consider adding the noun of "declinare" in the future! Turning the verb suggestions into nouns can help, like "in all its many expressions..."

 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:19
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Well---- Jun 11, 2020

Miriam Hurley wrote:

Thanks, Tom. You don't agree that they're pesky or that the suggestions are apt? They're meant to be grist for the mill for the translator to choose the best option for the context. I'll consider adding the noun of "declinare" in the future! Turning the verb suggestions into nouns can help, like "in all its many expressions..."


Well Miriam; call me picky but to start with, I would not translate "in tutte le sue declinazioni" as "in all its many expressions". So much is lost.

I do agree that the Italian words can be pesky, but that's because there are many wonderfully expressive words in Italian that cannot easily be rendered into English without losing something in the translation.

For example "territorio", which is on your list, requires great care. For instance in a sentence that might begin something like "Nell'Arte del Buongoverno i Lorenzetti rappresentano Siena nel suo territorio...." the use of the English word "territory" would be dead and flat, without any of the resonance of " territorio". So I think context is important.

Anyway - great work!


 
Miriam Hurley
Miriam Hurley  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:19
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Yes, context Jun 11, 2020

Thanks again. Yes, context is always the key factor. I almost never use "territory" for "territorio" but every once in a while, it is territory, like in,

"Gregory Bateson sosteneva che ciò che la mappa è in grado di cogliere del territorio fossero le sue differenze."


 
texjax DDS PhD
texjax DDS PhD  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:19
Member (2006)
English to Italian
+ ...
Interesting Jun 11, 2020

Thanks for sharing!

Miriam Hurley
tradu-grace
 
Emily Gilby
Emily Gilby  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:19
Member (2018)
French to English
+ ...
Thank you for sharing this! Jun 12, 2020

An interesting read, nice to know that I'm not the only one who trips over "prevedere", it seems to have a different meaning every time and I must see it in nearly every translation that I do! I'm sure there are many more that could be added to this list but none come to mind right now...

Miriam Hurley
 
Miranda Drew
Miranda Drew  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 14:19
Member (2009)
Italian to English
what about "pratica"? Jun 12, 2020

I saw this on linkedin and I find it really helpful. I translate financial and legal documents, and "practica" can be an annoying one. It can mean account, file, customer, paperwork....etc.

Emily Gilby
 
Miriam Hurley
Miriam Hurley  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:19
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
We'll add it to the list! Jun 12, 2020

Thanks, that's a good one!

 
WS McCallum
WS McCallum
New Zealand
Local time: 02:19
French to English
A useful list Jun 16, 2020

I enjoyed going through your list Miriam. A lot of Italian words and expressions are tangential and hyperbolic in nature and you capture the context-driven nature of these slippery terms. My favourite suggestion is "[leave out]".

 
Hugh Thomson
Hugh Thomson
Spain
Spanish to English
Box Jun 16, 2020

Might be worth an entry?
Car port
Shower cubicle
Earbud case
etc.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:19
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Here's another one Jul 21, 2020

trasversale/trasversalità

"L’ampia gamma di articoli che compongono la linea XXXX si caratterizzano per trasversalità e semplicità"

Give me ONE WORD for that, in English!

I'm tearing my hair out here....


NB this is not a Kudoz question. It's a rant.


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:19
French to English
. Jul 23, 2020

I'm wishing I translated from Italian right now as I read this thread!
When I was first starting out at an agency, checking the work of translators with far more experience than me, I started compiling a file that I called "Think of using", where I put their solutions for terms I had trouble conveying in English. It was really quite a useful file as I got to grips with pesky words. Now I wish I'd called the file "Pesky words"!
Although I did have another mini-glossary that - to the d
... See more
I'm wishing I translated from Italian right now as I read this thread!
When I was first starting out at an agency, checking the work of translators with far more experience than me, I started compiling a file that I called "Think of using", where I put their solutions for terms I had trouble conveying in English. It was really quite a useful file as I got to grips with pesky words. Now I wish I'd called the file "Pesky words"!
Although I did have another mini-glossary that - to the delight of all the students I trained - I called "Corporate bla-bla". It listed all those inane buzzwords like "proactive" and "think outside the box" and, indeed, "buzzword". I got most of the terms out of articles with titles like "tired words you really should avoid in business"

[Edited at 2020-07-23 13:47 GMT]
Collapse


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:19
Member (2008)
Italian to English
I hate having to think up a title every time I post in a forum Jul 23, 2020

Kay Denney wrote:

I'm wishing I translated from Italian right now as I read this thread!
When I was first starting out at an agency, checking the work of translators with far more experience than me, I started compiling a file that I called "Think of using", where I put their solutions for terms I had trouble conveying in English. It was really quite a useful file as I got to grips with pesky words. Now I wish I'd called the file "Pesky words"!
Although I did have another mini-glossary that - to the delight of all the students I trained - I called "Corporate bla-bla". It listed all those inane buzzwords like "proactive" and "think outside the box" and, indeed, "buzzword". I got most of the terms out of articles with titles like "tired words you really should avoid in business"

[Edited at 2020-07-23 13:47 GMT]


You could run that one up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it



 


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Italian>English pesky word list, suggestions for hard-to-translate Italian terms







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