Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Italian term or phrase:
una fusione dei saperi, la declinazione della conoscenza
English translation:
a fusion of learning, where knowledge is dispensed in its various forms
Added to glossary by
xlationhouse
Jun 12, 2007 22:01
16 yrs ago
4 viewers *
Italian term
United States
6 yrs as a translator; 15 yrs in TR mgt
Native in: English
Works in: French to English, Italian to English
una fusione dei saperi, la declinazione della conoscenza
Italian to English
Social Sciences
Education / Pedagogy
From an article in a tourist magazine about the debate surrounding the potential establishment of a Veneto Polytechnic:
Tornando alla possibilità che...possa nascere un Politecnico così come accaduto nell’Ottocento a Milano e Torino, [the speaker]...chiarisce che...il futuro “Politecnico” dovrebbe costituire “una fusione dei saperi, la declinazione della conoscenza”.
I am just a bit stumped by this expression. It seems contradictory, and I am sure it is meant to be: fusion of learning, decline of knowledge?
Note, in the next sentence it is mentioned that the speaker botched the term, so perhaps there is a word wrong in the Italian that, corrected, would cause it to make sense.
Is this a known concept/quote in pedagogy? Thanks for any suggestions.
Tornando alla possibilità che...possa nascere un Politecnico così come accaduto nell’Ottocento a Milano e Torino, [the speaker]...chiarisce che...il futuro “Politecnico” dovrebbe costituire “una fusione dei saperi, la declinazione della conoscenza”.
I am just a bit stumped by this expression. It seems contradictory, and I am sure it is meant to be: fusion of learning, decline of knowledge?
Note, in the next sentence it is mentioned that the speaker botched the term, so perhaps there is a word wrong in the Italian that, corrected, would cause it to make sense.
Is this a known concept/quote in pedagogy? Thanks for any suggestions.
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
+1
8 hrs
Selected
a melting pot of wisdom, when knowledge is dispensed in its various forms
a place where knowledge comes together and is dispensed in its various forms
This sort of stuff is virtually untranslatable in English, where such flowery phrases are less common and we are less inclined to use nouns
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Note added at 8 hrs (2007-06-13 06:38:04 GMT)
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WHERE knowledge
This sort of stuff is virtually untranslatable in English, where such flowery phrases are less common and we are less inclined to use nouns
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Note added at 8 hrs (2007-06-13 06:38:04 GMT)
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WHERE knowledge
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "All answers were brilliant, thanks so much to everyone! I chose this one because it added the second half of the phrase to the "fusion of learning" I was already considering."
42 mins
a fusion of learning, the giving of knowledge
declinare can mean to give, as in a list of details. "declinare le proprie generalità" means to state one's name.
3 hrs
James (Jim) Davis
Seychelles
Seychelles
Native in English
Seychelles
25 years experience constantly improving
Native in: English (Variant: British) 
Works in: Italian to English
Related KudoZ points
:
149
and interdisciplinary melting pot, a particular interpretation of knowledge
"declinazione" in this sense is never easy, but is usually, as in this case, in the "hot air" range, so semantic precision if difficult is not crucial.
7 hrs
Christina Townsend
Native in English
Professional, fast and reliable!
Native in: English 
Works in: Italian to English, Spanish to English, French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
4
a hothouse of learning and the expression of knowledge
just another suggestion.
Good luck!!
Chris
Good luck!!
Chris
9 hrs
different fields of (human) knowledge
"X should be a place integrating / embracing / covering / encompassing different fields of (human) knowledge"
Another option
Another option
Discussion
But...does anyone know the allusion? Apparently this is some kind of quote and the speaker botched it:
...fa passare anche l’improprio uso del termine, purché in questa fucina della conoscenza applicata allo sviluppo “vi sia spazio per il design e...il rapporto con le imprese..."
(Note, I was probably wrong when I said the speaker may have used a wrong word - he probably instead used it, in the writer's opinion, out of context or to mean something it doesn't).
"A fusion of erudition an ascension of knowledge". Another possibility is that declinazione means reduction of study subjects in the positive sense.