*Francesco Tullio Altan, più noto come Altan, è un fumettista, disegnatore, sceneggiatore e autore satirico italiano. English translation by Wendell Ricketts

LODGING FOR STUDENTS COMING FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

If you are a student coming from a developing country you can apply for a room at the Student’s Halls at the price of Euro 200 for month. In order to book one of these places,it’s necessary to be enrolled in a language course. To request the availability of places and the booking form at the management@unistrasi.it and to pay the lodging for the duration of the course….

When the test or your first lesson is finished, you can go to the “Segreteria Studenti” to complete your inscription and to pay the reminder fees of the course….

In addition the University organises guided visits in the city and to characteristic places in the surroundings and also to some of the big italian cities. If you like playing sports, you can turn to the “Centro Universitario Sportivo” (CUS).

L’Università per Stranieri, Perugia:

Class 14 – Class of Degrees in Communication Sciences

The University for Foreigners Perugia, with matured experience in international relations, is the ideal location for this Course and directly projects the skills and knowledge acquired through a multicultural and multi-linguistic context.

Class 5 – Class of Degrees in Arts

The Degree Course aims at satisfying the growing request for operators in the field of Italian L2 in Italy (due to the migratory flows that are making our country more and more multicultural) and abroad, where the request for Italian teaching and for Made in Italy is constantly increasing.

Commento: in entrambi questi estratti dai siti delle più famose Università per Stranieri italiane, il problema non è il senso; anzi, quello potrebbe anche essere sufficientemente chiaro (per quanto ci si chieda cosa siano le «tariffe promemoria»… perché quello significa l’espressione – errata per la confusione con la parola remainder – reminder fees). Solo che questi testi non sono scritti in inglese. Sotto la superficie di queste cosidette traduzioni si vede chiaramente lo scheletro dell’originale italiano: basti considerare l’uso del termine inscription per «iscrizione», quando in inglese «iscrizione» si dice registration e inscription significa invece «dedica» o, peggio ancora, «epitaffio». Tutti i vocaboli affini sono tradotti letteralmente, e la sintassi italiana rimane immutata, mentre questo genere di testi avrebbero richiesto come minimo l’intervento di un traduttore di esperienza, dotato di autentiche capacità redazionali.

Prima di liquidare queste obiezioni come di poco conto, si tenga presente che queste sono le prime (e più costose) università per studenti stranieri che vengono in Italia per studiare l’italiano; e giustamente si fanno vanto del proprio livello di eccellenza e del proprio rigore accademico nell’insegnamento della lingua. Ma nel materiale che mettono a disposizione in lingua inglese di eccellenza non si vede neanche l’ombra, e dunque la domanda sorge spontanea: di che cosa parliamo, quando parliamo di eccellenza in un inglese tanto misero?

The police, in turn, must rely on the help of an acoustic child and an emotionally damaged ex-FBI agent.

 Commento: sfondoni di questa portata (la polizia si affida all’aiuto di un bambino «acustico» anziché autistico…) testimoniano l’incapacità di rileggere, oltre che quella di scrivere in inglese: ma revisioni e riletture sono parte integrante della professione di traduttore. A margine, il sito contiene un estratto della traduzione pubblicata… ma non specifica il nome del traduttore di Faletti. Con sviste di questo genere, non c’è da meravigliarsi che nessuno se ne sia voluto prendere il merito.

“Following the brilliant results achieved at the high school, Tiziano enrolled at the university where he attended two different Faculties: one year in engineering and then information and communication sciences, both in Rome. Much better the results achieved with music: 7 years of classical guitar, 1 year of drums and 2 years of piano….

On the ‘96 – ‘97 two year period, he also attended a school of dubbing and worked as speaker in a couple of local radio stations. During the two following years he enrolled into the Sanremo Song Academy: the first year was a disaster as he didn’t go further to the first week, while in 1998 he succeeded in getting one of the 12 finalists….

In 2001 Tiziano signed a deal with EMI and in July of the same year he released his first single ever … in matter of two months he finds himself on top of both the Italian singles sales chart and the airplay.

 Dalla sezione «News»:

Hits such as [Xdono, Rosso Relativo, Xverso and Sere Nere] have done of the singer born in Latina, Italy a true music revelation…. With beats reminiscent of the eighties, the interpreter presents an album which’s songs are influenced by personal experiences, and include deep ballads and one or two songs that will have dancing more than one person….
TIZIANO FERRO ARRIVES TODAY TO THE UNITED STATES!

The production, published in 25 countries, had its world-wide launching the past 20th of June in Milan, Italy before hundreds of fanatics and 300 international reporters that traveled exclusively to this city for the event.

Dalla sezione «Tour»:

 At the moment there are no dates communicate yet.

Commento: non si sa da dove cominciare, a criticare questa traduzione davvero imbarazzante. Dal becero doppio senso insito nella frase che vorrebbe comunicare il buon risultato di avere «ottenuto un posto da finalista»… ma in inglese dice che «Tiziano riuscì a farsi uno dei finalisti»? Dall’idea che Tiziano nel 2001 si è trovato «in cima allo spazio radiofonico»? Dalle canzoni che, all’incirca, «faranno più di uno ballare»? Dal suo arrivo «agli Stati Uniti»? Dalle «centinaia di fanatici» presenti al suo «varo»? Dalla grandinata di errori puri e semplici (più o meno: «Nel duennio ’96-’97», «in giro di due mesi», «niente date comunicate ancora»)? Perché mai, chi potrebbe tranquillamente permettersi una bella traduzione, si accontenta invece di un testo spaventosamente ridicolo, o ridicolmente spaventoso? Bisognerebbe chiederlo a Tiziano Ferro.

“Big numbers aren’t always the sign of a big success, but I’m sure that this time the number speaks for itself: 747.469 euros, this is our result. And not only, it is … the result of the national singers team, that has been carrying out this project for years…. All this is the “La Partita Del Cuore” that I was lucky to play with my team “Ale+10”, a group of friends that let me live through the fantastic experience and didn’t spare themselves to reach all the targets. Today we have handed in the cheques to the associations that will take care of the raised funds [including] 100.000 euros to … Poggio Picenze, one of the mostly damaged by earthquake  in Abbruzzo places; 323.784 euros for the Mystic Park Foundation ONLUS, created to develop productive and promotional cultural center Equity and Solidarity Productive Camp, that will become the experimenting organisation to support politics for young people in Rome; and Adisco [which] supports the project of reconstruction and building up the Day Hospitals and medical offices in the Oncoematological Department of Children Hospital Regina Margherita in Turin, one of the first international centers, that carries out the research on diagnosis, therapy and studies of children tumors and leukaemia…. I want to ask you to keep up supporting Adisco project…. All I have to do is to thank you all again. Thank you, indeed…. I would like to ask you to keep up the beat of the heart, so don’t give up supporting this project.”

Commento: l’impegno di Alessandro Del Piero nel sociale è davvero encomiabile, e i risultati delle sue attività di raccolta fondi dovrebbero fare da stimolo a noi tutti. Ma non sarebbe meglio promuovere un’attività così nobile in un inglese decente?

Quando mi chiedono: «Come fai a essere tanto sicuro che l’autore di una brutta traduzione è un italiano e non semplicemente un anglofono che se la cava male?», io uso proprio questa come esempio, perché gli indizi che contiene sono inequivocabili. Tanto per cominciare, qui il traduttore non sa che in inglese i decimali si indicano con la virgola e non con il punto, come in italiano; e non sa che in inglese le sigle (ADISCO) si scrivono con tutte le lettere maiuscole e non solo l’iniziale, come in italiano. Non sa quando inserire gli articoli e quando ometterli (se fosse italiano, il suo inglese suonerebbe così: «danneggiata da terremoto», «continuare a sostenere progetto Adisco»), né sa usare i possessivi, tutte spie molto chiare che il lavoro non è stato fatto da un madrelingua. Notevole, in effetti, che questo traduttore ignori anche che Abruzzo non si scrive con due B (né in inglese, né in italiano).

Poi c’è la terminologia medica, sempre infida perché gli italiani e gli anglofoni descrivono le medesime patologie in modo molto diverso: ma basterebbe un dizionario per scoprire che in inglese la parola oncoematological non esiste.

Quindi ci sono le questioni concettuali. In inglese the national singers team, per esempio, senza una spiegazione non significa nulla. Ma di fatto il nome dell’associazione non doveva essere modificato, e una traduzione corretta avrebbe detto una cosa tipo «la Nazionale Italiana Cantanti (squadra di calcio composta da cantanti che giocano partite di raccolta fondi per cause benefiche)…», ecc. E «Onlus» è una sigla italiana, che in inglese non ha senso: si dice non profit.

E infine, gli errori marchiani di una traduzione fallimentare. C’è il «sostegno alle politiche giovanili» che in inglese diventa una «politica di supporto per ragazzi»; c’è lo «studio dei tumori del bambino» che diventa «studi di tumori bambini»; e perfino gli «amici che mi hanno fatto vivere un’esperienza…» diventano «amici che mi lasciano vivere», quasi uno scherzo di cattivo gusto. Anche la Partita del Cuore – titolo dell’articolo in italiano – è un problema. L’espressione non è facile da tradurre: di fatto significa «la partita che per me ha un significato speciale, che ho giocato con tutto il cuore», e in italiano consente anche il gioco di parole nell’ultima riga (in cui Del Piero dice essenzialmente «spero che mi aiuterete a far battere quel cuore»). La traduzione letterale Match of my Heart, però, non funziona. Le soluzioni accettabili ci sono, anche se potrebbero implicare l’inserimento di cambiamenti nel titolo e nell’ultima riga del testo inglese; ma ci sarebbe voluto un vero traduttore.

Roman amphitheater of the first half of the Ist century a.D., one of the best kept in the world. The monument – symbol of the city – was named after the Latin toponym which means sand that covered the stalls. It is the third roman amphitheater for dimensions (after Colosseo in Rome and the amphitheater in Capua), reached in a well kept condition until today…. Under the monument have been found traces of a complex system of hydraulic plants through which the water was poured in for the naumachia (water games) and to clean the amphitheater…. From 1913, the Arena has become center of the most important lyric open theatre in the world.

Comment: Numerous Italian business sites have been “translated” into Engliano, as have the websites of hundreds of important museums, churches, and national monuments. This is just one example. Notice the typical “Engliano” inability to tell the difference between Italian and English sentence structure. A further, unmistakable clue that a non-English-native has been at work comes in the last line: “From 1913, the Arena has become….” Italian students of English have a difficult time mastering the proper use of the simple past tense vs. the present perfect tense with expressions of time. What the translator meant to say is either “Since 1913, the Arena has been” or “In 1913, the Arena became….” A poorly prepared English-speaking translator is capable of all kinds of mistakes, but this isn’t one of them.

ProvenWrite’s Wendell Ricketts has been a working Italian-to-English translator since 1998. In addition to literally hundreds of product catalogs, web sites, tourist brochures, and other texts in a wide variety of fields, he is the translator of Communicating Success: Public Relations with an Italian Flair (Tiziana Rocca, 2007); The Wrong Door: The Complete Plays of Natalia Ginzburg (U. Toronto Press, 2008); The Naples Chef Cooks: Pasta & First Courses—51 Italian Recipes (Sergio Corbino, 2008); Trilobites: The Back To The Past Museum Guide (Enrico Bonino & Carlo Kier, 2010); Olive Oil and the Mediterranean (Carlo Solito, 2006); The New City Italia 2026—Welcome to VEMA (Franco Purini, et al., Eds.; co-translation); and other publications. He has also translated four books as yet unpublished in English: Generations of Love (novel, Matteo B. Bianchi); 20 Cigarettes at Nasiriyah (memoir, Francesco Trento & Aureliano Amadei); Cher, Upon a Midnight Clear (a “Christmas tale,” Matteo B. Bianchi); and Around Three O’Clock (novel, Andrej Longo). View examples of his translations here.

He is experienced in the translation, editing, and revision of:

• technical manuals for the manufacturing and building trades;
• legal documents, including contracts, correspondence, leases, etc.;
• marketing and publicity/promotional materials, including newsletters and websites, for use by museums, hotels and convention centers, restaurants and wineries, and other tourist destinations;
• CVs, university documents and transcripts, certificates, letters of presentation;
• TV scripts and subtitling (animation, children’s programming, and documentaries, among others);
• fiction, theatrical texts and poetry;
• and a wide range of materials in the areas of finance, politics, art, medicine, architecture, the humanities, and the sciences for clients from the business, manufacturing, entertainment, academic, and private sectors.

He holds a Master’s degree in English Language & Literature/Creative Writing, and his own work has been published in more than 60 books, magazines, and newspapers, as well as online.

• Member, Northern California Translators Association
• Winner, 2000 PEN American Center Renato Poggioli Translation Award for translation from Italian.
• Master’s degree in English language and literature with specialty in creative writing.
• Certified in Italian at the C2 (Mastery) Level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CERF) by the Università per Stranieri (University for Foreigners), Perugia, Italy, 2010.
• Experienced instructor of English language and literature, computer-skills, Business English and Writing for Business.
• More than twenty years experience in the writing of fiction and nonfiction, book and magazine publishing and editing, proofreading, preparation of copy for publication, desktop and ‘zine publishing.

Translations prepared for (names are provided for identification purposes only and in no way imply endorsement):

Animundi Cartoon Studio, Atlante Libri, Borgo La Bagnaia, Cartoline.it, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci; Cioccolato Amedei Tuscany, Conceria Superior SpA, Concreta/DIESIS SrL, DMR Consulting Group, DisneyItalia, ExclusivePianos/Laura de Nadai, Effepimarmi, ExclusivePianos/Laura de Nadai, Fabrica (Benetton), FederParchi, FederTerme, Fila Industria Chimica, InformaAzione/Edizioni 3P, Garfloor/Gardenia Group, Gazzotti SpA, Gruppo Conciario Vecchia Toscana SpA, Gruppo Industrie del Mobile (GIMO), Hildegard von Bingen Women’s Chorus, InterPuls, IPOC Press, Italian Pavilion-Expo Zaragoza 2008, Lettieri/MFL SrL, Luca Sossella Editore, Luoghi Speciali/Assisi Resort SrL, Mapei SpA, Mariner Rubinetterie, MARKAUDIO/Parsek SrL, Max Mara, Marella Ferrera, Mirage Granito Ceramico SpA, Mod’…Art Cucine, Mosaicfilm.com, Muracel SrL, Museo del Legno (Ponsacco), NoemaLife Group, PosteItaliane, Powergres, The Queimada Agency, RAI Television, the “Ritorno al Barocco: Da Caravaggio a Vanvitelli” exhibition (Naples), Rosa Chà, Signorini & Coco Mobili d’Arte, Sistema Museale Med-Aniene, SoluCorp Industries, Spoleto52-Festival dei 2 Mondi, Studio Soligo Arte Contemporanea, Tegola Canadese, XTEL SrL, Z. Bavelloni SpA

The police, in turn, must rely on the help of an acoustic child and an emotionally damaged ex-FBI agent.

Comment: Blunders at this level reflect an inability to proofread as much as an inability to write in English—but proofreading is an integral part of being a translator. As an aside, the site contains an excerpt from the published translation—but fails to provide the name of Faletti’s translator. With errors like these, it comes as no surprise that no one wants to take credit.

The Università per Stranieri, Siena:

LODGING FOR STUDENTS COMING FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

If you are a student coming from a developing country you can apply for a room at the Student’s Halls at the price of Euro 200 for month. In order to book one of these places,it’s necessary to be enrolled in a language course. To request the availability of places and the booking form at the management@unistrasi.it and to pay the lodging for the duration of the course….

When the test or your first lesson is finished, you can go to the “Segreteria Studenti” to complete your inscription and to pay the reminder fees of the course….

In addition the University organises guided visits in the city and to characteristic places in the surroundings and also to some of the big italian cities. If you like playing sports, you can turn to the “Centro Universitario Sportivo” (CUS).

The Università per Stranieri, Perugia:

Class 14 – Class of Degrees in Communication Sciences

The University for Foreigners Perugia, with matured experience in international relations, is the ideal location for this Course and directly projects the skills and knowledge acquired through a multicultural and multi-linguistic context.

Class 5 – Class of Degrees in Arts

The Degree Course aims at satisfying the growing request for operators in the field of Italian L2 in Italy (due to the migratory flows that are making our country more and more multicultural) and abroad, where the request for Italian teaching and for Made in Italy is constantly increasing.

Comment: In both of these excerpts from the sites of Italy’s most famous “Universities for Foreigners,” the problem is not meaning per se. In fact, the meaning may be more-or-less clear (though I wonder what “reminder fees” are). But these texts are not English. Beneath these so-called translations, the skeleton of the original Italian is clearly visible: “it’s necessary to,” “Euro 200 for month,” “the availability of places,” “you can turn to,” and “complete your inscription,” (the word is “iscrizione” in Italian, but “registration” in English). Cognates are translated literally and Italian syntax remains essentially unchanged. At the very least, these texts required the intervention of an experienced translator with proven editorial skills.

Before you dismiss these as minor quibbles, bear in mind that these are Italy’s premiere (and most costly) universities for foreigners who come to Italy to study Italian; they pride themselves on excellence and on their rigorous educational standards for the teaching of Italian. Their English-language materials, however, “of excellence they don’t see even the shadow” (to torture an Italian saying). As a consequence, it is only natural to ask: What is the real message about excellence that is transmitted by such shabby English?

Roman amphitheater of the first half of the Ist century a.D., one of the best kept in the world. The monument – symbol of the city – was named after the Latin toponym which means sand that covered the stalls. It is the third roman amphitheater for dimensions (after Colosseo in Rome and the amphitheater in Capua), reached in a well kept condition until today…. Under the monument have been found traces of a complex system of hydraulic plants through which the water was poured in for the naumachia (water games) and to clean the amphitheater…. From 1913, the Arena has become center of the most important lyric open theatre in the world.

Comment: Numerous Italian business sites have been “translated” into Engliano, as have the websites of hundreds of important museums, churches, and national monuments. This is just one example. Notice the typical “Engliano” inability to tell the difference between Italian and English sentence structure. A further, unmistakable clue that a non-English-native has been at work comes in the last line: “From 1913, the Arena has become….” Italian students of English have a difficult time mastering the proper use of the simple past tense vs. the present perfect tense with expressions of time. What the translator meant to say is either “Since 1913, the Arena has been” or “In 1913, the Arena became….” A poorly prepared English-speaking translator is capable of all kinds of mistakes, but this isn’t one of them.

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