19
votes
Accepted
Can a text in Latin be understood by an educated Italian who never had any formal teaching of that language?
Interesting question. I'll go out on a limb and say that the answer is no.
Of course it is difficulty to find a definitive, evidence-based answer, but I'll give two reasons, the first more subjective ...
- 36.4k
15
votes
Accepted
What does "parmi" mean?
Your analysis is correct. The word parmi is indeed a contraction of mi pare, where pare is the third person of parere. So parmi means “it seems to me”, or “it appears to me”.
In your example, parmi ...
- 36.4k
13
votes
Form of "What?" for hearing loss
Informal: Come? Cosa? Eh? Come/Cosa/Che hai detto?
Formal, (as suggested in a comment by @RiccardoDeContardi): Scusi? Prego? Può ripetere? Come/Cosa/Che ha detto?, the latest two usually followed by ...
- 3,241
12
votes
How can I translate 'Background'?
Premesse seems like an appropriate translation with no double meanings.
- 1,397
12
votes
Come si dice "Shut up, and get in the cart" as a strict command with the "lei" form, not "tu"?
I'd say Stia zitto e salga sul carrello.
Stia e salga are in the subjunctive, third-person form used in formal phrasing (the corresponding tu-form would be Stai zitto e sali sul carrello, in the ...
- 36.4k
12
votes
Accepted
Dava da mangiare: Imperfect past tense of "feed"?
No, the correct translation is:
The farmer fed his horse every day.
or
The farmer gave something to eat to his horse every day
In Italian "dare da mangiare" (lit. "to give [something] to eat") ...
- 12.1k
11
votes
Accepted
Never do that by proxy which you can do yourself
I think that the proverb you quote is a (very) free translation of
Chi fa da sé fa per tre
(literally who does things by himself works like three people). I cannot think of any traditional proverb ...
- 12.1k
11
votes
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"Used to" and "be used to" in Italian
As Gio says in his answer the locution to be used to can be translated as essere solito, or (in my opinion more commonly) using the adverbial locution di solito followed by the verb at the presente ...
- 12.1k
11
votes
Accepted
Is "fuffa" the correct translation for "fluff"?
The translation of fuffa as fluff is correct,
it is the typical unaesthetic fluff (or lanugine in Italian) that forms on cloth and that is generally removed.
Moreover it is not considered a bad ...
- 20.3k
11
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of "n." in Italian dates?
It simply means numero (number) since it is commonly used when you have more than an occurrence of a certain event during the same day.
Think about, for example, an hospital registering newborn ...
- 20.3k
10
votes
Accepted
How can I say "really!?" in Italian?
The best match for "really" in the context that you mention is "davvero":
– I'm in love!
– Really!?
– Mi sono innamorato/a!
– Davvero!?
- 309
10
votes
Accepted
What is a "utenza fissa"?
It can depend on the context, but the term utenza fissa is often used to denote a landline telephone number, for example see here or here.
Utenza is a generic term that means an account with some ...
- 12.1k
10
votes
Accepted
Come posso rendere "to be on sick leave" in italiano?
Il termine burocratico sarebbe "Assenza per malattia" o "Congedo per malattia"; io tradurrei quindi to be on sick leave con:
Essere (o stare) in congedo per malattia
oppure
Essere (o stare) ...
- 6,955
9
votes
Accepted
Come posso dire a una persona "take your time" in italiano?
Per take your time potresti dire:
fai con calma
prenditi il tuo tempo
prenditi il tempo che ti serve
fai con comodo
Per make youself at home potresti dire:
mettiti comodo
...
- 20.3k
9
votes
Accepted
Qual è una buona traduzione per Buzzword?
Non mi viene in mente una traduzione esatta 1:1, ma nel tuo esempio mi sembra che vada benissimo l'accrescitivo "parolone":
Spero che dietro a tutte quelle parolone lui sappia anche quello che sta ...
- 3,241
9
votes
Accepted
What does "v'ha" mean?
It is[1] a contracted form of Vi ha, itself an archaic form for Vi è, there is. The meaning is
There is a god protector
of [those in] misfortune
Compare, a few lines below, with
più ...
- 12.1k
9
votes
Accepted
Translation of a plague warning
The sentence is in a very formal Italian, with many implicit subordinates that is not easy to translate in English (a language rather uncomfortable with complex syntax). In particular some adjectives ...
- 12.1k
9
votes
Accepted
Meaning of 'gobbo' / 'gobbi'
In some parts of Italy gobbi, regardless of its literal meaning, is used by supporters of other football teams to derogatorily refer to supporters (and occasionally players) of Juventus.
So, yes, ...
- 36.4k
9
votes
Qual è una traduzione di "OP"?
Alla lettera direi "autore originale". Da una ricerca su Google, questo è anche l'uso diffuso, anche se non sono riuscito a trovare una fonte abbastanza autorevole, e non so se TripAdvisor o Plreply ...
- 2,188
9
votes
Accepted
What's the Italian equivalent for "hiring managers"?
A good translation could be responsabili delle assunzioni or responsabili della selezione.
More extensively you could also use the expression responsabili della ricerca e selezione del personale ...
- 20.3k
9
votes
Is "fuffa" the correct translation for "fluff"?
@abarisone gave you a good answer (though I never heard the word fuffarolo, maybe it’s regional). I want to add that fuffa is not a bad word and you can use it in any context (of course if you told ...
- 313
8
votes
Never do that by proxy which you can do yourself
Quel che tu stesso puoi dire e fare, che altri lo faccia mai non aspettare.
"For that thou canst do thyself, rely not on another." (Sources: 1, 2, 3)
It's an old Tuscan proverb. The meaning here ...
- 5,118
8
votes
Accepted
"Di prima occupazione": what does it mean in this text?
A prima occupazione is simply the first job one person gets in their life, generally after finishing school. So, your characters are looking for an author (an allusion to Pirandello's Sei personaggi ...
- 36.4k
8
votes
Accepted
Is it appropriate to end an official letter with "Cordiali saluti"?
According to this page (nr. 6), distinti saluti and cordiali saluti are almost equivalent; more precisely here it is said that:
in tutti i casi meno intimi, [sarebbe] meglio un cordiali saluti, ...
- 1,945
8
votes
8
votes
Accepted
Double meaning of "traduttore, traditore"
The so-called pun lies simply in the fact that traduttore and traditore are very similar words, differing just for a vowel (u/i) and a double letter that becomes simple (tt/t). That is, there is no ...
- 36.4k
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