Annotated translation of a passage from "The Hobbit" into Italian.

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Natalie Dumas

31/10/12

IT301 Tradizione dall’inglese all’italiano – Chiara Ciarlo

Introduzione

Things that would be difficult to translate into the Italian translated version would be some idiomatic expressions which can be considered very English and would not be said or do not have an exact translation in Italian, for example, “(with never) a thank you”. This precise phrase would be also problematic translating when it comes to syntax and word order. “Just a trifle disappointed” is another expression that I believe would need to be handled with care whilst translating as it is very English too. “Up jumped (Bilbo)” I think would be another problematic phrase in that the form of it might have to be changed. “Lit fires” I believe would be difficult to translate as it is a cultural factor which makes reference to the way they cooked at the time the novel was written. This perhaps does not have a completely direct cultural equivalent for the translation. When it comes to the word “night” in the context of “the party of the night before” for example and later on in the passage, “forget about the night before”, even though our initial thought might be to translate this as “notte” we should actually use the word “sera” instead as in Italian you would refer to “la festa di ieri sera”. The word “notte” implies very late in the night and would be used to wish someone goodnight (“buona notte”). I feel articles may need to be added, as this is the norm in Italian when listing things, for example, when translating, “So he put on an apron, lit fires, boiled water and washed up.” In the last bit I would translate as “washed up plates” therefore there would need to be an article in front of “piatti” too. Perhaps there will be the omission of prepositions in the Italian translation for example in the last line, “In walked Gandalf”, the “in” I think would not necessarily need to be translated into the Italian version. We would also need to take into account the use of past tenses, where and when to use the imperfetto and the passato remoto.

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Traduzione

Bilbo si alzò energeticamente dal letto, e mettendosi il suo accappatoio entrò nella sala da pranzo. Lì non vide nessuno, solo tutti i segni di una colazione grande ed affrettata. C’era un disordine spaventoso nella stanza, ed c’era un mucchio di piatti e bicchieri sporchi nella cucina. Quasi ogni pentola e padella che possedeva sembrava di aver stato usato. Tutto che c’era da lavare era così tristemente vero che Bilbo era forzato di pensare che la festa della sera prima non ebbe fatto parte del suo brutto sogno, come aveva proprio sperato. Infatti era veramente alleviato alla fine di pensare ...

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