CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND SET PHRASES
When we translate from Italian to English (and vice versa) we always come up against
cultural problems. When you study English, or any other foreign language for that matter,
you realise that people, as well as having their own language, also have their own culture:
meaning customs, mentality and behaviour which is different from other countries. This
means that ways of expressing the same ideas will be quite different between two languages.
For example in Italian we say ‘Le due di notte’ and in English ‘Two o’clock in the morning’.
Or when talking in general about young people in Italian we say ‘I ragazzi? But in English
‘boys and girls’. When translating you must be very careful about these differences and
learn to regcognise them.
1. Mi piacono i spaghetti al dente.
2. Ti piace la polenta?
3. Possiamo mangiare in quella trattoria.
4. Oggi ho avuto un buon voto in una interrogazione.
5. Prendiamo un panino in una paninoteca.
6. Mia madre insegna in un liceo linguistico.
7. Hai dato la merenda ai bambini oggi pomeriggio?
8. Tutta la merce è in saldo.
9. Com’era la sistemazione a Londra?
10. Sulle strisce pedonali davanti alla scuola c’è sempre un vigile urbano.
1. I like (my) spaghetti well-done/underdone/ slightly under cooked.
2. Do you like “polenta”?
3. We can eat (can have something to eat) in that restaurant.
4. I got a good mark in an oral test today.
5. Let’s get a sandwich in a sandwich bar.
6. My mother teaches in a language high school.
7. Did you give the children their teatime snack today?
8. All the goods are/All the merchandise is in the sale.
9. What was your accommodation in London like?
10. There’s always a traffic warden on the zebra crossing outside the school.
