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di media cultura

English translation: the general public

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12:53 Oct 4, 2011

Italian to English translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / general

Italian term or phrase: di media cultura

Anyone have a shorter but still polite version of: "with only a basic level of education?"

Simon Sobrero KudoZ activity Questions: 239 (8 open) (13 without valid answers) (14 closed without grading) Answers: 50 United Kingdom
Local time: 11:07

English translation:the general public

Explanation:
(with a bit of restructuring perhaps - e.g. for a typical member of the general public). I think the text is just referring to the average person's ability to understand whatever is being talked about and that this is a reasonable way of putting it, without risking the offence that references to people's intelligence or level of education could cause in more sensitive readers.

Selected response from:

Oliver Lawrence
Italy
Local time: 12:07

Grading comment

3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

of average intelligence

Tom in London

3 +2

fairly educated person

cristianac

3 +2

the general public

Oliver Lawrence

4 +1

average level / medium level

Chiara Martini

layman

Neptunia

average level

Barbara Cochran

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

12 mins confidence:

average level

Explanation:
HTH

Barbara Cochran
Local time: 06:07
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 2

10 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

of average intelligence

Explanation:
try this.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 19 mins (2011-10-04 13:13:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

well - it's better than "as thick as two planks" or "not the sharpest knives in the drawer" or "two sandwiches short of a picnic"

:)

Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:07
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 86

Notes to answerer

Asker: Is that polite? They are presumably intelligent enough to understand this and be offended... :o)

19 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

average level / medium level

Explanation:
As Italian I understand "di media cultura" as medium or average level of education. Basic level is lower than "medio". And the level of education is not strictly linked to the level of intelligence.

Chiara Martini
Local time: 12:07
Native speaker of:

Italian

47 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

the general public

Oliver Lawrence
Italy
Local time: 12:07
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 113

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

fairly educated person

Explanation:
it really depends on the context

e.g. Laws should be written in a language that any fairly educated person should be able to understand so we don't have to continually hire lawyers to interpret ...

in this case I would translate, ... una qualsiasi persona di media cultura

cristianac
Local time: 12:07
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Italian,

English

4 hrs confidence:

layman

Explanation:
It only works in certain contexts but this a decent way of saying, "for the non-expert." There is a reason it is hard to come up with a good phrase for this term and that is because it is often insulting to classify people by how cultured they are. Maybe avoid it if you can. I'm all for the "great unwashed" as a back-up. :)

Neptunia
Local time: 12:07
Native speaker of:

English

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English translation: the general public

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English translation: the general public

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