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Italian to English translations [PRO] Bus/Financial - Business/Commerce (general) / Website Homepage Intro
Italian term or phrase:realtà aziendali
This paragraph is introducing the customer to this fashion website. It describes how great they are at providing every thing the customer needs. The context reads:
"Ricerchiamo costantemente capi di abbigliamento e accessori esclusivi scoprendo realtà aziendali ancora sconosciute."
I am aware of all the various ways "realta" can be translated, and have seen the many examples in the glossaries, but cannot find the correct one for this context.
In my view Realta is being used to promote the service offered by this company, and I was thinking of maybe:
"hunting down unknown business deals / bargains for you".
I am not sure if I am maybe taking too much licence with the text by assuming this is what it is saying when the word "scoprendo" is being used. Could this be correct? or is my imagination running away with me and a better expression for the promotional context exists?
that adding customer-perceived value is the first priority. What else do people pay us for? I prefer to do so by translating what is there first and then informing the customer if there are any suggestions to be made.
Most of the time, though, it's not the notion content of the text that is the biggest problem. Source-language style expectations can conflict quite severely with target-language purpose. In F&W marketing texts, for example, Italian copywriters can get terribly flowery where the English-language reader might appreciate more facts and figures. Since you can't make up the figures, all you can do is produce a readable translation and perhaps flag up the issue.
I think both terms and supporting arguments are extremely relevant, and your experiences and ideas are equally interesting to hear about. In the meantime, I am sorry I will only be able to choose one term.
Then it can be challenging. If the original author is bad, then it is generally easy to improve it. Now you are painting things black and white, in terms of "adding" or "removing" notions. When I am in a financial report, every "notion" is weighed and calibrated for a readable report which "makes no compromises on accuracy, whatsoever". The total focus is on accuracy, followed by readability, to disclose facts, whtih nothing added, nothing removed. But as soon as you get into advertising and sales or image documents, the focus is entirely different, you play up some aspects and play down others. You don't remove and add, but you enhance and develop notions and gloss over others. You focus on sales and reputation, while accuracy comes second (and that is no cop out, it is taking on more responsibility). The translator who sells most will get more work and can charge higher prices. I remember, years ago, on a brochure telling a client that I had "stretched" a "notion" in a translation (I think the English was job function which translated about five words in the source). He listened and then change the original in line with mine. I gave value added services which he valued.
Change the content if it's OK with the customer but in most cases it's a bit of a cop-out.
If a text works in the original, a good translator ought to be able to mirror the effect in the target language without adding or removing notions. After all, the main difference between an experienced translator and a novice is that the old lag tends to have more reformulation options at his or her disposal.
This is proz.com not academia.com. When I receive a translation to do, the first question I ask myself and/or the client, is what is it for? I've done so much company stuff, I just look and do. If it is sales, then it has to sell, I don't bother wasting a client's time asking if he thinks I should make it sound better and work better, he is just going to say yes. In Laura's case I would want to know about which end of the market and details of the products, if not evident in the text. If it is company image, the Italian author has done his/her best to portray the company as the best in its sector, I automatically do the same with the translation. This is not copywriting, because the product is a translation not copy. I'll admit it is close to it.
I take your point about translating comedy, an area in which I have a fair bit of experience ;-)
However, Proz is a translation portal and it is reasonable to assume that, unless Lara says otherwise, she is looking for a translation - which is a perfectly feasible proposition - rather than a piece of copywriting.
Of course, if it's OK with Lara, we could have a bit of fun brainstorming ;-)
If the function was solely to inform, then I would agree with you. However, this is adverising. So the aim is not to academically maintain the weight of the notions in the original text without adding or removing meaining, the aim is to increase sales, two aims which may conflict. This is not a license to wildly deviate recklessly from the original, it is a license to wildly deviate where appropriate in an extremely careful and responsible manner. Basically if the translation does the same function as the original but better, then your client is well served. Of course if the function is to inform accurately (as in journalism), then this translation would be totally and simply wrong. Translations must do what they are intended to do. Take comedy: if "maintaining the relative weight of the notions in the original text without adding or removing meaning" doesn't get a laugh, then the translation failed, again assuming the purpose of the translation was comedy.
It's not a question of "word for word" translation: the aim is to maintain the relative weight of the notions in the original text without adding or removing meaning.
My suggestion for "sconosciute" ("off the radar" but there will be others, I'm sure) does the job without any need for adding what are in effect glosses on the original text.
Of course it is, but selling the client's products takes precedence over accuracy, all else remaining equal. Standard practice in advertising has little regard to truth and accuracy. Beer doesn't do you good, neither does any beer refresh parts others... The "esclusivi" means they need something unique and good, which requires talent. "sconosciute" means the talent must be new in the sense of new to the market, previously unknown. If you focus on the the whole message rather than the individual terms and never forget the function of the message, you don't worry about word-for-word correlations. In fact in many cases they will be difficult to find ;-)
Fair enough but "unique new talent" is rather an over-translation of "sconosciute", which makes no reference to uniqueness, novelty or indeed talent ;-)
"Realtà aziendali" is a very low-focus way of referring to businesses/suppliers whereas "sconosciute" is in a prominent position at the end of the phrase.
is usually a euphemism for a company. Are these suppliers they are discovering? Or are they talking about unique new facets of their own company they continue to discover? Bit exagerated.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
18 mins confidence:
scoprendo realtà aziendali sconosciute
detecting unexplored business opportunities
Explanation: or exlporing new business opportunities
I guess it really depends if you need to focus on "scoprendo" or on "sconosciute"
Daniela Zambrini Italy Local time: 20:20 Meets criteria Native speaker of: English, Italian PRO pts in category: 32
Explanation: alternative translations: fashion companies/clothing and accessories brands
My understanding is that the website in question sells clothing and accessories manufactured by different companies/entities.
I would have likes to ask a question about it before proposing this answer -given that it's completely different from those given by the colleagues- but there must be a bug and I cannot insert or see the discussion panel.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 33 mins (2012-12-10 22:57:46 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
typo: likeD, sorry about that
texjax DDS PhD Local time: 14:20 Does not meet criteria Native speaker of: Italian PRO pts in category: 32
Explanation: "discovering companies with unique new talent" I think the idea they are trying to convey is in the words "ancora sconosciute" like gems.
James (Jim) Davis Seychelles Local time: 22:20 Meets criteria Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 1888
11 mins confidence:
realta aziendali
... <discovering unexploited business strategies>
Explanation:
.... is how I would end the Italian sentence.
I'm sure you're right about the aim ....
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 10 hrs (2012-12-11 09:14:28 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Ciao Lara, on 2nd thought this morning, it seems more likely that they stress their ability to discover new sources of product, rather than strategies or opportunities. (see Jim's 'companies' or
<discovering innovative business synergies>
Tony Shargool Local time: 20:20 Meets criteria Native speaker of: English, Italian PRO pts in category: 6
Explanation: In this context, it sounds like new producers of fashion goods. You could say 'suppliers', I suppose, but if this is fashion puff then presumably such a prosaic word wouldn't do ;).
Oliver Lawrence Italy Local time: 20:20 Meets criteria Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 238
Explanation: In the context, the very generic "realtà aziendali" is not that important since the noun phrase is actually constructed to end-focus "sconosciute".
It's probably a good idea to maintain the same pattern in the English with a relative clause and a higher-impact synonym for "unknown".
Giles Watson Italy Local time: 20:20 Meets criteria Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 31
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