Salsa vs sauce

Italian translation: salsetta piccante

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:(mexican) salsa
Italian translation:salsetta piccante
Entered by: Claudia Letizia

12:39 Mar 19, 2019
English to Italian translations [PRO]
Marketing - Food & Drink / Mexican dishes
English term or phrase: Salsa vs sauce
Secondo voi come faccio a distinguere salsa da sauce in italiano? Avevo pensato di usare salse al plurale, ma non sempre si addice al contesto. Ecco alcuni esempi del testo:

There are many different takes on the enchiladas, but it typically consists of a combination of meats, vegetables, beans, cheese, *salsa*, tortilla and *sauce*.

Vegetables, *sauces*, cheese *salsa* and guacamole are also frequently part of the mix.

You can pull together the perfect filling with our Beef and Bean Chilli Burrito Kit, which comes with *sauce* seasoning, flour tortillas and *salsa*.

*Salsa*
Cheese is used as the final ingredient to enchiladas and is sprinkled over the wraps along with the *sauce*.
If you want to transform your nachos from a side dish to a snack, then you’ll probably want a meat filling.
You can save yourself time with our selection of chunky *salsas* - they come in both mild and hot.
A good *salsa* will enhance the other fillings in your burrito and add a bit of heat, too.
A pico de gallo style *salsa* is most popular, and salsa verde is another delicious choice.
A combination of a hot and mild *salsa* will bring lots of extra flavour.
*Salsa* and other *sauces* help add dimension and bring all your flavours together.
giovanna diomede
Italy
Local time: 16:59
salsa/salsetta piccante vs dressing/condimento/sugo
Explanation:
It's a really interesting question, Giovanna!
I assume that the target audience knows enough about Mexican food to know what "salsa" in this context means. So I would leave salsa unchanged, as a borrowing from Spanish. As such, it will be "salsa" both in the singular and in the plural form.
The translation of sauce is more tricky. I suggest to use dressing, condimento or sugo depending on what is more descriptive each time.

Another option is to use the word "salsetta piccante" to translate the Mexican "salsa".
In no case I would use the Italian word "salsa" to translate "sauce". For 2 reasons:
1. is that it could confuse those people that know the Mexican word salsa and expect to find it in the menu.
2. the word salsa in Italian is way more restrictive than sauce. It mostly refers to a tomato-based sauce, rather than any sauce, and is thus not perfectly fitting.

I hope I could help you a bit!
Selected response from:

Claudia Letizia
Germany
Local time: 16:59
Grading comment
Thank you for the thorough explanation.
I mostly used 'condimento' for sauce
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2salsa/salsetta piccante vs dressing/condimento/sugo
Claudia Letizia


  

Answers


19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
salsa vs sauce
salsa/salsetta piccante vs dressing/condimento/sugo


Explanation:
It's a really interesting question, Giovanna!
I assume that the target audience knows enough about Mexican food to know what "salsa" in this context means. So I would leave salsa unchanged, as a borrowing from Spanish. As such, it will be "salsa" both in the singular and in the plural form.
The translation of sauce is more tricky. I suggest to use dressing, condimento or sugo depending on what is more descriptive each time.

Another option is to use the word "salsetta piccante" to translate the Mexican "salsa".
In no case I would use the Italian word "salsa" to translate "sauce". For 2 reasons:
1. is that it could confuse those people that know the Mexican word salsa and expect to find it in the menu.
2. the word salsa in Italian is way more restrictive than sauce. It mostly refers to a tomato-based sauce, rather than any sauce, and is thus not perfectly fitting.

I hope I could help you a bit!

Claudia Letizia
Germany
Local time: 16:59
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Thank you for the thorough explanation.
I mostly used 'condimento' for sauce

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Silvia Procicchiani
1 hr

agree  Cinzia Pasqualino
20 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.


See also:
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search