Why Italian to English is harder than it looks
Italian leaves the subject out. Sto arrivando has no โIโ in it; the verb ending carries it. English requires the pronoun in almost every sentence, so the translator has to work out who is doing what from context that a short message may not provide.
Lei is polite and also means โshe.โ Italian marks formality with a third-person pronoun, which means the same word can be a courtesy or a person depending on the sentence. English has neither problem nor solution, so the politeness has to be rebuilt in the word choice instead.
Diminutives and suffixes carry attitude. Un attimino is not a smaller moment than un attimo, it is a softer request. Caruccio is affectionate where caro is neutral. Translated flatly they disappear and the message reads colder than it was written.
Gestures of politeness are longer in Italian. Ti ringrazio molto per la disponibilitร is one ordinary line in an Italian message and becomes an overwrought English sentence if translated literally. โThanks so much for your helpโ carries the same weight in English, which is what you actually want sent.
Written by Hardik Vegad, Co-founder, Translatify. Last updated .
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