James (Jim) Davis Jul 15, 2010:

@luskie Thanks. I'm always interested in the meaning of words, that is one reason I spend so much time of kudoz.

luskie (asker) Jul 15, 2010:

@Jim it's just a translation, but a most difficult one, that's all. e.g., this _one word_ is supposed to swing from one meaning to another (from the "false" to the "claim!" side of it) from sentence to sentence. and this for precise theoretical reasons, which I don't think you'd really be interested in. if you think you are, I should - and I might (?) - send you the whole work.

James (Jim) Davis Jul 14, 2010:

@luskie "i'm not going to explain what I'm doing because I assume you have something better to do than to read the unintellegible things I'd write down"
Most people who post are translating. I feel that if you are doing something different or a particular type of translation, then you should inform people as part of the linguistic context. If I've read this far and said "PLEASE" in a loud voice, then it means I have time and would be interested ;-)

luskie (asker) Jul 14, 2010:

chiara and jim, thank you too. i'm not going to explain what I'm doing because I assume you have something better to do than to read the unintellegible things I'd write down. btw, I included pretention in the bunch because 2 (two) of my dictionaries have it (?). ciao

James (Jim) Davis Jul 7, 2010:

Use the verb if you must use "pretend" or explain exactly what you are doing PLEASE Luskie ;-). It looks as if you are writing a bi-ling phrase book rather than doing a translation. However, using the verb is the simplest, quickest and semantically and stylistically most accurate translation, I can see at a glance and with five words of context there isn't much to study. I haven't posted it because you said not to, but maybe I will anyway-

Chiara D'Andrea Jul 6, 2010:

"it's all a pretence" - "e' tutto finto"
or
"to make a pretence of doing something" - fare finta di fare qualcosa
questi sono degli esempi dal Collins, dove sotto la voce "pretense" ti dice "vedi pretence".
"pretension" -"pretesa" come nella frase in Italiano che devi tradurre.
"pretention" che io sappia non esiste, ma esiste "pretentious" ossia "pretenzioso"...spero di essere stata di aiuto...:-)

luskie (asker) Jul 6, 2010:

please disregard the first line. I'd just like to know the difference among the various preten* in En. thanks!

luskie (asker) Jul 6, 2010:

you are right! sorry, I didn't realize it... am i supposed to change the pair now? but the context line is in italian...

Oliver Lawrence Jul 6, 2010:

should really be an EN-EN question .