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Freelance translator and/or interpreter, Verified site user
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Services
Translation, Editing/proofreading
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Specializes in:
Finance (general)
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Also works in:
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English to Italian - Rates: 0.08 - 0.11 EUR per word / 27 - 36 EUR per hour Italian to English - Rates: 0.08 - 0.11 EUR per word / 27 - 36 EUR per hour French to Italian - Rates: 0.08 - 0.11 EUR per word / 27 - 36 EUR per hour
English to Italian: A New Language - Una Lingua Nuova General field: Other Detailed field: Linguistics
Source text - English A NEW LANGUAGE
Many a year ago, my family moved to a foreign land and as a school kid I was faced with a new duty: learning the local language from scratch and since Mum and Dad couldn’t quite cope, I had to become their interpreter.
I recall spending long hours over an old Italian-English grammar book to teach myself the pronunciation of each and every word that I stumbled upon.
Shopping with Mum was great fun: I listed her needs beforehand in three distinct columns: the Italian word, the English equivalent and the International phonetic transliteration.
In spite of all that, some problems would arise now and then with similar words, such as pepper and paper, and to my Mum’s delight, the shopkeepers were kind enough to teach me the correct pronunciations.
Eventually, I continued my schooling in a town nearby. That meant I would commute daily with a short train ride and would proudly be on my own.
Hard as it may have been initially I slowly “picked up” the language and confidently brought my Italian-English dictionary to my quarterly school tests. You can imagine how upset I was after my English essay was given a “Nil” mark.
Nobody had told me that the law of the land banned dictionaries during the tests!
But I had my vengeance during the final yearly tests. Not only did I get decent passes in all subjects (without dictionaries) but I was also awarded the “Best Improvement” prize during the yearly prize-giving ceremony.
Some time after that prize I realised that I was no longer translating Italian into English but my thoughts were in English only; but the amazing thing was being unable to pinpoint when that changeover actually occurred!
After these initial mishaps my high school career proceeded smoothly until my final University Matriculation exams which I passed with flying colours, English included.
Mario Ricci
Translation - Italian UNA LINGUA NUOVA
Parecchi anni fa la mia famiglia si trasferì in terra straniera e, in età scolare, mi ritrovai con un compito nuovo: apprendere da zero la lingua del posto e, dato che papà e mamma non ne erano all’altezza, dovetti diventare il loro interprete.
I miei ricordi vanno alle lunghe ore passate su di un vecchio libro di grammatica per apprendere da solo la pronuncia di ogni singola parola in cui incappavo. La spesa con mamma era molto divertente; prima scrivevo un elenco del necessario su tre colonne separate: il termine in italiano, l’equivalente inglese ed una trascrizione nell’alfabeto fonetico internazionale.
Ciò malgrado, a volte si verificavano dei problemi con parole simili, ad esempio “pepper” e “paper”, e i negozianti gentilmente me ne insegnavano la corretta pronuncia, con gran soddisfazione di mia madre.
Dopo un po’ ripresi a frequentare la scuola in una città vicina. Il che comportava ogni giorno una breve corsa in treno che ero fiero di far da solo.
Per quanto difficile all’inizio, lentamente appresi la lingua e ostentando sicurezza mi portai il dizionario italiano-inglese agli scritti trimestrali interni. Potete immaginarvi quanto fui scosso quando appresi che il voto dato al mio tema era “zero”.
Nessuno mi aveva detto che la legge locale proibiva l’uso dei dizionari durante le prove!
Ebbi però la mia vendetta con gli esami di fine anno. Non solo ottenni voti sufficienti in tutte le materie (senza dizionari) ma, durante la cerimonia annuale di premiazione, mi fu assegnato il premio per il “Miglior Profitto”.
Qualche tempo dopo il premio mi resi conto che non traducevo più dall’italiano all’inglese ma che pensavo esclusivamente in inglese; la cosa più strana però era che non sapevo indicare quando questo passaggio fosse avvenuto!
Dopo questo inizio accidentato, la mia carriera scolastica proseguì tranquillamente fino agli esami finali di maturità che superai alla grande, anche in inglese.
Mario Ricci
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Experience
Years of experience: 52. Registered at ProZ.com: Dec 2011.
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