Translation competition results

Buondì.

The title of last week’s article was ‘I expect you could do a better Italian/English translation‘.

If you missed it and are interested in translating and/or ‘portici’ then take a look before reading on.

OK, up to date now? Bene.

And if you’re NOT interested in translating?

I updated the club’s ‘Best of’ page with articles from 2024, so why not take a look at those instead? That’ll keep you busy until next week!

So anyway, I challenged club members to improve on a fairly dreadful Italian > English translation which I saw on a plaque fixed to a wall in one of Bologna’s famous porticoed streets.

A respectable number of you had a go at it, and several mentioned it was harder than it looked, which indeed it was! Translating Italian > English usually is, because of the varying underlying structures of text, the differences in style, and…

Here’s a photo of the plaque with the Italian above and the ‘official translation’ below:

And here is my transcription of what you see in the image. Any transcribing mistakes are mine:

I portici di Bologna sono stati iscritti nel 2021 nella lista del patrimonio mondiale istituita dalla convenzione per la tutela del patrimonio mondiale culturale e naturale.
La serie dei portici di Bologna rappresenta in maniera esemplare una tipologia architettonica di antica origine e ampia diffusione, mai abbandonata fino ad oggi, ma in continua evoluzione attraversando precisi periodi storici di trasformazione della città. La serie è stata selezionata nel contesto del più ampio sistema porticato che permea la città storica.
Il sito rappresenta una varietà di tipologie edilizie porticate che caratterizzano le case popolari, le residenze aristocratiche, gli edifici pubblici e religiosi. L’edilizia storica e contemporanea impiegano un’ampia gamma di materiali da costruzione, tecnologie, e stili, come risultato della progressiva espansione e delle trasformazioni della città a partire da XII secolo.

The porticoes of Bologna have been inscribed in 2021 on the world heritage list of the convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage.
The series of Bologna’s porticoes represents in an exemplary manner an architectural typology of ancient origin and wide diffusion, never abandoned until today, but in continuous change through precise historical periods of the town’s transformation. The series was selected in the context of the wider porticoed system that permeates the old historical city.
The property represents a variety of porticoed building typologies which characterize the houses of the working class, the aristocratic residences, the public and religious buildings. Historical and contemporary construction employ a wide range of building materials, technologies and styles, as a result of the progressive city’s expansion and mutations since the 12th century.

The bolding in the English version shows two parts that are 100% wrong: one a tense error, and one a misuse of ‘until’.

The Italian tense is ‘passato prossimo’, which in English could translate as Present Perfect (used incorrectly above) or Past Simple (what it should, in fact, have been here, 2021 being in the PAST, not the ‘near past’, which doesn’t exist in English.)

The other screw-up was ‘mai abbandonata fino ad oggi’ so ‘never abandoned’, or ‘still in use’… rather than what the English translation implies, that the architectural style was in continued use until today, at which point we all decided together not to bother with it any longer. Basta portici, let’s just take umbrellas when it rains!

Stupid, elementary mistakes, both of them, but there’s plenty more to criticise, for example the past participle ‘iscritti’ in the first line.

The lazy translator went with ‘inscribed’, as did some of our competition entrants – who certainly aren’t lazy – and also both my bilingual wife and son, when I read out the Italian original and asked for their English translations of it.

“Ah, a false friend!”, Stefi exclaimed.

‘Inscribed’ sounds more like ‘engraved’ in English, if you ask me. I’d have rejected it straight off for that reason, even if it was the easy, obvious choice.

Looking at the Italian original again, what strikes me, though, is just how badly written, anzi incoherent it is.

Translating it into decent English is hard, not just because the two languages differ, but because the text was probably not written with translation in mind. Or with anything in mind.

In short, as the computing expression goes, ‘garbage in, garbage out’ – if input into a system (the translator) is of poor quality, so will be the output.

OK, things to bear in mind when translating (my own ideas… I have no actual qualifications in this, just bitter, lived, experience):

1.) There’s no such thing as a perfect translation, and no two translators will make exactly the same decisions (see below). There’s no ‘perfect’, it’s all subjective, so don’t get too stressed about it.

2.) Moreover, whoever commissioned the job will likely never know, and care less, how good or bad the translated text is. Which is a shame, actually. In many cases, however well you do, no one is likely to appreciate it. On the other hand, if you mess it up, perhaps only you will know.

That said, a task is a task, a job is a job, and if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly, blah blah, at least within reasonable limits.

Of course, you won’t want to spend days or weeks on something if it’s only paying minutes or hours, or not paying at all, or if you have something more useful or fun to do.

Before you actually start translating, then, it’s worth thinking about your OBJECTIVES, with a view to getting the best possible result for the least effort and time.

What might your objectives be?

You could, for instance, aim to stick as closely as possible to the original.

Conversely you might want your translated version to read as naturally as possible.

Those two things likely to be incompatible, of course.

You’ll either end up with something garbled and unclear, but which is approximately the same length and uses similar-looking words as the original.

Or your English version will be significantly shorter and involve at least some guesswork.

Scan through our competition entries below and it’s often obvious which end of the garbled > guesswork spectrum club members were aiming at. No criticism intended.

N.b. A minimum of research is advisable before attempting to translate anything. For instance what exactly are ‘portici’?? Competition entrants used a variety of terms, including ‘porticoes’, ‘gates’ and ‘arches’.

I just googled ‘portici in English’ and got ‘porticoes’, after which I googled ‘what are porticoes’ which turned up this page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porticoes_of_Bologna.

And handily, right at the top of that page is a link to this page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Site, which provided a second critical jigsaw piece for the first line:

I portici di Bologna sono stati iscritti nel 2021 nella lista del patrimonio mondiale istituita dalla convenzione per la tutela del patrimonio mondiale culturale e naturale.

It would be tempting to begin by deciding whether to go with ‘The porticoes of Bologna’ or ‘Bologna’s porticoes’, or to put that aside for now but scratch our heads over how to deal with ‘la lista del patrimonio mondiale istituita dalla convenzione per la tutela del patrimonio mondiale culturale e naturale’, which is a mouthful indeed.

But actually, and assuming we’re aiming for something that is intelligible and natural, why not start with the important bit – In 2021 – then describe briefly what happened in that year: Bologna’s porticoes were added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.

To cut a long story short; punto e basta, as Italians say.

There are several typical Italian/English beartraps in this next bit:

La serie dei portici di Bologna rappresenta in maniera esemplare una tipologia architettonica di antica origine e ampia diffusione, mai abbandonata fino ad oggi, ma in continua evoluzione attraversando precisi periodi storici di trasformazione della città. La serie è stata selezionata nel contesto del più ampio sistema porticato che permea la città storica.

The first bold is an adverbial phrase. In Italian, as you can see here, adverbs and adverbial phrases are used more flexibly than in English, where as a general rule they don’t come between a verb and its complement

“I go often to the cinema” sounds great in Italian (as does “I eat always the pizza”), while in English “I often go to…” or “I go to… often” are preferable.

Sticking with the original word order is easier, but loses ‘naturalness’ points, whereas fixing the problem is hard, as it requires decision-making, creativity, and consistency.

Translating the adverbial ‘in maniera esemplare’ to an adjective ‘exemplary’ could work, but sounds arsey. Maybe something simpler like “Bologna’s porticoes are a fine example of…” would be best?

The other beartrap is the ‘fino ad’ but that’s one that would snare Italian mother tongue transators, as in fact happened, rather than English mother-tongue translators (a couple of our entrants aren’t English mother-tongue, a big hand to them!)

Less obviously difficult is the idiosyncratic use of definite articles in the text

La serie dei portici di Bologna
Il sito
L’edilizia storica

The point about definite articles, in Italian as in English, is that they tell us WHICH ONE, insomma they ‘define’. If it’s not clear-issimo from the context what the hell we’re talking about, they’re just going to confuse. As here.

If I’d been writing the original Italian, and/or translating it into English, I’d have been tempted by a ‘this’ here or there. Which is called ‘reference’. Italians are very poor at it.

E poi, there are the nouns – la serie, il sito – are these two intended as synonyms, or are they different things?

The word ‘site’ is used on the Wikipedia page, so it’s clear-ish where that came from. By ‘serie’ it seems the writer actually means ‘selection of examples’, and goes on to say so later: ‘La serie è stata selezionata…’

A good writer would have defined the terms earlier on. A good translator would have looked at the websites and figured out that this particular world heritage site (singular) is composed of a series (plural) of examples.

But as I said, garbage in, garbage out! That’s a translator’s lot in life…

And so, to the winners of our competition, to whom I sort-of promised a prize?

Below are the entries (ordered from most recent to oldest), shorn of identifying information.

If you read through them, you’ll notice a lot of the issues I pointed out. It’s interesting to see how lots of people handled certain problems well, but missed others.

I wasn’t able to pick a ‘best’ one for that reason – some were good, some very good, none perfect. But everyone who entered deserves a prize, beyond the educational benefit derived.

If they email me, I’ll send a voucher for a free ‘easy reader’ from our ebooks store!

Alla prossima settimana, allora.

Susie

The porticoes of Bologna were registered in 2021 on the World Heritage List, a convention established for the preservation of cultural and natural world heritage. The Santa Caterina e Saragozza series of porticoes in Bologna represent in an exemplary manner a type of architecture of ancient origins and wide application, never abandoned even up to today, but in continuous evolution, precisely spanning historic periods of change in the city.
This series was selected in the context of more widespread networks of porticoes that permeate the historic city. The site represents a variety of typical porticoes that characterise working class houses, aristocratic residences, and public and religious buildings. The historic construction and contemporary use of a broad range of construction materials, technologies and styles, resulted in the progressive expansion and transformation of the city as it was in the 12th century.

Patricia

In 2021 Bologna’s arcades were added to the list of World Heritage Sites which was set up by the Convention for the protection of world cultural and natural sites. Bologna’s range of arcades shows in a very special way a type of architecture which is ancient and widespread. The style has never been abandoned, but has constantly evolved during particular periods in the transformation of the city.
There is a wide variety of typical porticoed buildings: homes of ordinary people, residences of aristocrats, public and religious structures. The historic and contemporary buildings both use a full range of materials, technologies and styles, the result of the on-going expansion and transformation of the city right from the 12th century.

Lillias

In 2021 Bologna’s porticoes were given United Nations World Heritage Listing for Cultural and Natural Significance. Bologna’s series of porticoes represent examples of a type of architecture of antique origin and wide distribution never abandoned even today, but in continuous evolution across clear historical periods of the city’s transformation. The series was selected in the context of the most widespread system permeating the historic city. The site represents a variety of portico construction types that characterise working class houses, aristocratic residences, public and religious building historic and contemporary. They employ a wide range of materials of construction, techniques and styles as the result of the gradual expansion and transformation of the city starting from the 12th century

Emma

The porticoes of Bologna were inscribed in 2021 on the List of World Heritage formed by the convention for the protection of Cultural and Natural World Heritage.
The series of porticoes in Bologna shows (demonstrates? exemplifies?) a type of architecture originating from ancient [times] and has been spread widely, which has never been abandoned up to today but has continuously evolved through specific historical periods of transformation in the city. The series was selected among the broader system of porticoes that exists in this ancient city.
The site represents a variety of porticoed (is that even a word…?) building types that characterize working-class (middle-class) houses, residents of aristocracy, public establishments, and religious building. Both the historic and the contemporary architecture use a wide range of construction materials, technologies, and styles, due to the progressive expansion and the transformations of the ancient city since the 12th century.

Lisa

The porticoes of Bologna were registered in 2021 on the World Heritage list for the protection of world heritage cultural and natural sites. The series of Bologna porticoes represent in an exemplary manner the typical architecture of widespread and ancient origin, never abandoned to today, but continues the evolution crossing precise historical transformational periods of the city.
The series were selected from a contest of system wide porticoes that permeate the historical city.
The site represents a variety of typical building porticoes that characterize popular houses, aristocratic residences, and public and religious buildings.
The historical and contemporary buildings were built with a wide range of construction materials, technologies, and styles, resulting in the progressive expansion and transformation of the city starting from the 12th century.

Sieglind

In 2021 UNESCO entered the Arcades of Bologna in its register of culturally significant sights. The Arcades of Bologna represent many examples of antique architecture. Building of Arcades continued through the centuries and continues to this day, hence they demonstrate the evolution of architecture and the city.
The type of construction identifies homes of ordinary people, dwellings of aristocrats, as well as public building and religious buildings. Many different construction materials, building technologies and styles were used, resulting in the progressive expansion and transformation of the city since its beginning in the 12th century.

Ken

The porticoes of Bologna were registered in 2021 on the World Heritage List established by the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The collection of porticoes of Bologna represents in an exemplary way an architectural codification of ancient origin and wide diffusion, never abandoned even today, but in continuous evolution transcending precise historical periods of transformation of the city. The collection was selected in the context of the larger porticoed system that permeates the historic city. The site represents a variety of porticoed building types that characterise community housing, aristocratic residences, public and religious buildings. Historic and contemporary buildings employ a wide range of building materials, technologies, and styles, resulting from the progressive expansion and from the transformation of the city since the twelfth century.

Karel

In 2021, the portici of Bologna were registered on the list of national heritage institutionalized by the convention for the protection of the world’s cultural and natural heritage.
The series on portici of Bologna is an exemplary representation of an architectural type with ancient origins and of wide variety, never abandoned till today, but in continuous evolution that spans specific historic periods in the city’s transformations. The series has been selected in the context of the larger portico system that permeates the historic city.
The site represents a variety of portico building types that are characteristic of residential houses, residences of aristocrats, public and religious buildings. The historical and contemporary buildings employ a wide range of construction materials, technologies, and styles, a result of progressive expansion and transformation of the city since the 12th century.

Mayken

The porticoes of Bologna were inscribed in 2021 on the list of world heritage set up by the convention for the protection of cultural and natural world heritage.
The series of porticoes in Bologna represents in an exemplary manner an architectural type that dates back to Antiquity and has been widely used, never abandoned until today, but that has undergone constant evolution traversing historic periods during the transformation of the city. The series was chosen in a context of the widest portico system throughout the historic city.
The site represents a variety of types of portico construction that are characteristic of working-class houses, aristocratic residences, public and religious buildings. The historic and contemporary constructions use a wide range of construction materials, technologies, and styles, as a result of the progressive expansion and transformations of the city starting in the 12th century.

Irene

The arcades of Bologna were added in 2021 to the list of natural and cultural sites of the World Heritage Institute. The range of arcades show important examples typical of antique and other architecture still in use up to today which have continuously evolved through precise historical periods as the city has developed.
The range shown was selected from the many arcades that exist in this historic city . They represent arcaded building’s characteristic of ordinary houses, aristocratic residences , public and religious buildings..
The historic and contemporary constructions have used a wide range of materials, technology and styles derived from the gradual expansion and transformation of the city from the 12th century onwards

John

The porticoes of Bologna are on the list of World Heritage institute for the protection of Cultural and Natural heritage. The series of porticoes of Bologna represent examples of typical architecture from original antiquity a wide diverse and abandoned until today, that have evolved through historical periods of the transforming city. The series were selected in a contest of aa much wider system of porticoes for the history of the city.
The site represents a variety of typical porticoed buildings characteristic of popular houses, aristocratic residences and public and religious buildings. Historical and Contemporary buildings that range in construction materials, technology and styles with the result of the transformation of the city from the 12th Century.

Linda

Bologna’s porticoes were inscribed in 2021 on the World Heritage List set up by the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
The series of porticoes in Bologna represents in exemplary fashion a widely disseminated architectural category that has its origins in antiquity, but has never yet been abandoned, and has continued to evolve throughout the specific historical periods of the city’s transformation. The series was selected as representative of the more extensive portico system that is found throughout the old city.
The site represents a variety of colonnaded building styles, which include ordinary houses, aristocratic residences, and public and religious buildings. Construction processes, whether ancient or modern, employ a wide range of building materials, technologies, and styles, as a result of the progressive expansion and various transformations the city has undergone from the 12th century onwards.

Niall

In 2021, Bologna’s porticoes were inscribed in the World Heritage List established by the convention for the conservation of the world’s cultural and natural heritage. Bologna’s series of porticoes are an exemplary illustration of an ancient and still practiced architectural approach that underwent continual modification during specific historical periods of change in the city. The series was selected to reflect the widest possible range of the porticoes to be found throughout the historic heart of the city. The site includes a variety of forms of porticoes associated with citizens’ homes and residences of the aristocracy, as well as public and religious buildings. Past and contemporary buildings drew on a broad range of construction materials, technologies and styles as the city expanded and changed from the 12th century onwards.

Kathy

The Bologna porticoes were named as a world heritage site in 2021. These porticoes demonstrate exemplary architecture of ancient origin and of wide (diffusione?), being in constant use to the present day, but the use has continued to evolve to reflect the history of the city around it. They were selected as the widest portico example in the historic part of the city.
The site represents a variety of portico constructs that characterise the popular houses, aristocratic residences, public buildings and religious buildings. Both the historic construction and the contemporary one employ a wide range of construction materials, technologies and styles that resulted in an progressive expansion and transformation of the city at the end of the 12th Century.

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