THINKING ITALIAN TRANSLATION 67

Sometimes, then, what is expressed by Italian sequential focus may best be expressed in English simply with intonation and stress. But on other occasions, English may need to use an illocutionary particle as well as intonation, stress and ÐpossiblyÐgrammatical arrangement, especially if typography and punctuation are not enough to convey the full force of the ST. This can be seen in translating three more versions of the sentence about not going fishing, which all use sequential focusing for sentence-marking purposes:

Non va a pesca, lui [emphasis on `lui'].

Lui, a pesca, non va [hints at hostility to fishing].

A pesca, lui non va [emphatic hostility to fishing].

Neither is it self-evident how to render the illocutionary particles in such sentences as `Ma andiamo! Non ci crederà!'; or `Tacete un po'!'; or the indignant `Avrebbe potuto telefonarci, però!'.

One final point to remember is that whereas a speaker can easily use intonation, stress, gesture and facial expression to mark a sentence for a specific communicative purpose, the absence of these features in a written TT means that compensation often has to be resorted to if significant translation loss is not to be incurred on the sentential level.

PRACTICAL 6

6.1

Grammatical and sentential issues

Assignment

(i)You are translating for publication in a literary journal the short story from which the following ST is taken. Concentrating mainly on grammatical and sentential issues, discuss the strategic decisions that you have to take before starting detailed translation of this ST, and outline and justify the strategy you adopt.

(ii)Translate the text into English.

(iii)Discuss the main decisions of detail you took; pay special attention to grammatical and sentential issues, but do not overlook other major decisions.

Contextual information

The text comprises two extracts from Antonio Tabucchi's `Rebus' (1985). In this story, `fact' and `fantasy' are impenetrably interlockedÐas the narrator will say, life is not only an `ingranaggio', but also a `rebus'. Lines 1±11 are the opening paragraph of the story; lines 11±20 (from `Io ero sudato') are from near the end, after a near-collision in a car rally from Paris to San Sebastián in

THINKING ITALIAN TRANSLATION 69

Both ST and TT are reproduced, by kind permission, from a publicity brochure (c.1996) for Lamber, a manufacturer of industrial washing equipment.

ST

La storia

Era il 1948 quando il Cav. Raimondo Affaba, attuale presidente della Lamber, cominciava la sua prima attività nel settore del lavaggio lattiero caseario. Nel 1958 egli dava inizio ad una nuova attività di produzione di macchine 5 lavastoviglie industriali per il settore alberghiero.

Già in quegli anni dimostrava la sua forte vocazione all'innovazione: allora si trattava di essere tra i primi a produrre lavastoviglie e sistemi di lavaggio a traino ed a nastro, oggi di sviluppare le più sofisticate tecnologie informatiche per la progettazione e la produzione di modelli d'avanguardia. Sempre con l'apporto 10 creativo e attento dell'uomo.

L'azienda

Flessibilità ed informatizzazione spinta dal processo costruttivo per adattare la produzione alle esigenze ed ai desideri di ciascun cliente, sistemi di produzione e consegna just in time: grazie all'innovazione costante e ad una sapiente 15 organizzazione, la Lamber ha saputo diventare in questi anni un'importante realtà di riferimento del settore. L'iniziale strategia volta ad estendere la propria presenza sui mercati internazionali permette oggi alla Lamber di destinare al mercato estero 1'80% della propria produzione.

La qualità come riferimento costante

20 CE, VDE, DVGW, UL, UL Sanitation e CSA: dotata al proprio interno di un laboratorio di progettazione e ricerca, la Lamber ha saputo ottenere le più alte certificazioni internazionali del settore. Per la Lamber vocazione ai mercati esteri significa costruire nel rispetto delle norme più restrittive per essere in grado di rispondere produttivamente alla domanda espressa dai mercati 25 soprattutto i più evoluti. Un'esperienza che si traduce in una progettazione che utilizza le più sofisticate tecnologie CAD, ed in uno studio che incontra ed anticipa le richieste del mercato in continuo sviluppo.

TT

The history

It was in 1948 that Raimondo Affaba, Managing Director of Lamber, established his first business in the sector of dairy equipment washing. A decade later, he also started up a new company, which manufactured industrial washing 5 machines for the hotel sector.

70 GRAMMATICAL AND SENTENTIAL ISSUES

Even at that time, Affaba showed his strong vocation for innovation, a property that led his firm to a position of leadership among the producers of unit and system washing machines. Today the accent still lies very much on innovation, which now exploits cutting-edge information technology in the areas 10 of design and manufactureÐwhile keeping a close contact with the creative and careful input of man.

The firm

Flexibility and IT prompted by the manufacturing process to adapt production techniques to each customer's requirements, production systems and just-in-time 15 delivery. Consistent innovation and operational excellence are the cornerstones to Lamber's success. The initial strategy, which was aimed at development at an international level, has brought Lamber to the current level of exports: 80% of total output.

Quality as the constant reference

20 CE, VDE, DVGW, UL, UL Sanitation and CSA. With its in-house design and research facilities, Lamber has shown it has what it takes to obtain the top international certifications. A strong vocation towards exports means manufacturing to the most stringent standards and being able to productively respond to the markets' demandÐespecially the most developed ones. This 25 broad-based experience translates into design functions that use the most sophisticated CAD technologies, as well as into marketing studies that meetÐ and indeed anticipateÐthe continuously changing market demands.