Contrastive topic and practical: Adverbials

ADVERBIALS 181

as `even when' or `and once': `even when/and once lecturers have permanent posts, they still face a six-yearly appraisal'.

As can be seen from the above examples, adverbs and adverbial phrases play an important role in cohesion, emphasis and tonal and social register. They may vary from a single word to a much longer unit. They should never be taken for granted. Control over these items can make all the difference between a barely acceptable TT and a good one.

The relationship between ST and TT adverbials goes far beyond questions of synonymy. Translating in either direction, it often happens that there is no simple TL adverb corresponding to the ST one. Sometimes the problem is morphological, sometimes semantic. Take the following example, from a text on the film actor-director-producer Nanni Moretti:

The text makes the point about Moretti's versatility rather heavy-handedly, via the repetition of pronoun+verb and the unusual coinage `marxisticamente' followed by `consapevole'. Just what does the author mean by this adverb? What is the tone? There is no ducking the issue, as `Marxistically' would be morphologically and idiomatically grotesque, especially with `conscious/aware'. So the translator has to interpret the value of this adverb using contextual clues and cultural awareness.

A similar morphological challenge is found in the following example:

Fortunately, in this case, the adverb has the same value as the adverbial phrase `per telefono', so it will not be a problem for the translator.

The main problem in translating some of the -mente adverbs is that they have so many possible meanings. In fact, several quite common adverbs have a semantic range that goes well beyond the scope of suggestions given for them in bilingual dictionaries. Typical examples are `squisitamente' and `assolutamente'.

`Squisitamente', according to the Sansoni-Harrap two-volume dictionary, has three standard sets of equivalents in English:' 1. deliciously, exquisitely, delicately, delightfully; 2. extremely, absolutely; 3. typically'. The choice is relatively straightforward in this example: `Uno humour squisitamente inglese'.

182 THINKING ITALIAN TRANSLATION

Here, there would generally be no problem with using `typically'. At other times, however, `exquisitely' would be better, as an emphatic valuejudgement. The decision has to depend on context. The next example throws up a different problem: it is not so much a question of which dictionary meaning to choose, but whether any of them is adequate:

The implication here is not that the argument is delightfully political, or typically political (although one might speak, ironically, of a deliciously political argument). The basic nuance is extremely or absolutely political, but `extremely political' and `absolutely political' are not convincingly idiomatic. `Squisitamente' in this context contains an emphasis which can be conveyed by a more idiomatic collocation, such as `entirely/utterly political'Ðtwo possibilities not offered by the dictionary.

`Assolutamente' is a very common Italian adverb, particularly in more colloquial contexts, and it has an even wider range of meanings than `squisitamente', among them: `l. absolutely (not); 2. definitely; 3. completely; 4. generally [a rare use]'. The following example raises a typical translation problem: `Sono fatti che hanno una rilevanza assolutamente marginale.' There is a seeming paradox here: `marginale', like English `marginal', connotes low intensity, while `assolutamente' connotes high intensity. In English, this discrepancy may need to be reconciled with a collocation specifying the correct degree of marginality. One solution could be: `These facts are definitely of marginal importance.' The use of `definitely' sets `marginal' in an appropriate dimension, and provides the correct balance to the utterance. Of course, it would be possible to use a similar formulation to the ST: `These facts are utterly marginal.' Here, as in the ST, a high degree of intensity (`utterly') is collocated with the reductive value of `marginal'. This TT is more emphatically dismissive than the first; only careful assessment of the ST context will show whether the scornful tone is appropriate.

A common colloquial use of `assolutamente' is vehement negation:

±Hai copiato all'esame, vero?

±Assolutamente!

The reply must be translated with something like an indignant `Certainly not!' The English `Absolutely!' would be rendered in Italian by expressions of certainty, like `(Ma) certo/certamente'.

ADVERBIALS 183

Clearly, an adverb is just as likely as any other textual feature to require an imaginative, but precise, departure from what the dictionary suggests. Here, for discussion and translation in class, are more examples:

1.È difficile convincere gli anziani ad andarsene degnamente in pensione.

2.Gli insegnanti rappresentano una figura professionale socialmente mortificata.

3.Difficilmente si riuscirà ad ottenere il risultato prima di domani.

4.I deputati si sono schierati decisamente a favore del disegno di legge sull'ambiente.

5.Il mosto viene fatto fermentare accuratamente.

6.Il Dott. Rossi aveva offeso il suo superiore, indipendemente dalla propria volontà.

English has an astonishingly flexible system for creating adverbs from adjectives. English adverbs cause just as many problems as the Italian ones we have examined, though more often for morphological reasons than for semantic ones. A few examples at random: `importantly', `significantly', `sadly', `annoyingly', `irritatingly', `depressingly', etc. They are particularly tricky when they begin a sentence. Rather than rendering adverb with adverb in such cases, Italian normally uses a paraphrase. Here are two typical examples:

Rendering adverb with adjective requires underpinning with a noun, followed by the subordinate clause. This lengthens the sentence, but at least the meaning is clear.

In the second example, the Italian again opts for a ready-made idiom:

`Triste ma vero' neatly incorporates the nuance of `depressing/ly'. Another possibility is: `Un dato che deprime è l'aumento dei crimini¼'. This combination of noun+`absolute' verb (i.e. transitive verb with no object) is a common grammatical transposition where an adverb cannot be used in Italian.

In order to sharpen awareness of possibilities in English which it is easy to overlook in translating from Italian, here are some typical English sentences, for discussion and translation in class:

184THINKING ITALIAN TRANSLATION

1.Pol Pot's career is drawing to an end in the hideously brutal style he employed to reshape his country.

2.This is a population that had timorously welcomed victorious Khmer Rouge fighters in 1975.

3.[Of school education] The existing system has an exhaustingly lengthy Autumn term.

4.The Government has been quietly making this point.

5.The judge robustly defended his decision.

6.Shareholders will benefit handsomely from the new management of the company.

7.These are preposterously high levels of corruption.

8.This company has a highly respected sales force.

In addition to adverbs ending in -mente, Italian has plenty of others, of course. Many have a range of possible meanings, which can cause problems of interpretation in context. The ones we shall examine are `anzi', `proprio', `sempre' and `ormai'.

`Anzi' tends to raise issues not of meaning, but of idiomaticity and flow. According to the dictionary, it can mean: `l. as a matter of fact, on the contrary; 2. or rather; 3. better still; 4. indeed'. In both the following examples, one could argue that `on the contrary' is an appropriate choice:

In this example, `Quite the contrary, in fact' fits the bill perfectly, because it stands alone. In the second example, `in fact' on its own would be less obstructive to the flow of the TT:

Here, an alternative to `in fact' is `actually'.

For `proprio', the dictionary suggests: `l. just, precisely, exactly; 2. really; 3. that's right, quite'. The list shows how versatile `proprio' is, in both written and oral contexts. We saw an example of one use of the word in ST 2 on p. 189. There is another in the following example, a sarcastic comment on alleged war criminal Erich Priebke's bid to interest Amnesty International in his case:

186 THINKING ITALIAN TRANSLATION

To finish this practical, here are some sentences containing a variety of adverbials, for discussion and translation in class:

1.Una vera corte di giustizia internazionale mette tutti sullo stesso piano. Già in questo modo si sfiora l'utopia.

2.Le società dell'ENI sono sempre state ben piazzate all'estero.

3.I costi di natura straordinaria ammontano a ben 140 miliardi.

4.[Advert showing Italy the size of a CD] Abbiamo ridotto l'Italia così.

5.La scena era assai suggestiva.

6.[From an article on the handover of Hong Kong] L'assorbimento da parte della Cina viene visto sempre più non come una minaccia ma come un'opportunità.

7.Ecco allora che arrivano i provvedimenti anti-turista e anti-pendolare.

8.Ha parlato male di noi, anzi malissimo.

9.Devo partire, comunque vadano le cose.

10.Più interessante, anzi stupefacente al confronto, era la stanza da letto attigua, che l'ospite volle mostrare assolutamente al suo giovane visitatore.