Where to stay in the UK and in Italy: a comparative study of the language of holiday accommodation advertisements
Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
Facoltà di Scienze Politiche
Dipartimento di Lingue e Letterature anglo-germaniche e slave
Relatore: Prof. Erik Castello
Tesi di laurea di: Beatrice Stellin (Matr. N. 614513 MZL)
3.3.3 - Agriturismi
SOURCE TEXT | TARGET TEXT |
Uno specchio d'acqua nel posto più suggestivo del parco, dove potersi rilassare in totale silenzio e spaziare con la vista tra viti e ulivi ascoltando il vento. Ogni giorno cuciniamo per i nostri Ospiti, proponendo un piccolo menù tipico basato su prodotti di stagione, preferendo alimenti Biologici ed esclusivamente produzioni locali. Al mattino il buffet viene preparato all'interno dell'atelier di pittura - con splendida vista sul parco e sulla piscina - ed è possibile consumare la colazione sia in sala che all'esterno, nel giardino della "Farm House", a seconda della stagione. Per il pranzo serviamo primi e piatti freddi, mentre la sera un menù più importante potrà essere accompagnato da ottimi vini selezionati anno per anno. |
A mirror of water in the most suggestive place of the park, where to find relax in total silence and to space with the sight between grapevines and olive trees, listening to the soft South wind. Every day we cook for our Guests, proposing for lunch a small typical menu based on seasonal products, organic foods and exclusive local products. In the morning, the breakfast buffet is prepared inside the studio of painting - with splendid sight on the park and on the swimming pool - and it is possible to consume the breakfast both in the garden and in the veranda, depending on the weather. For lunch we serve pasta and cold dishes, while in the evening a more important menu, with fine wines, selected year by year. |
Table 3.12: Extracts from agriturismi promotional texts taken from the multilingual parallel corpus.
Focusing on the examples in Table 3.12, we can see an instance of literal translation - i.e. a translation which renders a stretch of text word by word instead of giving the general meaning in a more natural and native-like way. As previously mentioned, an excessive use of abstract nouns is not acceptable in English, and therefore, long sentences, tortuous and convoluted syntax should be avoided. As said above already, the translator has to interpret a source text as a socio-cultural product written by a member of a certain culture. According to Federici (2006: 101), hotel websites are a kind of "advertisement material, produced to attract the traveller, to present and sell a tourist product, they inform but above all persuade the reader through predictable features of the genre, standardised formulae and technical terminology."
Therefore, they can be considered as an act of communication where the translator should focus on the target reader and on its context in order to maintain its effectiveness. This often implies an adaptation to the target culture by means of linguistic transfers as well as cultural ones. Given this state of affair, some possible translations of the expressions underlined in the Table 3.12 above are:
Source text | Mistranslations | Possible solutions |
uno specchio d'acqua | a mirror of water | a large / outdoor / open-air swimming pool |
Suggestive | suggestive | striking / fascinating |
splendida vista | splendid sight | beautiful / wonderful / great view |
è possibile consumare la colazione | it is possible to consume the breakfast | breakfast can be served / you can have breakfast |
la sera un menu più importante | in the evening a more important menu | in the evening a full and extensive menu |
ottimi vini | fine wines | good wines |
Table 3.13: Mistranslations and possible solutions of some translated expressions drawn from agriturismi promotional texts.