part 4: Bologna
talking hands
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Everyone knows that Italians talk with their hands. Well, Tom, having a master’s degree in Italian, thinks he’s qualified to demystify how so much of what makes Italian a rich language can be conveyed only with the help of hand gestures.
(Was it Norman Mailer who used to write about himself in the third person?)
Herewith, an exercise in translation.
Tom—while holding up dinner on the terrace one evening—expounds verses from Dante’s La Divina Commedia, with (1) the original Italian, (2) hand gestures, and (3) English translation.
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita, mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, ché la diritta via era smarrita.
Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.
[Tom comments: “Hey, this is heavy; remember that blog entry about ‘twilight of a life’s work’?”]
And now, it’s your turn.
Look at that picture at the top of this entry. Sabino is making the most splendid gestures with his hands!
What’s he saying?
Post your answer in a comment, please.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Ed ecco, quasi al cominciar de l’erta, una lonza leggera e presta molto, che di pel macolato era coverta.
Ed, queasy from commen-cing the earth [in the begin-ning, wasn’t it Mr. Ed who created heaven and earth?] made an echo, a lozenge-shaped ledger, and a molten priest, while his pal kept an immaculate era covered.
Anzi ‘mpediva tanto il mio cammino
Getting antsy, I don’t know what the hell kind of word would start with an apostrophe, but my aunt borrowed my El Camino.
. . .
Umm. . . .
Oh, yeah; that’s right. Now I remember—
I hope I get this next part right.
our friends Sabino (who’s from Naples) and Mike (who’s from southern California); more on this photo—and you!—at the bottom of the entry
A le qual poi se tu vorrai salire—
Ne’er was there a tongue of men on earth with so many little words—
[Hm. Is that a pimple starting on my chin?]
sì ch’io veggia la porta di san Pietro,
allor si mosse, e io li tenni dietro.
[Tom says: “This one’s hard because of the rhyme.”]
da dum da dum dum da dum da da Piet [pronounced like “quiet”]
allergic to mice, I take up, for better tennis, a diet.
[In the meantime, Christine waits for a moment of his distraction, so she can shout:]
MANGIAMO ALREADY!
