This site uses cookies.
Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site,
while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
English to Italian: 6th ProZ.com Translation Contest - Entry #3958
Source text - English Eroticism has this in common with an addictive drug: that there is a coercive element to its pleasure with which part of us is in complicity, and part not. Thus ever since time began men have been trying to enjoy eroticism without being destroyed by it. Societies, religions can be defined in the way they deal with this conundrum. Polygamy, monogamy with repression, monogamy with affairs, monogamy with prostitutes, serial monogamy. Not to mention individual solutions of great ingenuity, or desperation: Victor Hugo with the door knocked through the wall of his office, to let in a girl each afternoon. Auden's flair for finding call-boys in every town. Picasso who simply refused when wife and mistress demanded he choose between them. Then there is always the hair-shirt of course. But perhaps the thing to remember when you wake up with a life full of fresh paint and tortuous complications is that eroticism wasn't invented for you, nor merely for the survival of the species perhaps, but for a divinity's entertainment. Nothing generates so many opportunities for titillation and schadenfreude as eroticism. Which is why it lies at the centre of so much narrative. How the gods thronged the balconies of heaven to see the consequences of Helen's betrayal! And your friends are watching too. Your antics have put the shine on many a late-night conversation.
On the borders between mythology and history, that wily survivor Odysseus was the first who learnt to trick the gods. And perhaps his smartest trick of all was that of lashing himself to the mast before the Sirens came in earshot. There are those of course who are happy to stand at the railings, even scan the horizon. Otherwise, choose your mast, find the ropes that suit you: sport, workaholism, celibacy with prayerbook and bell... But the kindest and toughest ropes of all are probably to be found in some suburban semi-detached with rowdy children and a woman who never allows the dust to settle for too long.
Translation - Italian L'erotismo viaggia sulle stesse frequenze delle droghe: quello che li rende simili è un elemento di coercizione al piacere con cui instauriamo una parziale complicità. Sin dalla notte dei tempi, l'uomo ha cercato di godere dell'erotismo senza soccombere. Le società e le religioni trovano definizione nel relazionarsi con questo dilemma. Poligamia, monogamia repressa, monogamia adultera, monogamia peripatetica, monogamia seriale. Senza contare le singole soluzioni dettate da grande ingenuità o disperazione: Victor Hugo con la porta del suo ufficio scardinata per far entrare una ragazza diversa ogni pomeriggio. Il fiuto di Auden nel trovare ragazzi "squillo" in ogni città. Il rifiuto di Picasso di scegliere tra la moglie e l'amante. Certo, rimane pur sempre anche l'austerità. Quello che tuttavia non bisogna dimenticare quando ci si scopre in una vita tappezzata di vernice fresca e tortuose complessità è che l'erotismo non è stato inventato per noi e neppure per la sopravvivenza delle specie, forse, ma piuttosto per il sollazzo di una qualche divinità. Niente offre più possibilità di titillarsi e di godere della schadenfreude dell'erotismo, motivo per cui questo è il centro di così tanta narrativa. Ricordate la folla di dei sulle terrazze dell'Olimpo per osservare le conseguenze del tradimento di Elena? E anche gli amici fanno da spettatori: le vostre pagliacciate sono state sotto l'occhio di bue in molte conversazioni notturne.
Al confine tra mito e storia, lo scaltro Ulisse, il sopravvissuto, è stato il primo a scoprire come ingannare gli dei. E forse il suo trucco migliore è stato quello di legarsi all'albero maestro della nave prima che le Sirene fossero a portata d'orecchio. Alcuni sono felici di stare in poppa scrutando l'orizzonte. Se non siete fra questi, sceglietevi il vostro albero maestro e la corda che più vi si addice: lo sport, il lavoro, il celibato con breviario e campanella...Ma le corde più delicate e robuste si trovano probabilmente in qualche casetta bifamiliare della periferia, con bambini chiassosi e una donna che insegue la polvere non appena si posa.
More
Less
Translation education
Other - SSIT Milano
Experience
Years of experience: 24. Registered at ProZ.com: Apr 2005. Became a member: Apr 2005.
I am a freelance English/German-to-Italian translator and reviewer. With over 25 years of experience in life sciences, medical devices, clinical research, regulatory documentation and patent translation, I bring both linguistic precision and deep subject-matter expertise to every project.
Over my career I have translated and reviewed a wide range of content, including clinical trial documentation (CSPs, CSRs, ICFs, IBs and patient-facing materials), medical device IFUs and software interfaces, IVD and laboratory system documentation, EMA regulatory submissions, and patents spanning medicine, biotechnology, chemistry and engineering. I am equally comfortable with legal and trademark documentation, and I have developed strong skills in linguistic QA, terminology management and MTPE, including the review of AI-generated content.
I work proficiently with SDL Trados Studio 2019, memoQ and Wordfast PRO, and I take particular care with terminological consistency and regulatory compliance, treating each project with the rigor these sensitive contexts demand.
Keywords: Medicine, pharmacology, biology, life sciences, patents, SAP, surveying, engineering, chemistry, health care. See more.Medicine, pharmacology, biology, life sciences, patents, SAP, surveying, engineering, chemistry, health care, handbooks, Corporate Communication, operative techniques, personal care, software, hardware, software localization, patents, medical equipment, industrial automation. See less.
Member since Apr '05
Expertise