translation
Luisa Raimondi Photographer
From our very first email exchange, it was clear Luisa Raimondi is an incredibly passionate and professional photographer.
To promote her work as a photographer to English speakers, she realised how important it was to have her website translated into English. For her multilingual digital “shopfront” she knew she wanted to work with a professional and was put in touch with me thanks to a client of hers who is also a fellow translator.
Her voice and personality are key to her brand, and are part of the reason why so many people choose her to take their photos. It was really important to maintain her unique voice in the English version of the website. Of course, without losing sight of the importance of having a clear, precise and natural-sounding text in English.
This project led me to reflect on the similarities between the work of a translator and that of a photographer. A photographer focuses their lens on the person or scene, and the translator on the words to translate, both remaining hidden yet essential, yet in both cases you inevitably inject a bit of yourself into your work. In fact, I believe that it is precisely this creativity and personality that bring translations and photography to life.
One thing is for sure, it has been a huge honour for me to translate the unique and passionate words of Luisa into English. What’s more, I enjoyed being whisked away on many fairy-tale adventures when translating the Love Stories in her blog.
Thank you Luisa!
www.luisaraimondi.it/en
Precise, clear and honest, Jane took care of all of my texts. Honest and transparent, because she immediately gave me the rates of the different possible services; clear, because she explained which service might be suitable for my project, letting me decide; precise, because she has always delivered work on time.
Her professionalism goes even further: Jane succeeds in empathising with the author of the texts, she passionately engages with the texts and this is why her translations recreate the full meaning of what I write, and therefore reflect who I am. This was exactly what I wanted: thank you Jane!
Luisa Raimondi
Antico Podere Cavozzoli
As you may have already guessed, I get a real buzz out of working with people who are passionate about what they do, and this was definitely the case with this website translation. These texts transported me to the sun-kissed olive groves of the Antico Podere Cavozzoli in Tuscany and it was a real honour to be involved in carefully crafting a translation in which this family’s passion, skill and dedication really shone!
The detailed product descriptions for their olive oils are testimony to the care and attention they put into their work, and I really enjoyed carrying out extensive research to make sure everything was spot on.
This translation was a great opportunity to combine my areas of specialisation of food and tourism, especially for the part of the website that talks about their tasty initiative of olive oil tourism, or ‘Oleotourism’. Sounds intriguing? Why not mosey on over to their website and see what it’s all about! You can find it at www.poderecavozzoli.it
If you have a similar translation project or need some sparkling website texts written from scratch just for you, drop me a line and let’s have a chat.
It’s clear that she doesn’t just translate texts but strives to adapt them, taking into consideration the content and aiming to engage the reader and keep them interested.
Jane was always on hand to help throughout all stages of the project, and delivered on time.
You can tell that she injects passion and expertise into her work.
I recommend her translations to anyone who requires market positioning of their business or product that is true to their company values.
Thank you for being part of our quest to share the value and philosophy of Cavozzoli Oil with the world.
Giacomo Pierini
Ski resort website translation
Wow, this project was so much fun. It certainly got my creative juices flowing and my feet itching to be rammed into my ski boots and get whooshing down the slopes!
The website was part of an overall rebranding project for a ski resort which included the design of a great new logo.
The translation itself was varied and never dull. As with most website texts, parts of it required transcreation, looking at the essence of the message and finding a creative and impactive way to get people excited about everything the resort has to offer. Other parts needed an approach which focused more on accuracy and clarity, with important details about skipasses, rates, etc.
This project enabled to make the most of my passion for skiing and everything mountain-related. My knowledge of the relevant terminology and my experience with tourism texts gave me a head start in crafting enticing and functional texts for the English version of this website.
Why not check out the website – just click here!
Lanzo Trekking
I love working with people who are super passionate about what they do. Which is why I was really excited that Andrea Mantelli asked me to translate his website. I had done other projects for him in the past and it was an honour to be part of this new enterprise of his.
The Lanzo Trekking website communicates Andrea’s passion for inclusive tourism with details of guided walks and excursions suitable for people of all ages and with varying health conditions. Lanzo Trekking aims to provide experiences which go beyond walking, connecting people to various aspects of the local area, including history, flora, fauna and the mountain culture in general.
5 Tips for translating Italian menus
If you love Italian food as much as I do, translating an Italian menu might be your dream project. Have you ever been lucky enough to translate foodie texts or menus from Italian? Then you’ll know what I mean when I say it’s more challenging than you first think. (more…)
The Cretan Way
This was a two-part book with a practical guide to walking a new route across Crete based on the E4 footpath as well as a travelogue by the author describing his own experience of walking the route. This project involved extensive research into the geographical and historical references as well as precision and clarity for the walking instructions. The author’s unique writing style had to be respected whilst ensuring coherence and fluidity in the translation. Overall a really exciting and rewarding project.
Luca Gianotti
Eating Up Italy: Food for Thought
I’m currently reading Matthew Fort’s book, Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa, which follows his journey through Italy, from south to north, on a culinary quest for the truth, culture and people behind Italian cuisine, in all its many varieties.
I’m really enjoying the book and the author’s way of writing, but what I want to focus on here is:
- how foreigners describe Italy
- why this is an important factor to consider when translating.
Let’s start with the first point and have a look at how Italy is seen from the outside with the help of Matthew Fort.
In contrast to many who write about Italy, Matthew Fort does not present himself as a great expert of the country, but rather as someone with limited knowledge of the language and the country in spite of his obvious interest in the place. (more…)
Best Glossary of Climbing and Mountaineering Terms
I’ve put together a list of some websites with glossary resources for mountaineering terms which I have found particularly useful. There are many more out there, but these are a good place to start….
Bread is bread…isn’t it?
Today I wanted to look at how to translate the word ‘bread’.
Easy, isn’t it? Bread. Pane. Pain. Pan. Brot.
But before leaving things at that, just think for a moment about ‘bread’. What comes to mind? A loaf? Sliced bread? White bread? Brown bread? If you’re from Umbria you will probably be thinking (more…)
Anything you fancy on the menu?
Why is it so difficult to translate a menu?
If you’re looking for a truly exotic dish, you need look no further than the many badly-translated menus in English…you’ll find all sorts, from ‘fried fishermen’ to ‘revolting eggs’, from ‘feet with jam’ to ‘fried friendship’ and even ‘saucepans in butter with fried hormones’! Mmmmm….delicious!
Errors in menus which have been translated into English often just make us laugh. But they are no laughing matter for those who work in the restaurant industry -with a badly-written menu you can quickly lose valuable customers! (more…)