Friday, December 19, 2008

Translate This

I'm talking with my New York friend who saw "La Bohème" at the Met last night. She told me about the beautiful translations from Italian to English that scroll across the seat backs. Beautiful.

If I may quote her. "The words in English run across the seats. I wanted to grab each one to savor, astounding poetic beauty, expressions of how it is to be struck by love."

I smiled to remember my own Italian-to-English translation from last night. My family treated me to the most wonderful meal for my birthday at DaVinci's Gourmet Pizza. While in the restroom, I noticed some words on a sign just above the toilet. "Gli impiegati sono tenuti a lavarsi le mani." I was intrigued. I tweeted the phrase and then translated it when I got home.

In English: Employees must wash hands.

Expressions of how it is to be struck by germs. I take my poetry where I can find it.

1 comment:

LeBlanc said...

Everything sounds better in Italian. Hope u had a good b-day.