La traduzione, come metodo di esercizio nell’apprendimento di una lingua, farà sicuramente parte della vecchia scuola, però, inserita in un contesto più vario di apprendimento, soprattutto con feedback in tempo reale, può sempre essere un utile esercizio di allenamento.
Consiglio una partecipazione attiva e visibile postando la tua versione tra i commenti in fondo a questa pagina. In questo modo riceverai un mio commento o suggerimento in tempo più o meno reale. Ma per chi non se la sente, si può semplicemente annotare la propria versione e controllarla attraverso i miei commenti lasciati per gli altri.
Ricorda l’importanza di immaginare un contesto reale nel quale la frase in questione avrebbe senso, prima di procedere con la traduzione.
Per chi è già ben avviato al livello intermediate (B1/B2)
Ecco la nuova frase:
Non me la sentivo proprio di alzarmi e parlare davanti a una folla così numerosa, ma sapevo che se non l’avessi fatto, probabilmente me ne sarei pentito per sempre.
Buon divertimento!
very complicated sentence In direct speech it would sound like this.
If I don’t do it now I’ll regret it forever
That is actually your starting point for how it should be in indirect speech, as it is here (or indirect thought). Your reasoning is good but you haven’t taken it through to your translation. See my note to Patrizia below and you’ll see what I mean.
I didn’t feel like standing up to speak in front of such a large crowd , but I realised that if I had not done it ( this time) I might have regretted it for ever
Hi there
I didn’t feel like standing up and speaking in front of that huge crowd at all, but I knew if I hadn’t done it, I probably would’ve regretted it forever.
– I’m not sure about “it” after regretted…maybe it could work without it
Very good, but please see my note to Patrizia below for the second part as it is quite complicated 🙄
P.S. “It” is necessary after “regret”.
205
Non me la sentivo proprio di alzarmi e parlare davanti a una folla così numerosa, ma sapevo che se non l’avessi fatto, probabilmente me ne sarei pentito per sempre.
I didn’t feel like at all getting up and talking in front of such a large crowd, but I know if I hadn’t done that I would have regretted me forever.
A good effort, Claudio but in the first part you need to find a better position for “at all” (either after “feel” or after “crowd”).
As regards the second part, please see my note to Patrizia below as it is quite complicated 🙄
Ciao!
I just didn’t feel like standin’ up and speak in front of such a large crowd, but I knew that if I hadn’t done it,I would probably have regretted (of)it forever
Ps.I had to look up whether to regret was an irregular verb…
A good effort, Davide but in the first part I would use “really” rather than “just” and “speak” should be “speaking” (like “standing”)
As regards the second part, please see my note to Patrizia below as it is quite complicated 🙄
Yes tony…it’s reported speech con periodo ipotetico primo tipo…at first I wanted to write just …I didn’t do it…I would probably regret…but,I don’t know why…it didn’t seem reported speech to me..and periodo ipotetico primo tipo,english reported speech becomes periodo ipotetico secondo tipo!
Se andrà alla festa si divertirà
He said that if she went to the party she would enjoy herself
Traduce l’italiano reported speech
Se fosse andata alla festa si sarebbe divertita…
By the way…it’s not easy …at all
I know it’s not easy because the English and the Italian resolve the question with completely different verbal forms. Still, it’s part of the learning process, I guess. In this case we could talk about “reported thought” 😉
That”s right,in fact the same person is reporting…not another one…he said that ecc ecc…that tricked me…ma 😄
I didn’t feel like standing up and talking in front of such a big crowd, but I knew that if I had not made it, I would probably feel sorry forever
A good effort, Luca, but please see my note to Patrizia below.
so I knew that if I didn’t do it .. it is mandatory the use of “that” ?
“That” isn’t necessary here as it is perfectly clear without.
Non me la sentivo proprio di alzarmi e parlare davanti a una folla così numerosa, ma sapevo che se non l’avessi fatto, probabilmente me ne sarei pentito per sempre.
–> I just didn’t feel like standing up and talking in front of such a large crowd, but I knew that, if I hadn’t done it, I would have probably regretted for ever.
Hi Patrizia.
I had a feeling there was going to be a problem with the second part of this translation…and I was right!
The first part is all good, except I think I would use “really” rather than “just” at the beginning.
In the second part, if you think about it, we don’t really have a “third conditional” but a “first conditional” in the past. This is one of the difficulties with story-telling in English.
If you imagine the actual scene when it happened: we have this person who doesn’t want to stand up and talk in front of such a big crowd, right? But what is he/she actually thinking at the time?
He/she’s thinking, “If I don’t do it, I will probably regret it forever.” This is a first conditional – probable outcome. It’s not ‘past time’ but present time.
If we then put that into the context of “story-telling” we need to put all the verbs one step back into the past: ‘present’ becomes ‘past’ and ‘will’ becomes ‘would’.
So your final version should be:
“I really didn’t feel like standing up and talking in front of such a large crowd, but I knew that if I didn’t do it, I would probably regret it forever.”
I hope this is clear!