Did you write a novel or a film script set in Italy or about a topic that Italian readers would love? If you want your words to reach a large swath of the Italian audience, translation is your best bet. And it makes a big difference how it is translated.
No doubt you spent hours upon hours fine-tuning the writing, shaping its style, and finding the best expression for that sentence. Now maybe you’re worried that all this care will be lost when it’s translated into Italian, a language so different from English. Right?
And it is true something is always inevitably lost. As Umberto Eco put it, translating is about saying “almost the same thing.” But a good translator is able to create a translation that maintains as much of the original style as possible, keeping it fresh and making it seem as if it had been written specifically for its audience (Italian, in my case).
To do this successfully, it takes an innate flair for writing, proper training (I completed a master’s course in translation for publishing at the University of Siena), and a lot of experience. I’ve had the honor during my career of working on authors like Tolkien, and have experience in a wide range of language varieties, including American and colonial varieties and different registers. Most importantly, I’ve learned how to respect the author’s voice to create quality writing that “does not sound like a translation.”
Style is not the only thing that matters. For non-fiction and informational texts, terminology must also be faithfully followed, quotes found, and bibliographies checked. Plus, we have to decide which cultural references an Italian reader can understand and which have to be adapted or explained in a note. We’ll make all these decisions together.
What kinds of text do I translate from English into Italian?
- Novels and short stories, popular nonfiction, articles
- Training material
- Art and show catalogues
- Film treatments and scripts
Below you’ll find some covers of the books I’ve translated. To see other editorial projects I’ve worked on, please visit my portfolio.
How much does my translation for publishing service cost?
A published text’s complexity involves many factors, such as the subject matter, the author’s style, if there is a bibliography or quotations, and so on. It’s hard to set a definite price in advance. But to give you a rough idea, a one-page article of a general topic would start at €60.
Contact Me
If you need a text translated into Italian or if you’re looking for an interpreter in Tuscany, please reach out to me using the form below, telling me what you need. I usually respond within a few hours.