1. 16. Translating a scientific text written for non-specialists Taylor (p. 226) notes that: technical and scientific texts tend not to involve pragmatic or cultural difficulties; in English texts much of the lexis derives from Latin or Greek; the grammatical problems are predictable (e.g. English noun strings); the register is formal, more so in Italian than in English. The text Taylor has chosen a text about air pollution (pp 233, 234). It comes from the National Geographic magazine, so the target readers are not specialists in chemistry or environmental engineering.

2. FALSE FRIENDS 16 What do remember about control and convenience/convenient? defect (noun): difetto, imperfezione defect (verb): defezionare, disertare During the Cold War a number of Soviet intellectuals defected to the West. difettare: 1. to lack, to be lacking (in) difettare di tatto = to lack tact 2. to be deficient or defective. A deficient diet is nutritionally poor. A defective product has an imperfection of some kind. Deficient is not used to describe a person. delude: ingannare. He was deluded into thinking he would get a proper contract. delude oneself: illudersi. Don’t delude yourself that you will get a pay rise. deludere: to disappoint. His latest film disappointed the critics. delusione: disappoinment. illusion: illusione. An optical illusion. The sun appears to move around the earth but this is an illusion. Delusion: 1. convinzione errata 2. delirio, mania delusions of grandeur

3. THE DIARY OF A BRAVE TRANSLATOR VERILY IN LEG – PART 16 Nowadays we have the phenomenon of the working poor, i.e. people who have full-time employment but earn so little that by the last week of the month they are at the green. In contrast we have the big pieces in business or in banking who have obscenely high salaries. I know we shouldn’t make of every grass a bunch, but a lot of these so-called super managers receive their salaries and fat bonuses even when their company has performed badly. For people struggling to survive that is like putting a finger in the wound.

4. To be broke Big shots (USA) Big noises (UK) To tar everyone with the same brush To pour salt in the wound