Translation - Bevi russo... (Italian)

Non so se "alla" è corretta, alla fine.

Penso che dovrebbe essere solo: bacia francese

In Italiano si dice baciare alla francese ( lit. "to kiss the French way" ) e un bacio alla francese ( lit. "a kiss (done) the French way" ). Non ho mai trovato queste espressioni senza alla.

Serena e gli altri, che ne dite?

CC: Efylove Maybe:-) ali84

Have a look at this discussion, please.
I know it's a bit ambiguous, but IMO the text means:
"Drink (what is) Russian, drive (what is) German, wear (what is) Italian, kiss (who is) French"

See what I mean? It's not "the way" (Russian way/French way, etc.), but the nationality (Russian vodka, Italian clothes, German cars and French people).

In my opinion it's the same.
For example: "vesti italiano" has the same meaning than "vesti all'italiana".
So you can say "bacia francese" ("kiss in a French way", but it's true that in Italian we prefer to use "baciare alla francese" with "alla" (http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacio_alla_francese).

Lilian, I see you have just posted a message under the source text asking oh_my_darling to clarify the meaning. I'd rather wait for her reply before modifying my translation, if you don't mind.

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Grazie della risposta, Serena. Lo pensavo anch'io, ma in effetti il testo è ambiguo...

CC: Efylove

Sure.

I hope you understood the doubt. If she says that the meaning is "the way people do" then, of course it must be used "alla" not only in "bacia alla francese", but also in all the other parts.

I agree with Efylove. I would have translated in the same way she proposed: I think the meaning of the last part of the sentence is more about the way than about the nationality.

CC: Efylove ali84

In italiano sarebbe più corretto bevi come i russi, guida come i tedeschi...

My Italian maybe is not so good, but I don't agree with this translation, sorry.

If English original was:
"Drink in Russian way, drive in German way..." etc. we indeed could translate it as "alla russo, alla tedesco..."
If it was "Drink like a Russian, drive like a German..." it could go--> "come i russi", come i tedeschi"

But we have here "Drink Russian, drive German..."etc... So, may it go: "Bevi russo, guida tedesco, vesti italiano, bacia francese"?

Lilian suggested above it should have been interpreted as follows: "Bevi (una cosa) russa, guida (una cosa) tedesca, vesti (una cosa) italiana, bacia (una persona) francese"?
But what is in brackets is only default. So...

Lilian asked the requester to clarify the meaning, but s/he hasn't answered yet.

Moreover, "Bevi russo" makes sense to me, as it means "Drink Russian (drinks)". But "bacia francese" doesn't make any sense to any Italian mothertongue.

The difficult thing is to catch what the requester wanted to say, as this sentence can have many interpretations (I see there are problems with Russian translations, for example). I think we should wait for the requester's reply.

How do you call a French person in your country, Alex? "Francese" is an adjective, but can it be sometimes used like it was a noun? Or do you have any noun made from the adjective? If not, the translation should be "bacia una persona francese" I guess.
In Polish it would be "Francuz" (French person) and the noun came from an adjective "francuski" (French). So "kiss French" in Polish would be "Całuj Francuza".

But, of course, some explanations of the requester are needed. They can show the true meaning of the problematic sentence. So, let's wait...

Yes, of course "francese" means both "French" and "Frenchman". But "bacia francese" looks like incorrect, since everyone would put an article ( "il" o "un" ) between "bacia" and "francese".

But I thought the meaning of the sentence was "the Russian way", "the German way" etc.
And "Bevi russo" can also mean "Drink the Russian way". Unfortunately at the moment we cannot know whether my interpretation is correct or not.

To bring my two cents, I'd say the last proposition (the French one) from this text is not about an item, while the three others are.

So the Italian way to say it might be the one Alex suggested (with "alla"
Replace gentilés by trades, you can do that for the three first propositions (eg : Drink Smirnoff, drive Mercedes, wear Rinascimento...), but for the last one, which is an action, you'll have to add something to indicate it is not about an item, but about an action.

The English original text may be willing to line the French kiss up with an item, (as if all the French were kissing the same way, ha!). Maybe English is flexible enough, simple enough, to stay correct with just using the adjective or gentilé, but IMO if it sounds weird to Alex or Serena it means it is not employed in Italian.

It is obviously about items, right? (a German doesn't drive better than a French, they just are supposed to build more solid cars in Germany! )

<edit> "Absolute" with "Smirnoff", as "Absolute" is a Swedish trade!</edit>

I agree with Francky5591.

CC: Francky5591 Efylove

Buvez a la russe, conduisez comme un allemand, habillez comme italien, et embrassez a la francaise.

AFAH, this is the exact opposite from what I just tried to explain (about the three first propositions)

If it were what you said, in English it would read differently :

"Drink the Russian way, drive the German way, dress the Italian way and kiss the French way", and the four propositions would be similar.

Hello!

I see this text isn't an easy one, and this is because English doesn't need a noun in front of the adjective, but the other languages need one, Romanian for example. You simply can't give the exact meaning, if indeed the real meaning is "Drink Russian *beverage*, drive German *car*, wear Italian *clothes*, kiss *the French way*." Usually after a verb comes an adverb. In Romanian I was obliged to put an adverb which can mean both: drink the Russian way, or drink like Russians (like Russians: what do Russians drink? vodka and not only, of course, they also drink kvas :P), so there is a chance to understand it wrongly... The first two can be misunderstood, the last two are clear: wear Italian. Italian like adverb, it is clear that you "wear Italian (style clothes)", it's like "eat Italian".

I left the exact meaning in the notes field, but if in the end is decided that all the translations, at least the ones in the languages that really need a noun in front, the whole ratio source text:translation will be changed probably, there will be more characters than the ones in the original.

Most probably the meaning is the one we already know: first three are about things, the last about way, one evidence is that I saw a longer version of it on the net: besides the four parts, it also had "Smoke Cuban (cigarres)"

So, let me know if smth needs to be changed in the completed translation (s)...

Why can't all the texts be easily translatable?

Italian native speakers assumed "alla" was necessary before "francese", I think we should trust native speakers (experts in Italian moreover).

When the original text is not clear enough, there are always different opinions expressed about its meaning in the discussion area, which does the validation is belated.

I didn't say anything about the translation in Italian, each expert knows best the feature of his native language, it's just that some texts are way too discussed. You usually just have to find the form that conveys best the original meaning, being known that everyone agrees on an only meaning. There are times when the text is just uncertain in both original and translation, and you can't have a clear translation when the text can have more meanings.

Clear text = clear translation.