- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "My grandmother believes in t…
"My grandmother believes in the phenomena of this place."
Translation:Mia nonna crede nei fenomeni di questo posto.
41 Comments
Since phenomena is standard plural form of phenomenon the correct translation is fenomeni
Weirdly, i think thats actually greeks fault, not english's. Its what we get for stealing words left and right. Were left with words like datum/a, alumna/nus/nae/ni, phenomenon/a. Most are latin and greek I believe. No idea why they never got fully Anglicised like so many other words. Not like many of them are neologisms.
184
phenomenon is from Greek, as ph- should tell us. It literally means 'that which appears, comes to light'. (In Classical Greek, ph was an aspirated p. The Romans added h to their spelling to indicate the sound. Later it became f.)
- 303
Apparently I am 71 years old and still learning my native tongue!!!! You get a lingot for that answer!!!
- 560
There is nothing in the English context (which is what the exercise started with) to indicate phenomenon is plural.
With all due respect, if I said that, people would think me badly educated. Please do not mislead the non-native English speakers here into thinking it's OK.
- 851
And I wouldn't care or even notice, much like how "data IS" is the norm now, rather than "data are"
Datum is singular, data is plural, medium is singular, media is plural, die is singular dice is plural. Unfortunately most native English speakers don't understand their own language and you get people talking about medias etc. Professor Higgins had something to say about this - though he seemed to worry more about pronunciation.
I don't think in seventy years I have said the word "phenomenon" or "....ons" more then 10 times! Not a very likely sentence to hear.
- 281
What does 'the phenomena of this place' mean? Does the Italian suggest anything in particular, such as supernatural phenomena?
In Italian it means much the same as in English. For example, Oxford Dictionary: "a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose cause or explanation is in question." Hoepli: 1. Qualunque manifestazione visibile, direttamente o indirettamente, di un fatto naturale. ... 3. Cosa o persona straordinaria, fuori dal comune.
"Believes/crede" invokes that last clause. Grandma presumably believes in strange appearances at the place. Ghosts, perhaps. Whereas I believe that Duo's sentence is a phenomenon, as I struggle to find a cause or explanation for its existence in the teaching. Is it for "ph" <-> f ?
Someone elsewhere has suggested the meaning here could be 'miracle', e.g. referring to Lourdes?
"Believe in" is credere in. Simple "believe [sb/sth]" is credere a [qn/qc].
- 1658
Why isn't 'luogo' acceptable for place in this sentence? Although both mean place, i thought luogo was more general than posto, in much the same way as qua and qui for 'here'
- 773
Mmmm. The translation of that sounds like the sort of thing one reads in a cheap guide book.
In popular usage, a phenomenon usually refers to an extraordinary event. The term is most commonly used to refer to occurrences that at first defy explanation or baffle the observer.
I struggle to translate this sentence in a way that makes sense in English. Perhaps an Italian would express the unexpected/spiritual/miraculous using the word phenomenon/a, but in English we would find another way to convey the idea. I say this to help any non-English speaker who is considering using the word 'phenomenon/a'. My closest approximation to the (assumed) Italian meaning of this sentence would be something like 'My grandmother believes in the spirituality of this place'.
A phenomenon associated with Glostershire is the Severn bore, which is a wave formed by the incoming tide as it is funneled through the Bristol channel and up the Severn river.
- 184
The sentence sounds strange in English, because even though one says "he's quite a phenomenon!", the word doesn't quite have the (secondary) meaning of 'wondrous, mysterious occurrence'.
- 374
What is wrong with 'luogo' ? Does it have to be 'posto'? Marked wrong today although apparently once accepted!
- 186
What a b----y stupid sentence. What on earth is supposed to mean? I'm sure it will come in very handy next time I am on holiday in Italy.
I thought that "posto" was to be used in the context of employment as in one's "post"?
