gli amici ti vanno bene fintanto che tieni

G

Gymnasiumcats

Member
English - US
How best to translate the following phrase into English, in a letter from a father to his young daughter newly living on her own:

Eccoti quanto senno hai acquistata, fai infine l’uomo, devi pensare per tutto, e dici bene, che gli amici ti vanno bene fintanto che tieni

Look how sensible you have become, you are just like a man, you have to think about everything, and you are right when you say: friends like you as long as you ???have them???

Thanks in advance!
 
    • Without further context I would understand the sentence as "Friends suit you as long as you hold on (persist)". Whatever that may mean.

    The whole paragraph is like one of those snippets of conversation that you overhear on the bus, you sort of get an idea of what they are talking about, but not really. When was the letter written?
     
    Odysseus54 said:
    Without further context I would understand the sentence as "Friends suit you as long as you hold on (persist)". Whatever that may mean.

    The whole paragraph is like one of those snippets of conversation that you overhear on the bus, you sort of get an idea of what they are talking about, but not really. When was the letter written?
    Click to expand...
    It was written in 1914, by a father in Italy to his young daughter who had recently emigrated to the US on her own. In the previous sentence, he offers his thanks to a family friend for being kind to his daughter ("Ringraziamo MariaLibera pure per le sue cortesie che ti offre." ) Other than that, the rest of the letter is about various other unrelated matters.
     
    'Tieni', as a Southern regionalism, could also mean 'you have'. But then you would need an object, that here is missing, right? Without it, we are back to 'persist', 'hang on' etc.
     
    Pietruzzo said:
    Is it handwritten? If so could you provide us a photo of the original, with a larger section of the text?
    Click to expand...
    1665090749602.png
    Here is the section of the letter in question (it's a long letter, so I've just posted the relevant section, hope that helps) (E scusa per il ritardo...)
     
    I read "gli amici ti vonno (=vogliono) bene fintanto che tieni". It is written in an uncertain language, with many vernacular expressions. Considering that it continues talking about money, I think that "fintanto che tieni" means "as long you have (money)".
     
    gnommero said:
    I read "gli amici ti vonno (=vogliono) bene fintanto che tieni". It is written in an uncertain language, with many vernacular expressions. Considering that it continues talking about money, I think that "fintanto che tieni" means "as long you have (money)".
    Click to expand...

    Ma certo! Con 'vonno' cambia tutto!! Complimenti!
     
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