micalizzato

tsoapm

tsoapm

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Le Marche (AN) 🇮🇹
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Hi all,

I’m not sure why I’ve never asked this one before; it’s something of a bête noire. How do we say micalizzato in English when we’re talking about car paintwork? I have:
COLORI METALLIZZATI / MICALIZZATI
Click to expand...
A definition is here: http://dizionari.hoepli.it/Dizionario_Italiano/parola/micalizzato.aspx?idD=1&Query=micalizzato

I’ve seen it translated as:

“metal-flake”, which to me neither sounds good nor expresses the concept particularly well. :thumbsdown:
“micalised”, which seems like an ugly ad hoc attempt.

I have two ideas, but neither of them seems quite right to me either:

“micaceous” (containing [or resembling] mica), which gives half the idea and sounds awfully formal.
“pearlescent”, which is very generic, but (I think) expresses one half of the concept well and which sounds okay!

“Micaceous iron oxide” used to be a subheading of “Pearlescent coatings” on wikipedia, but I see someone's taken a hatchet to that page since I last looked at it.

Has anyone got any ideas?
Thanks!
Mark
 
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    • Hi,
    there is a difference between "metallizzato" and "micalizzato":
    CHE DIFFERENZA PASSA TRA VERNICE METALLIZZATA E VERNICE MICALIZZATA? Sono prodotti simili, a doppio strato, ovvero base colorata e vernice trasparente di finitura. Prodotti metallizzati monostrato esistono, ma la qualità è perfida......
    Nei 'metallizzati', nella base colorata c'è una quantità di polvere di alluminio, che da l'aspetto appunto 'metallico' all'oggetto finito.
    Nei 'micalizzati' al posto dell'alluminio c'è polvere di mica, trattata in modo speciale, che permette di avere riflessi simili a quelli del metallizzato, ma molto più puliti e brillanti. Sopratutto permette, usando miche speciali, di avere riflessi cangianti, con un colore cha cambia a seconda della luce e dell'amgolo di osservazione. See here

    "micalized" or "micalised" are common both for cars and for kitchen surfaces:
    "...metallized or micalized colours can be obtained". http://www.sherwineu.com/portals/0/TDS NEW/ENGLISH/119.0140 2C.pdf​
     
    How about "pearlized" - I'm sure I didn't make it up. :) I've heard it in the context of car finishes.

    Edit: Well, maybe I did make it up. Just did a search and found nothing but "pearl paint" and "pearl finish."
     
    Mary49 said:
    "micalized" or "micalised" are common both for cars and for kitchen surfaces:
    "...metallized or micalized colours can be obtained". http://www.sherwineu.com/portals/0/TDS NEW/ENGLISH/119.0140 2C.pdf
    Click to expand...

    Mary, this is very obviously either translated from heaven knows which language or writen by a non-native, unfortunately, so I don't know how reliable it is, to be honest.;)

    Personally I'd go for pearl (car ) paint, having read this (I quote):

    Metallic Auto Paint vs. Pearl Car Paint
    ............    Material
    • Metallic: Usually uses very small flakes of aluminum to give the car an obvious sparkle. These aluminum flakes are relatively uniform in size and are evenly mixed with the paint itself.
    • Pearl: This paint type uses small flakes of mica, a synthetic material that resembles the sheen of a natural pearl. The mica particles are also the same in size and mixed with the base paint.
     
    joanvillafane said:
    How about "pearlized"
    Click to expand...
    That’s “paralysed” with the infamous US drawl, isn’t it? ;)
    london calling said:
    Mary, this is very obviously either translated from heaven knows which language or writen by a non-native, unfortunately, so I don't know how reliable it is, to be honest.;)
    Click to expand...
    Oh! I didn’t look at it that closely, but perhaps you’re right. It’s odd though, because it seems to be an American company. Boh.
    london calling said:
    Personally I'd go for pearl (car ) paint
    Click to expand...
    I see they use my “pearlescent” as well. For my money, that’s less likely to get confused with a shade.
     
    Mark Dobson said:
    Oh! I didn’t look at it that closely, but perhaps you’re right. It’s odd though, because it seems to be an American company.
    Click to expand...
    I saw the name of the firm and thought the same thing, but then I started reading it.....:D Get their "Product Description" (the underlining's mine):

    The combination of highly concentrated bases and polyester resin makes the product have high coverage with low thickness. :eek: This way, stain-free and user-friendly pastel, metallized or micalized colours can be obtained.

    I reckon this was written by their European subsidiary or dealer or something.;)
    ​
     
    clic "very good for 2 k metallic aqua based paints and 2k micalized paints"

    clic Micalised paint (Etna Black)

    clic :Micalised Paint

    ​
    clic Micalised paintwork ensures a classy, elegant finish.

    Are they all translations from Italian?
     
    The bottom three are all brands of product that I’m very familiar with, and all Italian I’m afraid:

    An Alfa Romeo
    A Chrysler (Lancia) Ypsilon
    An Aprilia

    The fact of the matter is that I never recall seeing/hearing the word “micalised” before I looked at IT–EN translations for a living.
     
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    My question is: even if the brands are Italian, are the description texts and the colour lists written by English or Italian translators? If the cars/motorbikes are sold in UK, I think the pieces of information in the websites are written by native speakers. An explanation to the fact that the word doesn't exist in IT-EN dictionaries could be that it is a quite new word, perhaps we'll find it soon. What do you think?
     
    The information on the cars, and the colour lists, is supplied by the manufacturer, naturally. The English version should be written by English translators, but unfortunately this isn’t always the case (I speak from sad experience). The fact that it isn’t in any dictionary I’ve seen makes the business more difficult. A responsible translator (whether IT or EN) who’s being paid adequately and has adequate time available would ideally do their best to find out the most appropriate term, but (sad experience again) for various reasons I don’t think this has happened extensively in this case.
     
    Mary49 said:
    My question is: even if the brands are Italian, are the description texts and the colour lists written by English or Italian translators? If the cars/motorbikes are sold in UK, I think the pieces of information in the websites are written by native speakers. An explanation to the fact that the word doesn't exist in IT-EN dictionaries could be that it is a quite new word, perhaps we'll find it soon. What do you think?
    Click to expand...

    Le aziende serie fanno fare traduzioni in una lingua solo a traduttori che sono madrelingua, le aziende meno serie no.
    Citare come fonte un testo in inglese scritto da italiani è spesso inutile vista la scarsa qualità media di tali traduzioni.
     
    Hello,
    I researched this issue a little while ago for a traslation, mainly using American websites, glossaries and tutorials.
    If this can help, I kept finding "metallic automotive paints" and "mica automotive paints".

    Metallic automotive paints use powdered metal flakes (usually fine particles of aluminum) mixed directly into the solid color to enhance it. The final effect is a glittery paint which shines and sparkles, but the color looks the same from all angles.


    Mica automotive paints should consist of "tri-coats", often called "pearls." These finishes have three separate layers, consisting of a solid color coat, a pearl coat (transparent paint with fine mica flakes) and a clear finishing coat. (The "cheap" mica automotive paint however mixes the mica flakes directly into the solid color.) The final effect consists in the vehicle taking on different shades of color if seen from different angles, it becomes iridescent.

    Don't remember all the websites I used but I have them somewhere in my "bibliography" if you need them.
    :)
     
    Hi london calling
    Yes, very similar, your link could very probably be among the ones I used at the time... Goodness knows how I surfed the web!
    But I kept finding the "pearl" term mainly referred to the final effect, rather than the type of paint.
    Probably one of the many differences between American and British English?
    I'm definitely not a semantic expert on the subject :)
     
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