molto meno bene

F

Franco49

Member
Brescia
Italian
Ciao a tutti.
La frase che vorrei sottoporvi è questa:
"Possiamo dire di conoscere abbastanza bene questo versante della valle. Molto meno bene invece conosciamo l'altro versante".
Nel contesto la "valle" non è una vera valle tra le montagne, ma piuttosto un avvallamento in un grafico (la carta dei nuclidi, per la precisione).
Il mio tentativo:
"We can say to know quite well this slope. Much worse is instead our knowledge of the other one".
Ho "aggirato" l'ostacolo perché non so come tradurre "molto meno bene".
Grazie, ciao
Franco
 
    • In questo caso, una traduzione letterale funziona abbastanza bene :
    "molto meno bene" = "much less well".

    "However, we know the other slope much less well."
     
    Franco49 said:
    "We can say to we know quite well this slope quite well
    Click to expand...

    Ciao!
    Questa frase a me suona un po' come un calco dall'italiano.
    Forse in un testo scientifico sarebbe meglio utilizzare espressioni come:

    - We are familiar with xxx, however...
    - While our knowledge of xxx is very accurate, ...

    Opinioni?
     
    Grazie anche a fitter.happier. In realtà, per brevità, avevo un po' semplificato la frase (scusate, sono nuovo). Quella completa è:
    "Possiamo dire di conoscere abbastanza bene la "valle di stabilità" e il "versante" corrispondente a nuclidi ricchi di protoni. Molto meno bene invece conosciamo l'altro versante, cioè quello corrispondente a nuclidi ricchi di neutroni."
    Il mio tentativo:
    "We can say we know the stability valley and the “slope” corresponding to proton rich nuclides quite well. However, we know the other slope, that is the one corresponding to neutron rich nuclides, much less well.
    La domanda è: anche se ci sono delle specificazioni che "allungano" la frase, il "quite well" e il "much less well" suonano meglio in fondo alla frase, oppure attaccati a "know"?
     
    In questo caso, una traduzione litterale intraducbile difficile da tradure in inglese. È necessario usar una traduziozne libera a catturare il senso corretto.

    Here's my try.

    We can say we know this slope well but the other not near as well. In this context the valley is not a true valley like one between mountains but a bottomland in a............I don't understand the last part.

    SN :)
     
    Ciao Scopa Nuova, the sentence to be translated ends up with "l'altro versante", the rest "In this context..." is out of quotes and was only an explanation. What you don't unrderstand is the word "grafico", I think, which in this context means "graph" or "chart".
    Bye!

    EDIT I deleted the word "behave" because I had not realised its exact meaning and that it could be taken as an offence. In addition, I realised that such words in this case do not add any value, so I have not replaced it by "attention, please" or the like.
     
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    Ruminante said:
    Ciao Scopa Nuova, behave, the sentence to be translated ends up with "l'altro versante", the rest "In this context..." is out of quotes and was only an explanation. What you don't unrderstand is the word "grafico", I think, which in this context means "graph" or "chart".
    Bye!
    Click to expand...

    I yield to your expertise but for sure "much less well" is very akward English and no educated native English speaking person would use that expression. This is where one needs to be mindful of expressions in another language.

    It's just like if I would say in Italian, "Sono ventuno anni" instead of "Ho ventuno anni" or "da una fischiatina" instead of "fa una fischiatina"

    SN :rolleyes:
     
    Ariciao SN,

    Thanks for your explanation (by the way "ventun anni" is more used than "ventuno ..") but there is a misunderstanding here: I am not badpate, the one who suggested "much less well". I have just answered your question in your previous post. My choice of the word "behave" must be the cause of the misunderstanding... you attributed it to the translation you suggested. I just meant that the translation should end at some point and not continue. You translated the explanation about context, too.

    Buon proseguimento

    Scopa Nuova said:
    I yield to your expertise but for sure "much less well" is very akward English and no educated native English speaking person would use that expression. This is where one needs to be mindful of expressions in another language.

    It's just like if I would say in Italian, "Sono ventuno anni" instead of "Ho ventun anni" or "da' una fischiatina" instead of "fa' una fischiatina*/"

    SN :rolleyes:
    Click to expand...

    OT */ You found that one ("Fa' una fischiatina") in an old song, isn't it?
     
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    Scopa Nuova said:
    ... for sure "much less well" is very akward English and no educated native English speaking person would use that expression.
    Click to expand...
    That's a rather sweeping statement, don't you think SN ;)?

    As an educated English speaker :) I would, and did, use that expression, and in the context I can see nothing wrong with it (although I do agree that CPA's "far less well" is rather more elegant).
     
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    baldpate said:
    That's a rather sweeping statement, don't you think SN ;)?

    As an educated English speaker :) I would, and did, use that expression, and in the context I can see nothing wrong with it (although a I do agree that CPA's "far less well" is rather more elegant).
    Click to expand...

    Ciao Baldpate,

    Yes it is a sweeping statement. Morre accurately I should have said I have not heard any well educated native English speaking person using that expression. The primary problem is a poor choice of words to discribe the thought.

    Here's my thinking on this usage.

    1. For less, the 3 levels of comparison are: little, less, least
    2. For much, they are much, more, most
    3. For well it's well, better, best
    4. In Italian, I think there are only two levels of comparison
    5. Since we are comparing two things, it seems to me that the structure of English compells us say,we know this one well but we know this one better.
    6. or if you want to convey very little knkowledge of one say ,"we know little of this one but less of the other one.
    7. I think the wrong words are being used to discribe the situation.
    SN :cool:
     
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