out-teach: OUT + verbo

[La Marchesa]

Qualcuno può aiutarmi a trovare una traduzione adatta per la seguente frase? :
" The nation that out-teach today, will out-compete tomorrow."
La frase in questione è tratta da un discorso pronunciato da Obama, in cui elenca gli obiettivi che vuole perseguire durante il suo mandato presidenziale, tra cui quello di migliorare l'istruzione americana.
Grazie a tutti

 

[k_georgiadis]

The addition of out- to a verb gives the significance of surpassing, excelling, of doing better than somebody else. To out-teach = to do better than others in education, to out-compete = to do better than other countries - the competition - (implied: in technology, business and industry). I think that choosing an equivalent for the verbs in bold should do the trick.

 

[La Marchesa]

What do you think if I use a circumlocution for "out-teach"? I would like to translate in this way: " la nazione che ha il miglior sistema d'istruzione oggi, eccellerà domani."
Anyway thanks for your exhaustive explanation.

 

[k_georgiadis]

What do you think if I use a circumlocution for "out-teach"? I would like to translate in this way: " la nazione che ha il miglior sistema d'istruzione oggi, eccellerà domani."
Anyway thanks for your exhaustive explanation.

I think that your proposed solution reflects precisely Obama's core message, albeit in different words.

 

[La Marchesa]

Thank you, see you to the next thread.

 

[marcolettici]

But why not come closer to his style of phrasing rather than a complete paraphrase...

Could something along the lines of this also work, or is this wording completely wrong/foreign-sounding in Italian? :

La nazione che meglio insegna oggi, sará la nazione che meglio competerà domani.

Thanks.

 

[La Marchesa]

Hi Marcolettici, your proposition works it isn't wrong. As you said it is another way to translate it, more close to the english version.

 

[elfa]

Hi everyone,

Shouldn't it be "The nation that out-teaches today"? Not sure about the grammar of La Marchesa's original sentence...

 

[k_georgiadis]

Hi everyone,

Shouldn't it be "The nation that out-teaches today"? Not sure about the grammar of La Marchesa's original sentence...

I agree with you elfa; I wasn't paying attention. Unless the original sentence was the nations that out-teach...

 

[elfa]

Unless the original sentence was the nations that out-teach...

That would definitely make more sense

 

[Odysseus54]

But why not come closer to his style of phrasing rather than a complete paraphrase...

Could something along the lines of this also work, or is this wording completely wrong/foreign-sounding in Italian? :

La nazione che meglio insegna oggi, sará la nazione che meglio competerà domani.

Thanks.

To my ears, it sounds a bit awkward - in italiano una nazione non "insegna", eventualmente "ha un sistema educativo".

Oppure "che meglio educa", "che meglio istruisce", ma l'uso assoluto, senza un oggetto ( es "i propri giovani" ecc ) , sarebbe anche quello poco naturale.

 

[marcolettici]

"Che meglio educa" is what I believe Obama meant. Thanks for the clarification. Even in English the same criticisms could be made, by the way. Nations don't "teach" in English either. Obama's oratory takes certain liberties, poetic license, if you will, to make a more forceful, succinct point.