13 Conversations about what, again?

January 2, 2004 1:30 PM

A friend and I recently saw 13 Conversations About the Same Thing and had great fun trying to figure out what the italian phrases that split the scenes meant with her spanish and my latin. It would be nice to know what they actually meant though - anyone know?
posted by Mossy to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

I don't remember the film well enough (though I liked it), but a trick I find useful, if you're watching DVD, is to turn on the english subtitles when something is being said that you can't make out or need clarification on. Often, foreign-language phrases will be translated. It's also useful for films where an actor mumbles or complicated narration exists. For instance, when I watch The Thin Red Line, I turn them on for the whole movie to better connect the voices overs (it tells you who is talking).
posted by dobbs at 2:19 PM on January 2, 2004

Response by poster: Mmm, it's actually little signs so it doesn't quite work here ^_^ DVD not out yet either.

Hmm.. Phrases like the following:

Tredici Variazoni Sul Tema
Mostrami un uomo felice
Sembri cosi serio
Beata ignoranza
Conovesco un uomo felice. La sua felicite. Fu la sua maledizione.
Fortutissimo senso de culpa
Chedeti se sei felicite
Non posso piu tornare indeitro
La mente ey un luogo a se
Sono pronto ad arrendermi

Um. Dunno if there were others. Pardon bad transcription.
posted by Mossy at 3:35 PM on January 2, 2004

Thirteen variations on one topic (theme)
Show me a happy man
You look so glum
/this is a proverb, literally it means/ Lucky ignorance
I know a happy man. His happiness was his ruin.
Fucking guilt.
Ask yourself, Am I happy?
I can't go back anymore
The mind is a lonely place
I am ready to surrender
posted by matteo at 3:42 PM on January 2, 2004

/this is a proverb, literally it means/ Lucky ignorance

Maybe slightly closer would be "Ignorance is bliss"...?
posted by romakimmy at 3:53 PM on January 2, 2004

yes, but it's all about the "beata" thing, the nuance is all there and it's so difficult to translate.
'ignorance is bliss' works of course in English, it's hard to find a good effective translation for "beata" (the religious overtone is there, so 'bliss' sounds very good in that sense') but semantically it's more about the "beato te che non sai questa cosa", ie "you're lucky to ignore this". so yes, 'bliss' works, but it's interesting to see how proverbs have sligthly different nuances even when there's an equivalent in another language. I'm sure languagehat could give us a good explanation here -- l-hat please hope me!

and anyway you have a really good grasp of Italian, romakimmy: beata te!
;)
posted by matteo at 4:20 PM on January 2, 2004

and anyway, buon anno kimmy. auguri di tanta felicità

posted by matteo at 4:23 PM on January 2, 2004

Blessed bliss?

matteo - buon anno!
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:55 AM on January 3, 2004

Response by poster: Fab, looks like we weren't that far off. Except for that guilt one. But it's noted for future expletion ^_^

Thanks matteo - happy january 3rd to you and the linguist. And dobbs and roma too.
posted by Mossy at 11:46 AM on January 3, 2004

felice 2004 a te, cunninglinguist

buon anno everybody
posted by matteo at 9:06 AM on January 4, 2004