Comparative analysis

After the analysis of the two quotation’s versions taken into consideration, the intelligent reader can make a comparison between them, underlining the main differences to find out how the different languages make meaning. This must be done, not to create confusion in who is going to read the comparison, following the order in which the differences are found into the text.

First of all the adverb “increasingly” isn’t included in the Italian translation. In the English version, its effect is to convey the idea of a continuous and unstoppable process. Since it’s not included in the Italian version, America’s nostalgia is connoted as a phase, which won’t last long.

One of the main differences is that America is translated as Stati Uniti. It often occurs in the novel. However, in this case it is a reference to the way America re-builds its identity. It is important to notice that the United States rebuilt their identity as America, not as United States: the United States thinks they’re America, while they’re not. The Italian version does not convey this shade of meaning and is more specific. The intelligent reader can so understand that the individualism characterizing the American culture isn’t a characteristic of the Italian one.

The expression a foreigner, present in the English version, implies that Changez feels out of place and emphasizes his sense of belonging to another culture. On the other hand, in the translation, the expression da straniero highlights Changez’s external point of view but doesn’t exclude him from America.

The verb longed implies desire for something one never had, while the Italian verb rimpiangevano implies that America’s desire is drawn to something linked to its past. As a result, the Italian translation emphasizes America’s nostalgia in a better way.

In the last part of the quotation (I did not know – non so) the English version uses the simple past, which implies that Changez didn’t know the answer back then, but he does in the present. The Italian version, however, uses the present tense. Its effect is to extend Changez’s sense of feeling out of place to the present. As regard verb tenses, however, the Italian translation is not much different form the original version: it uses mainly the past tense, highlighting the distance both between the speaking voice and the considerations expressed in the quotation (maybe conveying a contradiction), and between the American perspective and the narrator’s one.

Finally, in the original version he adjective treacherous is used by Changez to connote himself. It conveys the reader an idea of danger: it suggests that Changez is aware that American people may see him as a terrorist. On the other hand, the noun tradimento used in the Italian translation conveys the idea that Changez is making a mistake, and that he feels sorry for not being trustworthy.

The overall effect is that, in the Italian version, Changez seems to be closer to America than in the English version. This feeling nearer to the American point of view is conveyed by the use of the present tense connecting the protagonist to what he is meditating on. Indeed, the English version creates an atmosphere of danger and tension that is dilute in the translation.