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Valutazione di Incidenza Ambientale

Glossary entry

Italian term or phrase:

Ai miei occhi di bambino

English translation:

To my child's eyes

Added to glossary by Mariateresa Varbaro
Feb 3, 2009 17:30
15 yrs ago
Italian term

Ai miei occhi di bambino

Italian to English Art/Literary Journalism
Ai miei occhi di bambino, il quartiere di XXX, devastato dalla...
Proposed translations (English)
4 +8 To my child's eyes
5 +1 In my eyes of a child
5 Through my child's eyes
3 +1 To my eyes as a child
4 -1 Seen through the eyes of a child that I was at the time, the XXXth ...etc
3 The way I saw it as I child...
2 to my childlish eyes.....

Discussion

bonafide1313 Feb 4, 2009:
yes, I agree by all means, tears and feelings are the very point of you examples too, but the context is, as you put it, slightly different - the feelings are not generated, conditioned by "a child's eye" as is the case in "ai miei occhi di bambino". Of course, this is how I read these phrases, not being native in either, Italian or English.
Rachel Fell Feb 4, 2009:
the refs. @ bonafide1313 - thanks for the comment, though for me in the last ref., the tears/feeling are important too, as the work affected the reader at different ages, though the usage is a bit different from the Asker's context
Mariateresa Varbaro (asker) Feb 4, 2009:
Mi fa piacere che la discussione si sia allargata a così tanti partecipanti ma mi chiedevo perchè è sparito anche il contesto, o periodo, che io avevo fornito quasi subito. Grazie, comunque, tutto questo è stato molto istruttivo.
bonafide1313 Feb 4, 2009:
@ Rachel Fell my apologies, Rachel, it was not only stupid of me but also incorrect to you to try to squeeze my thoughts in 255 or so characters + clumsy abbreviations and interpunctions without spaces. I wanted to say that, the way I read it, "to my eyes as a child" lacks, what shall I call it, the symbolism contained in e.g. the phrase " to my child's eye". This is particularly the case in the last two examples you quote. "It brought tears to my eyes as a child, teenager and adult" - the point is here on the tears in the eyes, and not on "the eyes of a child". However, I marked your proposal neutral, and it's fine with me, only it does not bring me in the real sentiment of "ai miei occhi di bambino". Uf, Rachel, I've taken your time - I'm a master of making a short story long:).
Giles Watson Feb 3, 2009:
Sarebbe interessante vedere tutto il periodo. Si può? GIA!
Mariateresa Varbaro (asker) Feb 3, 2009:
contesto E' il racconto di un'esperienza fatta a otto anni, e questo narratore ora ha 36 anni. Tutto qui! Grazie! :-)

Proposed translations

+8
17 mins
Selected

To my child's eyes

This is the standard phrase. Here's an example from wartime reminiscences on the BBC website:
>
Suddenly a giant machine came into view, eerily lit by the street gaslights. It was HUGE. To my child's eyes it looked as high as a house. I was looking at a tank close up for the very first time in my life.
>
Obviously, you have to be careful how you phrase the sentence if there is any possibility that "my child's" might be construed as referring to the speaker's offspring!

Giles
Reference:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/91/a4030291.shtml

Peer comment(s):
agree SYLVY75 : agree with Giles, also on the explanation. :)
41 mins
agree eccotraduttrice : perfect
43 mins
agree Oliver Lawrence : I think it's very unlikely that this would be read as "to the eyes of my child" in context
1 hr
agree Mary Carroll Richer LaFlèche
1 hr
agree Umberto Cassano
3 hrs
disagree Michael Korovkin : outrageously ambiguous! Don't you notice a perfectly misleading reading "through the eyes of my child"?!!!
5 hrs
Hi Michael. Perhaps you appended this comment to the wrong answer!
agree Lirka : in my child eyes
20 hrs
disagree Mirra_ : sorry but I agree with Korovkin: 'through' or 'to' it does not change anything: this expression is too ambiguous!
20 hrs
The expression is idiomatic and, in the context, not at all ambiguous to a native speaker like Oliver ;-)
agree Grace Anderson
22 hrs
agree luskie : hi Giles, if it's idiomatic and context rules out other children it will work, I guess. but, just out of curiosity, how about the instance in which the narrator actually has a child? and how "to my child eyes" would sound to you EN natives? TA!
1 day 30 mins
Using "child" attributively as in "my child eyes" is awkward and makes it sound as if the speaker has two pairs of eyes! "My childish eyes" is possible but adds an overtone of "infantile/puerile" which is absent in the Italian.
agree bonafide1313 : I think we should not dispute English idioms but try to learn them; "it's raining cats and dogs" is slightly ambiguous, too, but if there's any chance of a cat being brough down from a roof by rain we shall take care not to use it:)
1 day 1 hr
agree Rossella Mainardis
1 day 6 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you! And thanks everybody. This was awesome!"
5 mins

to my childlish eyes.....

a suggestion
Peer comment(s):
neutral Dr Lofthouse : Naive?
9 mins
good idea:)
Something went wrong...
+1
1 hr

In my eyes of a child

HTH
Peer comment(s):
agree bonafide1313
1 day 38 mins
¡Gracias, bonafide1313!
Something went wrong...
+1
5 hrs

To my eyes as a child

Emergency really hit home with me when I was a kid because my Dad is a fireman/paramedic.........(No longer are there separate ambulances that come to transport the patient to the hospital.) The scenery/costuming, etc. is also neat to me because it is so 70's. The special effects are cheesy because, again as an adult, I can tell it's not real, but to my eyes as a child, it was as real as could be.

http://www.filmbug.com/asin/B000LC4C60

January 06, 2001: Where do I even start? The Velveteen Rabbit brought tears to my eyes as a child, and still does today when I read it. It's known as a Christmas book, but when you read it, it encompasses the beauty and tribulations of everyday life.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Velveteen-Rabbit/Marger...

Red pony, by John Steinbeck
This book is a classic that brought tears to my eyes as a child, teenager and adult. The story centers on a young and isolated farm boy who seeks refuge from life in his devotion to a newborn red colt

http://library.uhh.hawaii.edu/research_tools/guides/good_boo...
Note from asker:
Questa è anche la mia versione ma è interessante seguire la discussione. :-)
Peer comment(s):
agree Mirra_ : sì se ti dovessi dire era la prima cosa che avevo pensato ma chissà perché non mi convinceva. Invece, leggendolo nella tua risposta -nero su bianco- mi sa è proprio la scelta migliore :)
1 hr
Thank you Mirra_ :-)
neutral bonafide1313 : I read it:"brought tears to my eyes-as a child,as a teenager and as an adult; eyes smhw. don't relate to the child (in me);RPLY: I sure appreciate it, and any discussion I enter into is aimed at me learning smth from a NES
21 hrs
I don't quite get what you mean. Isn't the author speaking of him/herself at the age of 8? I'd phrase it thus, as a UK NES.
Something went wrong...
-1
6 hrs

Seen through the eyes of a child that I was at the time, the XXXth ...etc

I think this more descriptive version is, oddly, the least awkward of all other alternatives.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Mirra_ : ahahahha!unbelievable!I did not read your note yet but "it sound pretty awkward" was exactly what I wanted to say about your proposal!!! :)) R: more than smiling & saying "yes,thanks"?What else?R2:"poor one I ignored he had progeria" better?R3:Rachelknows
19 mins
I know, it's awkward too and somehow reminds one of a police report, but "my eyes of a child" and the rest of it sound like "look, this is Einsten's scull when he was 14". What to do? I mean – about translating it better,not about intercollegial etiquette
disagree Giles Watson : Hi Michael. This is a gloss, not a translation, and you would need a definite article with "child" anyway since you have qualified it with a relative clause.
7 hrs
Something went wrong...
17 mins

Through my child's eyes

http://www.google.it/search?num=30&hl=it&safe=off&q="Through...

:)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 hrs (2009-02-03 23:48:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

accordingly to the very motivated Korovkin's disagree (sorry of having not realized it before and by myself) I change my proposal in

°°°Through my childish eyes***


less hits but they *really* fit the original text... :)
like
Everything seemed so bright through my childish eyes. In my days of wonder, I was happy to swallow my favourite lies, favourite lies

http://www.google.it/search?num=30&hl=it&lr=&safe=off&sa=X&o...
Peer comment(s):
agree Sele
2 hrs
grazie molte Sele! :))
disagree Michael Korovkin : Don't you notice a perfectly misleading reading "through the eyes of my child"?!!!
5 hrs
you are perfectly right, thanks
Something went wrong...
20 hrs

The way I saw it as I child...

perhaps formulate it like this to avoid all ambiguities...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 hrs (2009-02-04 13:49:35 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

sorry: as A child!!
Something went wrong...
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