A mistake in my english translation of an italian song?
Hello!
I'm not sure how is correct to translate these lines (they're from a song)
"Non parli mai perché
se c'è un motivo dai prova a dirmelo
non chiuderti così!
Non parli mai perché
un po' ti invidio sai"
I translated it as:
You never speak, why?
If there is a reason, come on, try to tell me
Do not withdraw into yourself like that!
You never speak, why?
I envy you a little bit, you know
But then someone corrected me, saying that in this context "perché-is not interogation "why"..its translated as "because..." ..that the person who talks to the other awaits to complete the sentence,its like when someone makes you a question but already knows the answer"
(http://lyricstranslate.com/en/non-parli-mai-you-never-speak.html-0)
So, is it right "why" or "because..."? Probably it is necessary to listen the song to understand the context..or not?
Per ché can also mean "because" in a sense, and as the person who corrected you said, it would be a continuation. So,
You never speak because...
If there is a reason, come on, try to tell me
Do not withdraw into yourself like that!
You never speak because...
I envy you a little bit, you know
I think the person who corrected you might be right. But it really could go either way.
Yes, now I believe 100% that the person who corrected me was right! (I had some doubts only because I found some other translations of this song, all with same mistake, as now I can be sure)
Thanks to everyone for helping!
It depends on which way the accent goes, just for your reference. I make this problem all the time in class. If the accent goes like é it means because if it goes è it means why. I'm pretty sure, though I'm not positive, it could go the other way.
I don't think it's about the accent. My Italian teacher (she is from Italy) speaks the word the same way in both situation. The only difference is the entonation.
I agree with the one who corrected you.
I'm Italian, and when I read this lines, I think to a non-interrogative form.
You have to think at this sentence like if it was followed by suspension points. In my opinion, you have to use the "because" instead of "why".
But you can wait for other people's opinion too.