Mar 30, 2014 18:01
10 yrs ago
Italian term

mettersi nella luce

Italian to English Art/Literary Religion
The text, a book on ethics and business, examines Gospel passages and draws out implications for entrepreneurship. The passage in question has examined Christ's words: "You are the light, you are the salt of the earth" and states that entrepreneurs need to "highlight" or "showcase" the work they're doing, if it's good work, in order to get others to emulate that work, thus generating more good in business. The authors state:

"Permane ancora la sfida del sapersi metter in luce, ma con equilibrio; talvolta il basso profilo può essere più utile ma solo per non attirare invidie o per non crearsi nemici...Resta il dato di fatto: per riuscire e per motivare bisogna essere nella luce!

My attempt:
"The challenge remains to know how to ***put oneself in the light***, but with moderation; sometimes keeping a low profile is more useful, but only to avoid arousing envy or creating enemies ... The fact remains: to succeed and to motivate you need to be in the light!"

I'm going to change "put oneself in the light", but to what?
"to highlight oneself"?
"to show oneself off"?
something that maintains the "light" imagery?
"to stand in the limelight"?

Thanks!

Peter

Proposed translations

+3
5 hrs
Selected

to get into the spotlight, to get into the limelight

L'italiano gioca sull'analogia tra i modi di dire "mettersi *in* luce" (semplicemente to stand out) e "mettersi *nella* luce" (to be in the light, Christ's words). Dovendo trovare qualcosa per "to stand out" che richiami la parola light per mantenere anche in inglese il gioco di parole e il ragionamento, ti suggerirei di usare spotlight/limelight.
Peer comment(s):

agree martini : the imagery of light is crucial to the message
7 hrs
agree luskie : esatto
14 hrs
agree manducci : put yourself in the spotlight/limelight
16 hrs
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3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks. I went with manducci's moderation of your suggestion. Thanks to both, and to all. "
8 mins

you need to be a light to others

It's difficult to put this in natural sounding English I agree. What about this?

Psalm 18:25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the - Online ...
www.biblestudytools.com/.../18-25-compare.html‎Traduci questa pagina
With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; With the perfect man thou wilt .... under discouragements, take courage; God himself will be a Light to them.
Light Scriptures - The Way to Righteousness
www.hallvworthington.com/Scripture.../light.html‎Traduci questa pagina
The life of God in measure to control men was lost for all men when Adam ..... And are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are ..
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+1
10 mins

stand out

in order to be an example to others-you have to know when to stand out/step back: that is what it seems to say
Peer comment(s):

agree philgoddard
5 hrs
Thank you
Something went wrong...
1 hr

distinguish oneself / stand out

Mettersi in luce in senso figurato equivale a distinguersi, brillare, quindi i termini andrebbero bene entrambi anche se credo che stand out sia migliore.
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+1
1 hr

present oneself to one's best advantage

or "put oneself in the best light" or "favourable light"
Peer comment(s):

agree luskie : I agree with your "enlightened" options :) in fact, has Halifax has correctly explained, there is another light at the end of the paragraph
18 hrs
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12 hrs

gain visibility / make yourselves seen

...
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19 hrs

Catch (people's) eye / Catch the eye of... / Be eye catching

I don't think identical imagery in translating this sort of idiom every works. You usually need to turn the idea around somehow and you will find something similar in the target language. This idiom "caught my eye" because it is related to putting something under a light.

"catch someone's eye and get someone's eye
...
2. Fig. to appear and attract someone's interest. A small red car passing by caught my eye. One of the books on the top shelf caught my eye, and I took it down to look at it."
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/catch eye

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Note added at 19 hrs (2014-03-31 13:07:52 GMT)
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Sorry, Example texts failed, here they are:

"Here are FIVE WAYS TO CATCH THE EYE OF YOUR AUDIENCE, whether you're writing blog posts, press releases or doing a Public Service Announcement campaign."
http://marketing.about.com/od/public_relations_tutorials/a/h...

"You need to be eye catching and different..... Be different in your marketing and catch people's eye."
http://mumsinfranchise.com/need-big-spend-get-anywhere-marke...
Example sentence:

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