i.) Due to the fact that this text combines formal Italian, Pescara dialect, colloquial Italian, and youth slang, we must first try to convert it all to formal Italian. I’d need to research the dialect and slang in order to decipher it to the nearest meaning in formal Italian. Before even translating it to English, the conversion from slang to formal Italian is the initial step. Knowing a bit about the author’s background and what she’s writing about could also help when trying to determine the exact meaning of her literature choices.
ii.) Early Friday morning, without closing my eyes all night because of the excitement of the new venture, he showed up to the boss in work clothes: long hair let down, corduroy pants, and a t-shirt saying, “Free Marijuana, Craxi in jail! This will be our Spring!”
“I don’t see you at all, boy,” addressed the boss, staring at the concerning bruises that circled his eyes: “What’s going on with you, haven’t you slept?”
“Don’t worry, man. I’m charged up to a thousand,” lies Lu Purk. “I can’t wait to get started, let’s go,” he said.
“Pass me the first bucket…over there.” He made a vague gesture towards the top of the scaffolding; one of the young builders saw him from the rooftop, happily greeted him with a wave of his arm.
“I’m coming now, man! I’m coming to give you a hand,” he uttered anxiously.
“You’re kidding me, kid?” said the boss, with a thread of uneasiness in his voice. “We were in agreement that you would take care of the buckets. It’s not a place for you up there. It’s dangerous,” he seriously reprimanded. “You will look after the kneading machine and give a hand to the cripple for the buckets, and that’s all.”
“As you wish, boss,” said Lu Purk with open arms. “Just chill out. I’ll keep watch over the fucking kneading machine should the world fall into it.”
“Sure,” the boss complied. “If you want to raise some money and not make me regret having listened to you, give me the holy pleasure of obeying orders, okay?”
“Yes,” said Antò Lu Purk. “I wouldn’t want to give you headaches for anything in the world,” he added.
iii.) Within this translation, I added a few English synonyms or common phrases in order to maintain and enlarge the meaning of the Italian original. For example, the author says “assentì” in two cases. The first was when the boss admonishes Lu Purk for being on the roof. I couldn’t find a direct English translation, but in this sentence, I decided to put “reprimanded” because it explains the seriousness of the warning the boss intended upon Lu Purk. In the second instance, the boss responds to Lu Purk saying, “Certo,” in a way that seemed passive, as if he had no choice but to agree. Without trying to add too much additional wording, I inserted “complied,” because it gave the sense of a forced agreement between the two parties. Phrases, such as, “Tranquillo, cumpà,” and “Non vi scaldate,” I translated into more common English sayings. Instead of “cumpà” as “friend,” I inserted “man,” and instead of “Don’t heat up,” I inserted “Just chill out.” In English these phrases are more socially acceptable and understandable when it comes to laid-back lingo between people who are accustomed to one other. Directly translating these quotes would appear as very awkward and wouldn’t sound correct in English at all. Knowing that the author used youth slang within the text, I decided that these replacements would be acceptable to use as a substitute. For the dialect expression, “ssa su per in là,” I went along with “over there” because of the footnote stated from the author. Signora Ballestra said that the meaning of it can translate to “là, more or less.” Without knowledge of the dialect or being of the Pescara culture, it’s difficult to entirely understand the context of what the dialogue was meant to instill.