Friday, November 13, 2009

Friday's False Friend

proper v. proprio

In English, proper most often means, "characterized by appropriateness," while the similar-looking word proprio from Italian actually primarily means "own" as in "your own." Use adatto or appropriato or corretto when translating from English in this case.

Eng) I never know the proper thing to say on special occasions.

It) Non so mai la cosa adatta/corretta da dire nei momenti speciali.

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