Andrea Montanari – Translator

I am a translator specialised in the romance genre and, in the past three years, I have translated from English to Italian 15 novels by best-selling American authors. I also work as editor and proofreader of the novels’ Italian versions. I think of myself as a linguistic tailor: as a translator, I do my best to sew on meaning a dress very different from the one already on but equally well-fitting and shapely in its own way; as a proofreader, I mend and add finishing touches to clothes that, hopefully, are already beautiful.

While I am open to approach new genres, I enjoy having to do with stories that revolve around feelings and emotions, and I relish in finding the best way to convey nuanced psychological states. I fancy with the idea of enhancing the literary dignity of genres that some consider just entertainment—while keeping them entertaining, of course!

When translating, I am usually quite fast, for what I feel as the right rendering of a sentence emerges naturally in my mind, as if in a flow; yet, I can spend long time even on a single word, if I am not fully satisfied with the final product. Also, I am engrossed in the stories I work with and this typically reflects in the nature of comments and suggestions I leave for my colleagues and/or the author: while I am independent and autonomous, I place great value on communication and team work, always sharing the rationale behind linguistic choices that might be debatable. I never missed a deadline and I just feel bad if I am even slightly behind schedule. For me, the commitment to punctuality is not just about delivering on time; it is also about making sure that each subsequent step of the publishing process can go smoothly.

I have a little fascination for language and languages, and I love to delve in etymologies and grammatical intricacies. In fact, I have been cultivating this fascination over the years by reading avidly, teaching my native tongue, learning new ones, and, of course, translating. I believe that all this endowed me with what I dare to call good linguistic taste.