Glossary entry

Italian term or phrase:

La terra del buon trapianto

English translation:

A good place to put down roots

Added to glossary by philgoddard
Nov 21, 2014 13:22
9 yrs ago
Italian term

La terra del buon trapianto

Italian to English Art/Literary Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. Social history
I am struggling to come up with a suitable translation for the phrase above which is the title of the foreword to a book on the experiences of Friulian immigrants in Canada during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A literal translation just won't work.

Context

In the foreword, the writer praises the Canadian administration for turning its back on the "forced assimilation" immigration policies favoured by America, which he refers to as the "melting pot" approach, and for embracing a multiculturalist approach. He then goes on to describe the experiences of those who left Friuli to settle in Canada - (the main focus of the book itself) - the initial difficulties they encountered and their subsequent success in making a better life for themselves. He ends by celebrating the contribution made by Friulians to the economic and social development of Canada and ends the piece suggesting the experiences described in the book offer a key to resolving one of the problems caused by globalisation, namely how to open oneself up to the 'other' whilst still remaining true to one's own cultural identity..... So far I have come up with: A Land Fit for Migrants/ The Land where Dreams are Made - neither of which I like.

If anyone out there can suggest a more suitable alternative, I'd be very grateful!
Change log

Dec 1, 2014 14:59: philgoddard Created KOG entry

Discussion

manducci (asker) Nov 23, 2014:
Hi! Re:'fertile' good idea, could work. Thanks.
Barbara Carrara Nov 22, 2014:
Hi! If you are considering keeping the horticultural theme, as suggested in some of the answers, how about introducing terms like 'fertile' or 'grafting' (for the latter, pls check, http://tinyurl.com/o7mtmeg , col. 2, last 3 lines)? HTH

Proposed translations

1 hr
Selected

putting down roots

I think this retains the image nicely.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2014-11-21 15:55:29 GMT)
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Or "a good place to put down roots".
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks, Phil. The publisher wanted to retain 'land' in the title and in the end I went for "new roots in a new land" "Putting down toots in a new land" would have been too long. Thanks for your input. Thanks too to all the other answerers for their suggestions. "
13 mins

the welcoming land

A modest proposal
Note from asker:
Thank you for your suggestion but in this case, the migrants did not receive a particularly welcoming reception initially.
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25 mins

A land of new beginning. A land for a new start. A new fruitful land.

Trapianto is literally Transplant. In the case of an organ doctors swap for a new one. In this case the migrant swaps land looking for better opportunities. A new land as a fresh start.
Example sentence:

New land for a new start.

Note from asker:
Thanks for your suggestion, it helped inspire my final choice - pity I can't award points to all!
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25 mins

Sowing the seeds of integration

If you want to keep the farming imagery. Or possibly 'sowing the seeds of a new identity' or some such variant.
BA-3051 Cowdensville African American Survey District ...
msa.maryland.gov/.../msa/.../msa_se5_39080.pdfTraduci questa pagina
Atlas of Baltimore County, Maryland. Philadelphia, PA: G. M. Hopkins, 1877. Baltimore County Historic Inventory. Bowler, Mike. Sowing the seeds of integration.
Note from asker:
Thanks for your suggestion. As a title I preferred it but in this case, as I explained in the context section of my question, the author's foreword was praising Canada for abandonning integration policies and adopting multiculturalism, so it wasn't appropriate.
Note: Integration/assimilation policies - which are in effect the same thing, as opposed to multicultural policies which eschew efforts to integrate migrants into the host culture.
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5 hrs

A land of diversity

My try.

or use something like "identity in diversity"

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Note added at 9 hrs (2014-11-21 23:22:18 GMT)
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or land of thriving diversity
Note from asker:
Thank you for your suggestion.
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21 hrs

The land where migrants feel at home

A suggestion for you.
Note from asker:
Thank you for your suggestion but the migrants in question did not feel at home initially and suffered considerable hardship and discrimination.
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9 days

The perfect relocation / A land of perfect relocation

I think this phrase is too simple to require anything too fancy to replace the existing idea. i.e. all ideas are quite clear in the phrase and brining in extra emphasis on ideas such as horticulture or greetings for new immigrants is not necessary, and risks distorting the writer's intention.

There are two ideas here: the place & the transplant, which is qualified with a positive.

Therefore, I provide

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Note added at 9 days (2014-11-30 22:44:05 GMT)
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TYPO:

"brining" should read "bringing"

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Note added at 9 days (2014-11-30 22:44:58 GMT)
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Therefore, I provide the a synonym for the literal translation of "transplant", which would sound really odd in English in this context.
Note from asker:
Thanks for your suggestion.
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