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duro e dolce

English translation: a pleasantly crisp, crunchy sound

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Italian term or phrase:(uno scricchiolio) duro e dolce
English translation:a pleasantly crisp, crunchy sound
Entered by: Russell Jones

17:40 Mar 10, 2011
Italian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
Italian term or phrase: duro e dolce
Si avviano giù per il nevaio e le griffe fanno uno scricchiolio duro e dolce.

I'm struggling to find plausible terms that don't sound like exact opposites - hard and soft!
Russell Jones
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:13
a pleasantly crisp, crunchy sound
Explanation:
That's how I read it - 'dolce' in the sense not of soft and soothing but pleasant and agreeable to the ear. A 'scricchiolio' of footfalls is a fairly light, scrunchy sort of sound anyway. HTH.
Selected response from:

Oliver Lawrence
Italy
Local time: 07:13
Grading comment
I do like Lara's answer too but am not brave enough to stretch that far without furthere evidence or support. Thanks to all.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +4scrunch and swish /scrunching and swishing
Ernestine Shargool
4crackling and gentle
Sara Maghini
4a pleasantly crisp, crunchy sound
Oliver Lawrence
4Dense but yielding
Lara Barnett
3firm and crisp
Being Earnest


  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
crackling and gentle


Explanation:
an idea!

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Note added at 5 mins (2011-03-10 17:45:20 GMT)
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Or even VELVETY for dolce...

Sara Maghini
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:13
Works in field
Native speaker of: Italian
PRO pts in category: 15
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
uno scricchiolio duro e dolce
a pleasantly crisp, crunchy sound


Explanation:
That's how I read it - 'dolce' in the sense not of soft and soothing but pleasant and agreeable to the ear. A 'scricchiolio' of footfalls is a fairly light, scrunchy sort of sound anyway. HTH.

Oliver Lawrence
Italy
Local time: 07:13
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 158
Grading comment
I do like Lara's answer too but am not brave enough to stretch that far without furthere evidence or support. Thanks to all.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

44 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
scrunch and swish /scrunching and swishing


Explanation:
I.e. change the sentence and use verbs instead of adjectives.

Ernestine Shargool
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:13
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 11

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Daniela Zambrini
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Daniela :-)
agree  Sarah Jane Webb: brava bimba!
2 hrs
  -> :-x)
agree  philgoddard: Very imaginative.
3 hrs
  -> Thank you, Phil.
agree  Yvonne Gallagher
6 hrs
  -> Thank you, gallagy2.
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52 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
firm and crisp


Explanation:
When I go ski-ing this is what I would say. The snow is quite firm and crisp

Being Earnest
Italy
Local time: 07:13
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Dense but yielding


Explanation:
I have used "but" to emphasise the contrast, but this might work with "and", ie. "dense and yielding" - I prefer "but" as I think the contrast for some reason is is not so strong using the "and" literal translation.

I use dense in the sense of:
"dense"
–adjective
1. having the component parts closely compacted together; crowded or compact: a dense forest; dense population."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dense
...because it is this quality that is one reason why the snow is "duro".

And yielding in the sense of:
"yield·ing   
–adjective
1. ....
2. tending to give way, especially under pressure; flexible; supple; pliable: a yielding mattress."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/yielding
...because this is what happens when we walk in soft snow.

Lara Barnett
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:13
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 36
1 corroborated select project
in this pair and field What is ProZ.com Project History(SM)?
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