This site uses cookies.
Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site,
while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
This person has a SecurePRO™ card. Because this person is not a ProZ.com Plus subscriber, to view his or her SecurePRO™ card you must be a ProZ.com Business member or Plus subscriber.
Affiliations
This person is not affiliated with any business or Blue Board record at ProZ.com.
Services
Translation, Interpreting, Editing/proofreading, MT post-editing, Transcription, Training
Source text - Italian Con quel volto stropicciato, con occhi malinconici che guardano , con capelli disordinatamente radi e in fuga, Bill Murray, 53 anni, attore-scrittore-comedian, nato in una famiglia della middle class operaia nell'Illinois in una cittadina rurale non lontana da Chicago, non sembra proprio una brillante e popolarissima icona della cultura pop cinematografica e televisiva americana.
Però, se lo osservi nei gesti misurati e nelle pieghe del volto segnato da una arrabbiata acne giovanile, lo rivedi subito nel dei tempi eroici, nelle strips del , sin da quando era il compagno di stanza di Dustin Hoffman in e ti strappava risate in ,
Translation - English With that wrinkled face, melancholy, far-reaching eyes and thin tattered hair, actor-writer-comedian Bill Murray - born 53 years ago to a lower middle-class family in a small town near Chicago - hardly looks like a brilliant and beloved icon of US movie and TV pop culture.
Yet, when you watch more closely his poised gestures and the lines of his face still marked by a nasty case of teenage bad skin, you’re instantly reminded of the comedian back in the golden years of Saturday Night Live and the National Lampoon strips, Dustin Hoffman’s roommate in Tootsie or his hilarious turns in films like “Ghostbusters”, “Scrooged” and “The Royal Tenenbaums”.
William James Murray – simply Bill to all - is a genuine pop icon and certainly one of today’s most wanted entertainment figures, loved in America by all the children and adults who have grown up watching his movies and shows. His “Charlie’s Angels” costar Drew Barrymore confesses: “I went after Bill anywhere to have him as Bosley in the first film”. Says director and screenwriter Sofia Coppola: “ I wrote “Lost In Translation” with Bill in mind. I could never have made it without him. No one else could have lent the role that unmistakable blend of humor and melancholy.” All producers woo him, but he turns down dozens of roles and flees.
You believe him when he says: “Acting must be like a breeze, like true love that makes your heart beat and that you don’t want to ruin with unnecessary words or gestures, because you want to remember it as it was when it entered your heart. I could never describe Buster Keaton’s sublime art, Bob Hope’s warmth, or my admiration of James Cagney. I could never explain why my woman spellbound me when I first met her…and why she still does every time I see her when I wake up to go to the set and she and the kids are often asleep. Passion is a breeze.”
He is a born comedian, you just have to remember him in Frank Oz’s “What About Bob” as he recites: “Roses are red, violets are blue, I am a schizophrenic and so are you.” The fact is, now Bill Murray is no longer “just” a comedian, he who remarks that “women have a much better sense of humor than men, who only try to be funny to impress women.”
Bill Murray has become more than a comedian thanks to “Lost In Translation” by Sofia Coppola, filmed entirely in Tokyo. Says Bill ironically: “Sofia has turned me in everybody’s eyes into a romantic heartthrob, a leading man who can make young and lonely girl like Scarlett Johansson’s character fall for him.”
In fact, he had already won over mothers, daughters and their friends by revealing his sensitive side in the tenderly heart-aching Rushmore, a film risen to cult status and directed by Bill’s best friend Wes Anderson, the sensitive author of “The Royal Tenenbaums”. Anderson is currently directing Murray again alongside Angelica Huston, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson and Jeff Goldblum in “The Life Aquatic”, which is being filmed until January around Rome in the deepest blue of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Cinecittà pool where Fellini shot “And The Ship Goes On”. Bill plays the role of an oceanographer.
Murray is in a good mood in Rome, as he was at the Festival in Venice. He believes that Italy helps him feel this great because it “conveys emotions” and - he adds laughing, the words carefully chosen one by one- “I love going out for coffee. It gives me a renewed sense of freedom.”
Indeed one can spot Bill – in black or orange T-shirts and impeccable black cashmere or linen jackets by his favorite Italian stylist – going for walks and sipping coffee in Piazza Navona and enjoying his pasta “al sugo” and giant salads at various restaurants on the Roman Hills. “Italian restaurants and squares are among the great things in life.” he states “They give you the sense of life and community, the joy of watching people. I find myself hating cities without squares and good restaurants.”
His fans all over the world have joined his newsgroup: [email protected].
No other star, not even Tom Cruise or Keanu Reeves, can boast such a clan of die-hards. They include kids and intellectuals, man and women. If one of the thousands of fans finds something out about this subject as mysterious as a comet, the photos and discoveries are immediately shared with the rest of the followers: Bill the poet, Bill the musician, Bill the comedian, Bill the one that can’t be caught, Bill’s Polonius to Ethan Hawke’s Hamlet. To sum up, the Ghostbuster
that tells you in total earnest: “Sometimes I can’t sleep at night, so I try to take pictures of ghosts. They come from the moon: maybe through their evanescent bodies one can hope to find soul, because from ghosts and from imagination you can borrow what you need.”
It is for words like these, for what he is and how he acts, that the best-known directors call him a genius. Writers and colleagues love him, they all want to work with him.
In truth, Bill Murray the man seems rather like a lonely character out of some Samuel Beckett story. When he speaks, you can never tell when he is serious and when he is telling a surreal joke: “I wrote a book about golf because I used to dream of literary immortality.”
He smiles: “ In Anderson’s film I go hunting for a legendary shark, though in the Mediterranean blue I may be looking for anemones. Anemones look more like flowers than invertebrates. I’ve always loved sea creatures: they live in silence. My oceanographer is called Steve Zissou. He mostly lives underwater. I felt the same way in Tokyo, when I was filming with Sofia in the huge hotel where the story takes place. That hotel reminded me of an aquarium. Tokyo is rich and expensive. Everything is beautiful there and you mustn’t be fooled by the bad, cheap brands they export. At home they keep only the best stuff, the finest and the smartest things.
Everything alienates you and feels alien to you. The language you can’t understand or read a single word of, the houses without street numbers that can drive you crazy when you look for a place, the crowd that seems to have just one face. It’s really like life in an aquarium. I’ve really loved Sofia’s film, I can relate to many scenes. They are like my life as a boy. I spent it reading books that took me around the world.”
He goes on: “I was one of the nine children of Edward and Lucille Murray, blue collars who had to make ends meet for such a numerous household. My brother Brian Doyle – who still acts and often works with me – wanted to act. I didn’t, instead I would go to the library and borrow books to read, books that helped me dream of leaving when girls didn’t look at me. I learnt to play the guitar so that I could ask them for a dance. I would read a lot then, I still do, even during breaks from filming on set.
My favorite writer is Mark Twain, the greatest literary surprise was Albert Camus some years ago. When I leave to go filming, I always bring with me a book by Sir Laurens Van Der Post, “A Story Like The Wind”: he was a great man, a friend of C.G. Jung’s, a British officer in Indonesia in 1942, a supporter of native cultures there. He could be a genuine storyteller and a truthful reporter at one and the same time. If I meet a woman and I find out I can discuss this writer with her, I rediscover friendship and intelligent relations between the sexes”.
“It’s true,” he reveals “ I left for Paris some years ago, out of self-respect after some films had tired me with their laughs. In Paris I studied Philosophy and spent days watching movies in film libraries. I also enrolled at a History course at the Sorbonne and my second son Luke was born there. Between success and freedom, I’ve always chosen the latter.”
He won’t say anything private about his first wife, Mickey Kelley – whom he loved deeply, but then divorced - or his second, Jennifer Butler, who has given him three children and lives with him, far from any glamour, in an old New York house near the Hudson. When a Vanity Fair journalist dogged him for months prior to the release of “The Royal Tenenbaums”, he limited himself to stating: “Twice married, father of five, born to a family of nine. That’s my private life to you.”
Today he is more talkative: “Both my wives have read Van Der Post and I’ve revealed to both that I didn’t want to become an actor, rather a baseball player or a missionary doctor in the most remote place.”
In an effort to break this wall of silence so at odds with his polite and affable curiosity, one tries to enquire: “Do you ever happen to spend the nights watching TV in your hotel room or strangers at a bar, wondering about your identity and your career, like your character in Sofia’s film, an actor abroad for a few days?”
In his reply you are at last afforded an insight into his elusive private universe: “ Yes, I very often do. I always tend to look at people’s faces, hoping to see their true nature inside them. There are few presences in my life, but they are all carefully chosen for what they mean in love and in friendship”.
He confirms an anecdote by his former agent, the then powerful Michael Ovitz: “You never know where you may find Bill. One day he called me from India, I just couldn’t believe it. He had me speak with the Indian taxi driver who was taking him to a temple. I only saw Bill one year later: the bell rang and there he was at the door, disguised as a pizza delivery boy.”
He announces that he doesn’t intend to do any interviews or TV if he’s still here in Rome to complete “The Life Aquatic” at the time of the Italian release of “Lost In Translation”. “It’s just that I don’t like to meet people as if they were on a conveyor belt.” he explains. Then he seriously offers a second reason: “I fear that crystals may get ill and break, but I can only explain why to few selected people.”
One realizes that Bill is only surreal on the surface. He did write that book on golf and he pulls a copy out of his bag. It’s called “Cinderella Story: my life in golf”.
He makes one final revelation: “Acting is like a breeze because one must remove any excess baggage to make it as light as possible. I truly believe crystals may get cracked. I am not a crystal, but because of the invisible cracks that were there, I had to quit everything – Hollywood, New York, the golfing greens in Connecticut – and stay in Paris for three years. I was married to my first wife at the time and I had one son, Homer. It was for me and for my family, whom I was tearing apart, that I felt the need to go somewhere else, even on my own, if only to step into the silence of one those cathedrals so loved by Marcel Proust. All my life I have had a dream: playing painter Mark Rothko in a biopic. He was a brilliant Russian artist, capable of working for years in obscurity. When he eventually became famous,
a real loner, he committed suicide at the age of 67. You can understand the whole world by watching one of his works. I need passion. It’s in those moments
that you feel like when you where young and you would drive off to demonstrate against the Vietnam war and march for peace. We were really united back then, happy and almighty in the streets with thousands of people like us. The same happened when I was working with my friends: JOHN BELUSHI, EDDIE MURPHY, DAN AYKROYD, CHEVY CHASE, ROBIN WILIIAMS, GILDA RADNER…Those were wonderful days.
Dan’s good, Robin’s got a brain like a computer, remembering all and striking back with cultured quotes, Chevy is an aristocrat of comedy and John… was the bravest and strongest. I’ve read horrible lies about him, utter trash. Every relation - be it love, friendship, passion or even an interview – is born out of respect, out of a crystal moment.”
English to Italian: Twisted - Annie Ross General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Music
Source text - English Twisted (Annie Ross song)
"Twisted" is a 1952 vocalese song with lyrics by Annie Ross, set to a tenor saxophone solo of the same name by Wardell Gray. It has been covered by singers such as Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, and many others.
"Twisted" is a whimsical account of the protagonist's insanity that satirises psychoanalysis.[1][2] In 1952, Ross met Prestige Records owner Bob Weinstock, who asked her to write lyrics to a jazz solo, in a similar way to King Pleasure, a practice which would later be known as vocalese. The next day, she presented him with "Twisted", a treatment of saxophonist Wardell Gray's 1949 composition of the same name, a classic example of the genre.[3][4][5] She later said of the inspiration for the song:
The title was infinite possibilities. You could marry anything to it and it was the name signified, "Twisted." And it just occurred to me that it would be good as a kind of song about an analyst.
[3]The song, first released on the 1952 album King Pleasure Sings/Annie Ross Sings, was an underground hit, and resulted in her winning Down Beat's New Star award.[4][6][7] Ross released a second version with the vocalese trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross on their 1960 self-titled album, also known as The Hottest New Group In Jazz; Gramophone described that recording as "more lighthearted, perhaps a little more individual" than Ross' first release of the song.[8]
Translation - Italian Twisted (brano di Annie Ross)
“Twisted” (suonata) è un brano vocalese del 1952 con testo di Annie Ross sull’aria di un assolo di sassofono tenore dello stesso nome di Wardell Gray. È stata eseguita da interpreti come Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell e molte altre.
Twisted è il bizzarro resoconto della follia della protagonista, facendo della satira sulla psicanalisi.
Nel 1952, la Ross incotrò Bob Weinstoc, proprietario della Prestige Records, che le chiese di scrivere un testo per un assolo di jazz, in maniera simile a King Pleasure, una pratica che sarebbe poi divenuta nota come “vocalese”. Il giorno dopo lei gli presentò “Twisted” , una rivisitazione del brano dallo stesso nome composto dal sassofonista Wardell Gray nel 1949, un classico del genere.
In seguito, lei ebbe a dire dell’ispirazione:
Il titolo offriva infinite possibilità. Lo si poteva accostare a qualsiasi cosa e dare un contesto al significato del nome del brano. Mi venne in mente che avrebbe funzionato come una specie di canzone su un analista.
Pubblicata per la prima volta sull’album del 1952 King Pleasure Sings/Annie Ross Sings, la canzone fu un successo sulla scena più alternativa e le fruttò il premio di Down Beat come “nuova star”. La Ross incise una nuova versione col trio vocalese Lambert, Hendricks & Ross sul loro album omonimo del 1960, conosciuto anche come The Hottest New Group In Jazz; (il nuovo gruppo più caldo del jazz); Gramophone descrisse quella interpretazione come “più leggera e forse un po’ più personale” della prima versione del brano.
English to Italian: Twisted- Lyrics by A. Ross General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Music
Source text - English TWISTED (Music by Wardell Gray - Lyric by annie Ross) 1952
My analyst told me that I was right out of my head
The way he described it, he said I'd be better dead than live
I didn't listen to his jive
I knew all along he was all wrong
And I knew that he thought I was crazy but I'm not
Oh no!
My analyst told me that I was right out of my head
He said I'd need treatment but I'm not that easily led
He said I was the type that was most inclined
When out of his sight to be out of my mind
And he thought I was nuts, no more ifs or ands or buts
Oh no!
They say as a child I appeared a little bit wild
With all my crazy ideas
But I knew what was happenin', I knew I was a genius
What's so strange when you know that you're a wizard at three?
I knew that this was meant to be
Well I heard little children were supposed to sleep tight
That's why I drank a fifth of vodka one night
My parents got frantic, didn't know what to do
But I saw some crazy scenes before I came to
Now do you think I was crazy?
I may have been only three but I was swingin'
They all laughed at A. Graham Bell
They all laughed at Edison and also at Einstein
So why should I feel sorry if they just couldn't understand
The reasoning and the logic that went on in my head?
I had a brain, it was insane
Soldiers used to laugh at me
When I refused to ride on all those double decker buses
All because there was no driver on the top
My analyst told me that I was right out of my head
The way he described it, he said I'd be better dead than live
I didn't listen to his jive
I knew all along he was all wrong
And I knew that he thought I was crazy but I'm not
Oh no!
My analyst told me that I was right out of my head
But I said "Dear doctor, I think that it's you instead
'Cause I have got a thing that's unique and new
It proves that I'll have the last laugh on you
'Cause instead of one head... I got two
And you know two heads are better than one"
Translation - Italian
SUONATA (musica di Wardell Gray- Testo di Annie Ross) 1952
Il mio analista mi ha detto che ero fuori di testa
A sentir lui sarei stata meglio morta che viva
Non ho ascoltato le sue scemenze
Sapevo che lui aveva torto
E sapevo che lui pensava che io fossi pazza, ma non lo sono
Oh no!
Il mio analista mi ha detto che ero fuori di testa
Disse che avevo bisogno di cure, ma non mi si convince facilmente
Disse che ero il tipo che più era portata
Ad andare fuori di testa appena ero lontana dal suo sguardo
Pensava che fossi pazza, senza tante mezze misure.
Oh no!
Dicono che da bambina io sembrassi un po’ selvaggia
Con tutte le mie folli idee
Ma io sapevo cosa stava succedendo, sapevo di essere un genio
Che c’è di strano nel sapere che sei un mago all’età di tre anni?
Sapevo che quello era il mio destino.
Dunque, sentii dire che i bambini dovrebbero dormire sodo
Quindi una notte scolai un quinto di vodka
I miei genitori si agitarono, non sapevano cosa fare
Ma vidi delle scenate da pazzi prima di rimettermi.
E ora voi credete che io sia pazza?
Avrò anche avuto solo tre anni, ma me la cavavo alla grande.
Ridevano tutti di A. Graham Bell
Ridevano tutti di Edison e anche di Einstein
Quindi perché dovevo preoccuparmi se loro non erano in grado di capire
Il ragionamento e la logica che si svolgevano nella mia testa?
Avevo un cervello, era da pazzi
I soldati erano soliti ridere di me
Quando mi rifiutavo di salire su quegli autobus a due piani
Perché al piano di sopra non c’era l’autista
Il mio analista mi ha detto che ero fuori di testa
A sentir lui sarei stata meglio morta che viva
Non ho ascoltato le sue scemenze
Sapevo che lui aveva torto
E sapevo che lui pensava che io fossi pazza, ma non lo sono
Oh no!
Il mio analista mi ha detto che ero fuori di testa
Ma io gli ho detto: “caro dottore, mi sa che lo sia tu invece,
perché ho qualcosa di unico e nuovo
che dimostra che sarò io a ridere ultima di te
perché invece di una testa … io ne ho due
e si sa che due teste sono meglio di una
More
Less
Translation education
Other - University of Cambridge IE - CPE Certificate of Proficiency in English
Experience
Years of experience: 28. Registered at ProZ.com: Sep 2012.
English to Italian (Cambridge University (ESOL Examinations)) Italian to English (Cambridge University (ESOL Examinations)) Italian to English (Cambridge University (ESOL Examinations)) English to Italian (Cambridge University (ESOL Examinations))
Memberships
N/A
Software
Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Word
Bio
Active since attaining my University of Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English in the mid 90's, my expertise encompasses most topics, with an emphasis on Arts and Humanities. As well as translation, editing, post-editing and transcription, I also have longtime experience in training adult learners with no academic knowledge of English /Italian and composing customised material for this purpose. Now that internet access is at long last available in my area, I can offer my services online.
My rates are flexible and negotiable, please contact me for a free estimate.
Please note that due to current Italian laws, I do not quality for a VAT (i.e. tax) number , but withholding tax applies to my fees.
Expertise 
Portfolio