Where direct translation ends and localisation begins
Some words look easy to translate. They’re short, familiar, and used every day. And yet they’re precisely the ones that cause the most problems.
Take “application.” In English, it covers a mobile app, a job application, an application for a visa, and the act of applying a rule or a method – all under the same word. In Italian, each of those meanings has a different word. “Applicazione” exists, but it refers to a mobile app or the act of applying something. Use it to talk about a job application and you’ll immediately sound wrong to any native speaker.
So what do you do? You don’t translate the word. You rebuild the sentence around the meaning. “Ho inviato la mia candidatura” (I submitted my application). “Mi sono candidato per la posizione” (I applied for the role). “Ho mandato il mio CV” (I sent my CV). Three different constructions, all conveying what the English intended, none of them a direct translation of the word “application.”
This is where translation ends and localisation begins. It’s not about finding the closest word in another language – it’s about understanding what the source is trying to communicate, and then expressing that same thing in a way that feels completely natural to someone reading it in their own language.
It requires linguists who don’t just know both languages, but who understand how each one thinks. Because languages don’t just use different words. They use different logic. And respecting that logic is what makes the difference between a translation that’s technically correct and one that actually works.
Try ask your friends if they agree with it, or if they ever heard anyone say “Ho mandato un application”… and what they thought about it!