Italian-English Parallel Texts
Traduzioni letterarie di Ercole Guidi per gli amici che imparano l'inglese: Testi Bilingue. And the (almost) parallel text in English: Literary translations by Ercole Guidi for all those in love with the language of Dante: Italian-English Parallel Texts.
What makes these Italian-English parallel texts (testi a fronte is the Italian term) especially praiseworthy is that the professional translator responsible for them, Ercole Guidi, is completely fluent in both languages. In addition, there are both Italian and English classics as well as contemporary works. Now there's no excuse not to read great literary works such as I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed) and The Sound and the Fury (Il Rumore e Il Furore), as well as short stories such as Blackbird Pie (Torta di Merli), and recent best-selling Italian novels such as La Rossa e il Nero (The Red and the Dark).
Comments
Advanced translations of the classics are great for those who speak and read on that level. I’d love to find some easier dual-language texts, or better yet, intermediate reading comprehension exercises. I’m at the level where I’ve taken enough classes to have completed the textbook, but not fluent enough to read an Italian novel. Newspapers are a bit of a struggle, and Italian TV is just too fast. I need something to get over the gap.
Try the New Penguin Parallel Text Short Stories in Italian, edited by Nick Roberts.