As I was reading (and watching) the news earlier this morning, I chanced upon a clip concerning the current deputy PM of Italy on an official visit to DC. Seemingly unsure as to where he and his entourage were headed, the deputy PM blurted out the typical Italian expression Non facciamoci riconoscere.
This is an interesting expression both because it opens a window on the Italian psyche and, perhaps partly because of this, it does not lend itself to a direct translation in English.
The underlying implication in Non facciamoci riconoscere belies the idea that the average Italian is not exactly a stickler for propriety and rules and that the outside world is likely aware of this fact. Admonishing fellow Italians not to stand out in the crowd for their bad behavior is therefore seen as a collegial effort to rein in the typically Italian zest for ‘creativity’ in doing things the ‘Italian’ way.
As is often the case with my approach to idiomatic usage across languages, I have asked friends and colleagues to see if they could come up with an equivalent expression in their own languages. Most hesitated at first (which tends to be a sign that the usage is fairly culture-specific) before providing their answers. My Swedish-speaking friend, for instance, immediately sensed the Italianness of this expression, but offered skämma ut sig, which incorporates the idea of ‘shame’ and ‘disgrace’ as in Vi får inte skämma ut oss, which could be rendered in English as We must not disgrace ourselves. A bit too formal, methinks, for our Non facciamoci riconoscere. The English version, that is.
Interestingly, Russian has веди себя культурно literally meaning ‘behave culturally’, which is often used as a command to behave politely or decently. Again, semantically related, but not quite the same.
Which leaves us to an array of possible translations, including phrasal verbs (which come in handy at times when translating idiomatic phrases). The Brits have the wonderful show someone up, in the sense of ‘far fare una brutta figura’ , which incidentally lacks the restrictive connotation Americans have bestowed on this useful phrasal verb, i.e., to make someone feel embarrassed by upstaging them or doing something better than them.
Similarly, in the UK and Australia, and possibly in other English-speaking countries as well, the expression let the side down, a sports-related idiom, includes the idea of inclusiveness, thus making it a good candidate. Other sports idioms – quite abundant in US English – all seem to evoke embarrassment, although it’s the cause of the embarrassment that differs. Goal-oriented cultures like the US often seems to stress the idea of failing to achieve a goal or carry out a task (drop the ball; screw up) or being a loser (last man out), rather than focusing on the very Italian idea of ‘bella figura’ or lack thereof.
Of course the idea of losing face is a universal concept that can be found in many other languages, but the Italian non farsi riconoscere still betrays the sense that a certain reputation precedes Italians when they travel abroad. So don’t let the side down, you guys!
