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lue
autostornante
Dec 21, 2021 11:03
2 yrs ago
31 viewers *
Italian term

accostare

Italian to English Social Sciences Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
I'm a bit confused about the use of this verb in this specific context. I know it means "place side by side", "put near each other", "match", but I don't see how that makes any sense in this context...

"La necessità del sostegno da parte dei risiedenti del nord richiesto dal governo canadese si lega anche a diversi altri fenomeni che accostano il problema dello scioglimento dei ghiacci nelle cui acque transitano le navi, con le rivendicazioni native sulle terre che si affacciano sull’Oceano Artico in cui, tra l’altro, sono presenti i giacimenti di petrolio e di gas (Burke, 2017)."

The issue of melting ice with Native land claims on areas home to gas and oil fields don't seem to bear any relation to each other, so why is "accostare" used?
Proposed translations (English)
4 including
4 +1 associate (see note)
4 juxtaposes
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): martini

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Discussion

Bethany Kachura (asker) Dec 22, 2021:
Hi NPutt - I understand that, in fact this sentence is part of a book which I am translating dealing precisely with such topics. I do not deny that the two are linked. But in this specific sentence, given the few sentences which come before and the topic of the chapter it falls into, I'm not sure the point is being made here that the two instances are linked. They may well be linked, but in this case I am doubting that that's what is being said.
NPutt Dec 22, 2021:
To the Indegnous peoples of Canada, the issues global warming (but also other vital political, sociological and economic issues) are closely related to fundamental issue of territorial control. Starting in the 1970s, First Nations, Inuit and Metis people have brought the issues of land claims, treaty rights to territories, lack of treaties ever being signed, lack of respect of treaty rights, and other matters of territorial rights to the level of the Supreme Court many times. The issues of territorial control are constantly in the news. The four Inuit Territories boardering the Arctic Ocean were established only recently, and their government is still in a phase of definition. To Indigenous, Metis and First Nations people, all issues can be associated with (accostato a) territorial control (claims).
Bethany Kachura (asker) Dec 21, 2021:
Hmm.. yes, I understand that they can be linked, but in this particular case, given the context, I don't know if the point is being made that they are linked.
Marco Solinas Dec 21, 2021:
To Asker Actually, the issue of the melting ice cap and navigation in the Arctic Ocean is closely linked to native land claims in the Arctic. For example, it affects traditional native hunting grounds and ownership of mineral and oil and gas reserves. I think this is what "accostano" is meant to convey.
Bethany Kachura (asker) Dec 21, 2021:
I mean, they could bear relation to each other, but in this context they don't seem to.

Proposed translations

3 hrs
Selected

including

I don't believe these issues are directly connected. I think the idea of "accostare" is "bringing together such disparate problems as".

Here's my suggested translation. The Italian is very wordy, and I believe it can be expressed much more concisely in English.

The Canadian government is asking for northerners' support on a variety of other issues, including new seaways being opened up by melting ice, and native claims to Arctic land housing oil and gas deposits.
Note from asker:
Thanks - yes initially I also suspected it meant "include" in some way but couldn't find any dictionary definition of accostare similar to this. But the translation "including/bringing together disparate ideas" makes a lot of sense.
Peer comment(s):
disagree Tom in London : My suggestion is anything but literal. I have completely reconstructed the whole statement.
24 mins
agree Ian Mansbridge : This is what I would do, too.
1 day 20 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks everyone. I'm still not entirely certain on what exactly was meant by the client. I think the term encompasses both the idea of "including" and "juxtaposing", and this solution works best."
+1
15 mins

associate (see note)

The need to support the residents of the north - as requested by the Canadian government - is also linked to various other phenomena that associate the problem of melting ice - in whose waters ships transit - with the native claims to the lands bordering the Arctic Ocean ......

If I worked a bit more on this I could make it better - but that's your job, not mine!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 27 mins (2021-12-21 11:31:22 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I always find that to make sense of this kind of badly written Italian, I need to reconstruct the whole paragraph, separating the subordinate phrases with dashes (or parentheses) until I get to a meaningful sentence that sticks to the point!
Note from asker:
Thanks - just thought I'd say that it's actually the government that requires the residents' support (this is obvious from the sentence before which I didn't include here), not that you need to know really just thought I'd say! Ok, so somehow the two issues are related, so I'll just translate accostano in its literal sense of there being an association between the two issues. I was wondering if in some obscure contexts it might simply mean "include", but apparently not.
Good tip!
Peer comment(s):
neutral philgoddard : This is the literal translation, but it's not easy to read and I don't feel it answers Bethany's question.
3 hrs
It isn't meant to "answer Bethany's question". It nudges her towards working on a better solution that the quick one I offered (and which is not literal at all)
agree Teresa Marrone
1 day 5 hrs
Something went wrong...
8 hrs

juxtaposes

because the interests that they need the northern residents' support for, are potentially conflicting. In other words, not only is there a conflict of interest between the interests of the residents and the issues, i.e., the land claims and ships being invasive, but also between the land claims and the ships.
Reference:

https://www.linguee.com/italian-english/translation/accostare.html

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