Problems with the Translation of Fr. Giussani's "Is It Possible To Live This Way?"
The translation of Fr. Luigi Giussani's "Si può vivere così?" into English ("Is It Possible to Live This Way?") seems to have some problems that make it unnecessarily hard to understand. For example:
"Reason" sounds profound but it does not make sense here, and is not what Fr. Giussani is saying in his sentence. Thus the reader is confused. Fr. Giussani's original Italian is hard enough to understand as it is; it is unfortunate that the problematic English translation adds an additional barrier to understanding.
Se c’è una ragione, non puoi dire: «ma è astratta» perché la ragione è ciò che risponde al bisogno del cuoreis translated as:
If there is a reason, you can't say: "but it is abstract," because reason is what responds to the need of the heartNote that a word (which I have highlighted in red) is missing from the translation. It should say "because the reason is what responds to the need of the heart". Not "because reason is what responds to the need of the heart", which does not make sense: when has reason ever responded to the need of the heart? Instead, Giussani is speaking of "a reason" mentioned at the start of the sentence.
"Reason" sounds profound but it does not make sense here, and is not what Fr. Giussani is saying in his sentence. Thus the reader is confused. Fr. Giussani's original Italian is hard enough to understand as it is; it is unfortunate that the problematic English translation adds an additional barrier to understanding.