Things that are hard to translate...

Well, obviously plays on words can be untranslatable. What do you think of:

A man goes into a shop and says "I'd like to buy some aftershave, please."
The shop assistant says "Certainly, Sir. Walk this way." The man replies
"If I could walk _that_ way, I wouldn't need aftershave!"

And then there's the "eavesdropping" scene near the beginning of The Lord
of the Rings....

But seriously...

Some things shouldn't be translated at all: they should be left out
completely. For example, when I am asked to translate letters which
end "La ringrazio per la Sua disponibilita', e spero in un'
eventuale futura collaborazione. Colgo l'occasione per porgerLe 
distinti saluti." and so on for sentence after sentence I don't sit
there and try to translate it, I simply put "Yours sincerely". 
I think business people use "Kind regards" as well, but since I am not
a business person, I don't worry about this. (When I was a temp I 
used to know these things, but that was many moons ago).

Actually translating all that rubbish would be a serious error. Formal
letters in English do not end in entire paragraphs of smarmy unctuous
drivel. A letter ending like the one quoted above would not come across
as "polite" but as grossly insincere or worse. People would ask themselves
"Who on earth is this person? Is she trying to sell me something?"

Sometimes you have to do a certain amount of research. For example, the
English edition of "Inglesi" by Beppe Severgnini has a mistake in it:
someone has forgotten that "Carlo e Alice" are called Andy and Flo
in English. 

The English for "Vorresti venire a vedere la mia collezione di farfalle?"
(or "...stampe cinesi?") does not mention butterflies or Chinese prints
at all. You say "Would you like to come and see my etchings?". I know
an art student who really does have a collection of etchings at home,
and I suppose this must make life quite awkward for her. Of course, this
is a rather silly example, but I think this kind of thing can be worth
knowing.

I have heard Italians trying to insult people in English by telling
them they have horns. This would not be taken as an insult by most
people, and would provoke only a "What?" People who have studied
"The Merry Wives of Windsor" by Shakespeare (probably other plays as
well - but I _know_ horns turn up in this one) will know what it means
but will probably not understand that you are trying to be insulting.
"Cuckold!" (Shakespearian word meaning "cornuto" but not in common use)
wouldn't work either. If you start trying to explain by saying "Your
wife betrays you" or something like that it still won't work. I don't
think this has any potential as an insult in English at all. (I may be 
wrong about this.) I am led to believe that, in Italian, "cornuto!" and 
"c'hai le corna!" are rather strong. Is this really true? 

I have heard it said that words like "fair" ("It's not fair"), 
"disponibilita'", "disponibile" and "collaborazione" are quite hard
to translate. The story is that the other language is incapable of
expressing these things. I don't know how much truth there really
is in this. Warning: don't call people "collaborators"
unless you actually do want to suggest that they co-operated with
the Nazis during World War 2.