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Che sarà, sarà

created by Lactic.Acid

(idea) by Lactic.Acid (3.9 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) Tue Oct 24 2000 at 16:36:49

Loosely translated, Italian for "Whatever shall be shall be." Literally translated (by babelfish) "That it will be will be."

Quoted often over time, I'm sure, the only time it has been used that I can think of is in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus.
From scene 1:

The reward of sin is death? That's hard.
Si pecasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas.
If we say that we have no sin,
And so consequently die.
Ay, we must die an everlasting death.
What doctrine call you this? Che sarà , sarà:
What will be, shall be! Divinity, adieu!
I believe there's also a song from a Disney-ish movie that sings these lyrics, but I may just be imagining this in my head.
Legbagede /msg'd me: "Doris Day sang it in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much - If that's what you're thinking of." Quite possibly, but who knows what's going on in my mind...
Sylvar also /msg'd me: "About Che sarà sarà: Doris Day sang the Spanish equivalent, Que sera sera; you can hear it at the beginning of the movie Heathers.
And Mink has a w/u saying the same below, but in more detail :)

(idea) by Mink (6.9 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) Tue Oct 24 2000 at 17:41:21

Conflating Hitchcock and Disney has made my day!

Most folks probably know the line best from Doris Day's rendition, penned by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, where it has been changed from the Italian/Latin "Che sera, sera" to the Spanish (and collaterally, French) "Que sera, sera."

Livingston cribbed the "che sera, sera" line from the movie The Barefoot Contessa and changed it into Spanish because of that language's global popularity.

(Then, separately, there is Jimmy Fontana's song "Che sará," popularized by José Feliciano.)

Livingston/Evans source: <http://www.quesera-sera.com/fullspeed.htm>.

See also: I learned language in the American educational system, and all those Latinate languages have too many weird accents and they're all just a dialect of the same dead language anyway.


(idea) by whizkid (6.2 y) (print)   ?   (I like it!) 1 C! Sat Mar 03 2001 at 17:46:10

Babelfish is hardly the authority on literal translations.

The Italian word che (in which the "ch" is pronounced like the English "k") means, depending on the context, "that", "that which", "what", or even "which".

The word sarà means he/she/it will/shall be. In other words, future tense of third person singular of "to be". That's in Italian again, not in Latin. And it is "sarà", not "sera" (which is Italian for "evening").

Hence, the literal translation is "that which will be, will be" or "what will be, will be". The "whatever shall be, shall be" translation is pretty close to literal.

By the way, the American singer who sings this song does not quite pronounce "sarà" correctly. She swallows the first "a" turning it into a schwa. It should be pronounced clearly as "a", just like the second one. The second one has the grave accent, which means the stress goes on that syllable, and the syllable is short -- the song makes it very long, but I guess that's OK for a song.


printable version
chaos

When American writers use Latin, or other languages plus francais que les francais Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur Social responsibility of not tipping
If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution Sera que sera sera Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes
schwa C'est La Vie Dead languages don't change To Each His Own
American Sign Language adieu Así es la vida Babelfish
Make my day ne mo ha mo nai Scenes from an Italian Restaurant Dulce et Decorum Est
Shit happens Is language innate or learned? Alfred Hitchcock HateQuest 2006
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