# dare un consiglio



## piccola streghetta

Hello everyone, I would like to thank a person for giving me a "consiglio"
I know that in English we say "a piece of advice" because the word advice  is uncountable, right? So what form should I use in the plural? And how can I say  " lo seguirò?"
"Thank you for your pieces of advice, I will definitely take them?"
Thank you!


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## effeundici

E molto più semplicemente:

_Thank you for your advice_ ?


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## piccola streghetta

non credo sia grammaticalmente corretto in inglese dire solo advice per tradurre consiglio. Credo bisogni usare anche per il singolare " piece of advice" e da qui sorge il mio dubbio sulla formazione del plurale.
Aspettiamo la risposta di un madrelingua!


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## effeundici

piccola streghetta said:


> non credo sia grammaticalmente corretto in inglese dire solo advice per tradurre consiglio. Credo bisogni usare anche per il singolare " piece of advice" e da qui sorge il mio dubbio sulla formazione del plurale.
> Aspettiamo la risposta di un madrelingua!


 
Ma _advice _vuol dire *consigli* già da sè. Si usa _piece _per staccarne un pezzettino e farlo diventare singolare.

E' come dire: _Dolly è il primo pezzo di gregge nato per clonazione _


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## Paulfromitaly

piccola streghetta said:


> non credo sia grammaticalmente corretto in inglese dire solo advice per tradurre consiglio. Credo bisogni usare anche per il singolare " piece of advice" e da qui sorge il mio dubbio sulla formazione del plurale.
> Aspettiamo la risposta di un madrelingua!


A no?

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1028550
Advice, piece of advice, word of advice
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=930277Any advice that you might provide in the matter
any outside legal advice
back advice
conversational advice
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=672414friends give youth important support and advice
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=764045I laughed off his advice / I laughed it off
I suggested that he should take legal advice
I treasure your advice
if swallowed, drink plenty of water and seek medical advice
in concurrence with the Fund's advice
Listening advice
need advice
Remittance advice
Some advice
Sound advice
take your own advice
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=798560


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## MünchnerFax

Infatti, in inglese non c'è nessun bisogno di specificare "un pezzettino" o "più pezzettini di consiglio". È proprio questo il senso dei nomi _uncountable_. Se ti viene più semplice, consideralo come se si traducesse "saggezza": "Ti ringrazio per la tua saggezza, la seguirò". 

_Thank you for your advice, I will definitely follow it._


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## piccola streghetta

Ok, grazie a tutti per i chiarimenti, sono sempre stata un po' confusa su "advice"


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## shardaneng

Ipotizziamo che mi vengano dati 5 consigli, 3 risultano utili, 2 no.
Nemmeno in questo caso si potrebbe usare pieces of advice?

For instance: three pieces of advice out of five turned out to be useful.

Does it sound so odd?


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## MünchnerFax

Credo che un inglese userebbe un'altra parola, per esempio _suggestions_. Come ho detto prima, non bisogna cercare di tradurre letteralmente _advice_ con _consiglio/i _perché non c'è corrispondenza esatta in italiano. Può aiutare considerare che questo nome _uncountable_ significhi un simile nome non numerabile italiano, per esempio ho citato "saggezza", oppure facciamo "consulenza" che è ancora più vicino al significato originario.
_Ti ringrazio per la tua consulenza, la seguirò_ è una frase che in italiano funziona abbastanza - ed è proprio corrispondente a quella inglese. Per contro, in italiano non diremmo "dei pezzi di consulenza". Potremmo però dire "delle parti della tua consulenza"; e guarda caso, _some parts of your advice _è proprio qualcosa che in inglese si usa (Google).


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## Pitufa86

quindi se si deve tradurre _consigli_ al plurale si può "aggirare l'ostacolo" dell'_uncountable_ puntando su termini come _suggestion_?


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## MünchnerFax

Ma no, perché ostacolo? Si può usare benissimo _advice_.  _Advice_ significa più o meno "consulenza", o "serie di consigli". D'altra parte dipende dal contesto e dalla frase specifica. Se vuoi dire "Mi puoi dare dei consigli", _advice _è perfetto.


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## Pitufa86

grazie mille,anzi...Thank you for your advice


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## effeundici

E' curioso che nessun madrelingua inglese sia intervenuto.

Un caso o c'è qualche motivo più sottile (tipo che non riescono a capire di cosa stiamo parlando).

Timla, Baldpate, Einstein, Charles, Rrose, Neuro...give us your precious "_informations and advices"!!!_


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## rrose17

Ok, one thing, to me "piece of advice" is more idiomatic in English then consiglio is in Italian. It doesn't work in many instances.
Listen, buddy, let me give you a piece of advice. Mind your own business.
My father gave me a good piece of advice when I was growing up. Always look someone in the eye.
Thank you for your piece of advice. (This would sound extremely sarcastic, like saying thank you for nothing!)
Thanks for the advice. This is the more common one.
I agree with Munchner that in the plural we would probably use suggestions.


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## Einstein

effeundici said:


> Timla, Baldpate, Einstein, Charles, Rrose, Neuro...give us your precious "_informations and advices"!!!_


Siamo lusingati!
Penso di non aver mai detto _a piece of advice_! Non è sbagliato, naturalmente, ma credo che sia amato principalmente dagli insegnanti d'inglese alla ricerca di una traduzione esatta di _un consiglio_. Nella vita reale si usano semplicemente _advice_ o _some advice_:

Posso darti un consiglio? = _May I give you some advice?_
Grazie del consiglio. = _Thanks for the/your advice._

Per quanto riguarda il "problema da aggirare", dove è essenziale parlare di un numero di consigli, sono d'accordo con MunchnerFax che esistono altre parole _countable_, senza dover ricorrere a _pieces_. E certamente non è visto come un problema dagli anglofoni.

PS Sono d'accordo con rrose che _piece of advice_ è limitato principalmente a contesti ironici o polemici.


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## rrose17

I thought of something else. When you want to use advice in the plural I think the most obvious thing would be to say _a lot of advice_ or _all your advice_ as in 
I have received a lot of advice on this issue.
Thank you for all of your advice. (This could relate to one, two , three hundred "pieces of advice")


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## shardaneng

shardaneng said:


> Ipotizziamo che mi vengano dati 5 consigli, 3 risultano utili, 2 no.
> Nemmeno in questo caso si potrebbe usare pieces of advice?
> 
> For instance: three pieces of advice out of five turned out to be useful.
> 
> Does it sound so odd?



I quote myself...what about this exmple?

Shoud I put the word "suggestions" instead of pieces of advice?


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## rrose17

In this case I probably would say something like
Three out of the five bits of advice I got turned out to be useful.
Or even better
I got five different bits of advice, three out of the five were useful.
Why does bits of advice sound better than pieces of advice? I'm not sure, but it does.
Again *don't* say 
Thanks for your bit of advice. It sounds like a put-down, like the advice was not worth much.


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## GavinW

shardaneng said:


> I quote myself...what about this exmple?
> 
> Shoud I put the word "suggestions" instead of pieces of advice?


 
I've found the last few posts here particularly insightful and likely to be helpful. Well done you native speakers!
bits of advice / lot of advice etc : exactly. Anything to reinforce the fact that we regard "advice" as a purely _abstract_ idea/concept (to be referred to as a strictly uncountable noun).

"Three out of five...": yes, "suggestions", or maybe also very helpful "tips", anything to avoid having to force the uncountable noun "advice" into some countable variant (although "pieces [and "bits"] of advice" may well be permissible, and natural, depending on the context and the register etc).


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## shardaneng

rrose17 said:


> In this case I probably would say something like
> Three out of the five bits of advice I got turned out to be useful.
> Or even better
> I got five different bits of advice, three out of the five were useful.
> Why does bits of advice sound better than pieces of advice? I'm not sure, but it does.
> Again *don't* say
> Thanks for your bit of advice. It sounds like a put-down, like the advice was not worth much.



Ok  I was losing my hopes. So there's a way to express "the number of advice" without sounding odd. 
I'll delete the expression "piece of advice" from my mind and replace it with "bit of advice." (just in case...)


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## rrose17

shardaneng said:


> Ok I was losing my hopes. Sorry but this is another word that cannot be quantified... So there's a way to express "the number of advice" without sounding odd.
> I'll delete the expression "piece of advice" from my mind and replace it with "bit of advice." (just in case...)


OK before I get jumped on you CAN say my hopes and dreams but you say I was losing hope.


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## shardaneng

I wasn't sure about that, so I checked before posting.
http://www.wordreference.com/enit/hope

"He has a lot of hopes for the future."
"Ha molte speranze per il futuro."

But it probably has a different meaning.


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## Einstein

Hopes and fears, high hopes, but not losing hopes.


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## shardaneng

Einstein said:


> Hopes and fears, high hopes, but not losing hopes.




I know something new.
Thanks.


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## rrose17

effeundici said:


> Timla, Baldpate, Einstein, Charles, Rrose, Neuro...give us your precious "_informations and advices"!!!_


Sorry I never thanked F11 for including me in such illustrious company!


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## neuromatico

Grazie del complimento, F11, anche se non ho nulla da aggiungere alle perle di saggezza di Einstein, Gavin e rrose.


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## You little ripper!

Adding to what rrose said earlier, it's the context that determines whether 'a piece of advice' is positive, ironic, patronizing etc..

_What is the best piece of advice that you have ever received? (positive)
The most important piece of advice that was ever given me was............ (positive)
What piece of advice would you give to young men starting out on a career as a policeman? (positive)
If I had to offer one piece of advice to anyone getting married it would be to always .................... (positive)

_ 
_Let me give you a piece of advice, boy! Never.............. (patronizing)
A piece of advice, mate; don't ever mess with me again  or I'll knock your block off! _(negative)


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## Bookmom

"I got five different bits of advice, three out of the five were useful.'

Although I might not use opinion (I'm thinking of the Italian use of parere - che te ne pare?) for advice in the singular, I think it works in the plural.  I got five different opinions, three out of the five opinions I got were useful.  I might also say points of view.


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## GavinW

Another one:
"Let me give you the benefit of my wisdom:...."
"Can I have (= Could you give me) the benefit of your wisdom (on this matter)?"

I think we'd even say:
"I got the benefit of the wisdom of five different people (or: "I got the benefit of five different people's wisdom"), and in three cases it proved useful."
;-)


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## filoroma

As a native English speaker, I think I should give an alternative view to that of rrose17. While I will not argue that "bit(s) of advice" and "piece(s) of advice" are idiomatic expressions, I believe a native speaker would restrict the use of these expressions to very informal conversation, and avoid using them to express anything too complex. For example, in shardaneng's sentence "Ipotizziamo che mi vengano dati 5 consigli, 3 risultano utili, 2 no," I would think that the English translation would require a reconfiguring of the sentence structure, specifically changing it out of the passive voice, e.g., "Let's hypothesize that I received advice from five people (or parties), and advice from three turned out to be useful and two not useful (or instead of 'not useful' you can say 'useless').
That said, if you want to keep this sentence in the idiomatic form, 'pieces of advice' sounds better to my ear than 'bits of advice.' As I said before, though, they are both legitimate idiomatic expressions, so how they sound to a native speaker's ear will vary according to region, family, etc. I'm from NYC, and 'pieces' sounds better to my ear.


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## filoroma

Honestly, shardaneng, 'bits of advice' does not sound right at all to my American ear. It may be a Canadian turn of phrase. If you need something countable, I would go with the advice of GavinW and use 'suggestions' or 'tips'. Both of these words are used very often by all anglophones. 
Hence, the sentence of rrose17 would read: I got five suggestions, and three out of the five were useful.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

filoroma said:


> the sentence of rrose17 would read: I got five suggestions, and three out of the five were useful.



(3 1/2 anni più tarde): O semplicemente, ",...and three were useful./,...and three of them were useful." Spero che la mia contributzione sia utile!


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