# Responsabile



## andersxman

I've found myself lacking the right english term to translate the italian noun "responsabile". I have looked on my dictionary and I get "manager", but I don't think that what I mean by "responsabile" in italian is expressed well by "manager" in english - I don't know if this makes sense. When I think of "il mio responsabile" in the office in Italy where I work, I think of someone who is in charge of the particular office I work in, and I personally do not understand the same thing when I hear the english word manager. So basically I am asking if anyone should happen to be able to suggest other translations of the word "responsabile".

Thank you very much.​


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## silvietta

andersxman said:
			
		

> I've found myself lacking the right english term to translate the italian noun "responsabile". I have looked on my dictionary and I get "manager", but I don't think that what I mean by "responsabile" in italian is expressed well by "manager" in english - I don't know if this makes sense. When I think of "il mio responsabile" in the office in Italy where I work, I think of someone who is in charge of the particular office I work in, and I personally do not understand the same thing when I hear the english word manager. So basically I am asking if anyone should happen to be able to suggest other translations of the word "responsabile".
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you very much.
> 
> ​


Hi
What about my tutor?? Even if in Italy your "responsabile" is really your boss....


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## Alfry

there's not an equivalent word in Italian.
Un responsabile is a manager, a director, that is, a man/woman responsible for a division or a product or a project... but there's not an equivalent noun


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## Sierra

I've been pondering this for some time as well.  In English you'd say something like "I am responsible for..." not "I am _the_ responsible for...".  "Responsible" is an adjective and not a noun in English. 

Once upon a time in school, we were taught that if you want to address letters to an unknown person in a company who is responsible for a certain area, you'd refer to him/her as "Officer in Charge".


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## zlatha

what about my head?


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## erick

andersxman said:
			
		

> When I think of "il mio responsabile" in the office in Italy where I work, I think of someone who is in charge of the particular office I work in, and I personally do not understand the same thing when I hear the english word manager.


This sounds very much like what we would call a "manager" in English.  "Manager" is a general term for a person who manages things: a project, a work group, a campaign, etc.  Since it's a general term you can use it quite loosely without fear of mistake.


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## carrickp

In AE we often just say "my supervisor," meaning the person to whom I am directly responsible day to day. To me that sounds like what you're looking for.


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## franx

zlatha said:
			
		

> what about my head?


Nobody said anything about your head... 

Kidding aside, I agree with zlatha that 'head' is a word you can use, possibly transposing the possessive to the _office_ rather than the person itself, as in: "you can contact the head of my office" (or division/department/team/etc...)

In some other cases where you would use "il mio responsabile", the most appropriate translation is probably "my boss", which does not necessarily convey the idea of a strong, authoritarian figure... For ex: "my boss today left for Cuba, frankly I don't know when he'll be back..."


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## andersxman

Thanks for all your inputs. After having started the thread I came to think of "head of my office" as a possible translation of "responsabile".. this way of phrasing it appears valid for me, at least for the particular case that I was suggesting - "il responsabile del mio ufficio" = "the head of my office". Is this terrible??? But then again, we've probably found a word that does not translate directly from italian into one, specific english term.. I guess it all depends on the cicumstances..


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## Sierra

Instead of "the head of my office" you might want to use "the head of my department" if you work in a department (eg.  ufficio di comunicazione, ufficio delle risorse umane).  

Quindi "Il responsabile dell'ufficio di Marketing" sarà tradotto in "The head of the Marketing Department".


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## grappa

Boss is what we use


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## Jana337

grappa said:
			
		

> Boss is what we use


I don't think they are equivalent. If I am not mistaken, you can be responsabile without being anyone's boss.

Jana


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## zlatha

well... I honestly think head is one of the possible direct translations for responsabile in italian... because, how can you be the manager of a place and not be the head of anyone?


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## grappa

If someone has an italian language dictionary please post the definition of responsabile in italian. That will help


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## zlatha

re|spon|sà|bi|le
agg., s.m. e f.

3 agg., s.m. e f. FO che, chi è investito di poteri o mansioni di direzione, coordinamento o controllo di un determinato settore: ingegnere r. del settore, il magazziniere era r. del reparto, nominare qcn. r. dell’ufficio, rivolgersi al r. dell’ufficio stampa, essere r. di una squadra di operai 

(source: demauro)


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## grappa

direttore.......boss , director, head honcho (slang), supervisor, manager


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## Jana337

Hi Zlatha,

I have to prune your message - our copyright rules do not permit extensive quotations from dictionaries. Thanks for understanding.


> No web pages or copyrighted or plagiarized content may be inserted into WordReference posts. Minor fair use excerpts from dictionaries such as a definition/translation or two is permitted. Other quotes of less than one paragraph (4 sentences) are permitted as well. All other forms of inserted content from press releases, newsletters, web pages, or any other copyrighted content placed into messages will be removed without exception. A link to the content is acceptable and appropriate.


Jana


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## zlatha

oops, sorry. do you want me to edit it?


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## grappa

Sorry, I asked for a dictionary description


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## Jana337

grappa said:
			
		

> Sorry, I asked for a dictionary description


No problem.  Using dictionaries is legitimate - I had objections against the form chosen.


> oops, sorry. do you want me to edit it?


I did it. Please look around and observe how our seasoned members quote. 

Jana


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## elroy

I would suggest *person in charge*.


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## °Adhara°

Ciao a tutti! 

Riapro questo vecchio thread per chiedervi un parere sulla traduzione di "responsabile" nel mio contesto. Si tratta di un curriculum vitae e la frase in questione è la definizione della mansione svolta in un reparto produttivo a cui segue una descrizione dettagliata. 

"*Responsabile di reparto* di produzione e confezionamento di prodotti per l'infanzia"

Si parla di una produzione alimentare e il ruolo comprende la preparazione dei piani produttivi, la definizione di sequenze produttive e di confezionamento, in generale diciamo una gestione pratica della linea e il coordinamento degli operatori di un particolare reparto. Non si tratta di un caporeparto, che sarebbe il capo del responsabile.

Guardando alle possibilità sopra elencate potrebbe essere:

Infant products production and packaging department manager/supervisor/director.

A parte che la frase in sè così costruita è abbastanza brutta ma soprattutto non ho idea di come dire "responsabile di reparto" e quale termine tra quelli sopracitati sia il più appropriato. 

Aiuto!


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## alicip

Guarda, io direi: "production and packaging supervisor". Se dici che questo Tizio non è il manager del reparto ma soltanto quello che segue la produzione e che ha un superiore cioè il caporeparto (per me questo sarebbe il manager). Di che tipo di "articoli per l'infanzia" stiamo parlando? 
Vedi anche qui: http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/prodotti-per-linfanzia.1853722/


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## °Adhara°

Si parla di una produzione alimentare. Forse è meglio "infant food"? Grazie per l'aiuto. 

Edit: guardando online offerte di lavoro come "production and packaging supervisor" sembrano effettivamente coprire le mansioni che vedo nel CV. Grazie!


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## alicip

°Adhara° said:


> Si parla di una produzione alimentare. Forse è meglio "infant food"? Grazie per l'aiuto.


Suppongo si tratti di cibo per bimbi (pappa). Allora direi "baby food".


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## °Adhara°

Grazie! Il bello che nel testo avevo anche già usato "baby food".  

Grazie mille!


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## eldoradina

Buongiorno a tutti, riapro questo thread perché ho alcune difficoltà a trovare la traduzione più adeguata per "responsabile amministrativo", riferito ad un Dipartimento universitario. Ho tradotto "Direttore del Dipartimento" con "Head of Department", mentre per "Responsabile Amministrativo" sono combattuta tra le seguenti alternative:

a) Department Manager
b) Department Administrator
c) Administrative Director
d) Chief Administrative Officer
e) Administrative Manager
f) Department Executive Officer

Grazie a chi vorrà aiutarmi.


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## bearded

I find it strange that nobody mentioned the word 'chief'.  I think that 'chief of a department' is a usual ''collocation''.
chief - Dizionario inglese-italiano WordReference


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## theartichoke

eldoradina said:


> Buongiorno a tutti, riapro questo thread perché ho alcune difficoltà a trovare la traduzione più adeguata per "responsabile amministrativo", riferito ad un Dipartimento universitario.



I'm afraid this is likely to vary from university to university, likely also with differences between British and American English.

Is the "responsabile amministrativo" the person -- not a professor -- who takes care of all the administrative work, like scheduling, financial paperwork, etc? Where I work, this person's official title is simply "Administrative Assistant"; she is the assistant to the Department Chair (who could also be called the "head of the department," but "Chair" is his official title), and there is also a "Secretary" who works beneath her, answering phone calls, booking rooms, etc. But at other universities I attended, the head administrative person was called the "Department Secretary."



bearded said:


> I find it strange that nobody mentioned the word 'chief'.  I think that 'chief of a department' is a usual ''collocation''.
> chief - Dizionario inglese-italiano WordReference



It might be BE, but I've never heard "chief of a department." "Chief," as far as bureaucratic titles go, is typically used as an adjective, not a noun, as in the "Chief Administrative Officer" mentioned in #27.


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## bearded

theartichoke said:


> I've never heard "chief of a department.


WR Dictionary:


 (person in charge)capo, direttore _nm_ The chief of our department is in a meeting now.


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## theartichoke

bearded said:


> WR Dictionary:
> 
> 
> (person in charge)capo, direttore _nm_The chief of our department is in a meeting now.



I know. I saw that. I'm saying that it sounds strange to me: it might be BE, it might be AE but not CanE, or it might simply be used in fields of work that I don't deal with or hear about. One exception I can think of where "chief" is used as a noun is in the title "Chief of Staff," but that's a pretty specific job.


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## joanvillafane

AE speaker here - I confirm we don't use "chief" in this way, except for maybe "Chief of Police" or "Chief Medical Officer."  I would never expect to hear it a university context.  I agree with theartichoke's comments in post #29.


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## bearded

It must definitely be a UK usage. Here is an example I found in the ''Oxford Learner's Dictionary'' (entry 'chief'):


> Sanger was appointed chief of the Fire Department.


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## eldoradina

theartichoke said:


> I'm afraid this is likely to vary from university to university, likely also with differences between British and American English.
> 
> Is the "responsabile amministrativo" the person -- not a professor -- who takes care of all the administrative work, like scheduling, financial paperwork, etc? Where I work, this person's official title is simply "Administrative Assistant"; she is the assistant to the Department Chair (who could also be called the "head of the department," but "Chair" is his official title), and there is also a "Secretary" who works beneath her, answering phone calls, booking rooms, etc. But at other universities I attended, the head administrative person was called the "Department Secretary."



Thank you so much. Yes, the "Responsabile Amministrativo" is the person who takes care of all the administrative work and who manages the Department administrative staff. So I think "Administrative Assistant" might work. Thank you!


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