Bilingual Best Man Speech

RE*AC*TOR · 05-09-2006 10:06AM #1

Ok, so my best friend is marrying his Italian fiancée soon (in Italy). I'm best man.

I reckon I will have to give my speech bilingually. None of the Irish crowd know Italian, and I think only a small amount of the Italian crowd know english.

First off, I don't know Italian. But I imagine I can learn it off, if I get it translated.

Any suggestions on the best way of doing this?

I guess I could do one "paragraph" in English, then repeat in Italian and move through the speech like that. (Like the Eurovision Song Contest). That seems the best to me. I would have to possibly get his fiancée to translate it phonetically for me first.

zenith · 05-09-2006 10:13AM

I'd go with the powerpoint of embarassing baby pictures, if it was me, and other sight gags.

bonkey · 05-09-2006 10:14AM

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Ok, so my best friend is marrying his Italian fiancée soon (in Italy). I'm best man.

I reckon I will have to give my speech bilingually. None of the Irish crowd know Italian, and I think only a small amount of the Italian crowd know english.

Alternately, check if Italy is one of those places where, for example, the bridesmaid also makes a speech (as is the case here in Switzerland apparently).

My best man is Irish, and herself's bridesmaid is Swiss. We need two languages handled. I see no problem

If the bridesmaid does make a speech, speaks english and Italian, and you can get in touch with her, arrange a double-speech, wher eyou deliver a bit in English, then she delivers the same bit in Italian and so on.

jc

RE*AC*TOR · 05-09-2006 10:17AM

I had thought of getting a webcam, a laptop and a projector, and subtitling myself in real-time.

But then I thought it was a bit OTT.

At some point you cross a line where it become tacky and tasteless.

Gandhi · 05-09-2006 02:23PM

At my cousin's wedding she had one of the bridesmaids (Irish girl living in France) act as interpreter for the speeches. She did a good job, too.

Only thing is, you have to make sure any jokes are not plays on words, so that they translate well.

babaduck · 06-09-2006 10:41AM

We were at a friend's wedding in Spain & the witnesses don't make speeches, so they were treated to both a Best Man/Bridesmaid and speeches!

A Spanish friend acted as translator for the BM (he gave her a copy of his speech in advance so she could translate the jokes etc.)

Worked incredibly well

GAA widow · 13-09-2006 09:04PM

i've a bit of Italian - have found that Italians have a very similar sense of humour to Irish people - they get the "self-deprecating" and "slagging" styles (unlike Americans generally). Italians also love to hear a few words in Italian - mention something about them winning the World Cup. Something like "Benvenuti - forza azzurri campioni del mondo!"

Bilingual Best Man Speech

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