As well known, transitivity is a phenomenon where typological differences
between languages often emerge and which in translation makes shifts necessary or at
least desirable. This statement also applies to a comparison between German and Italian
general languages, with the latter showing more freedom in using transitive structures
to express non-prototypical semantic roles. But do these differences hold for Languages
for Special Purposes as well? And are they also dependent on the specific text type?
This paper aims at providing first, tentative answers to these questions by analysing a
small selection of two different text types pertaining to technical communication but
with differing degrees of specialization, e.g. instructions for use of home appliances and
patents. The findings indeed point to some different tendencies in the two languages,
which should be taken into account by translators and teachers of translation in order
to optimize translation quality
