The Periodic Table x 2

This year sees the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Periodic Table, finally put in diagrammatic form by Dmitri Mendeleev. It is a tabular arrangement of the chemical elements arranged by atomic number, electron configuration and other properties, showing periodic trends.
Read about it HERE if you can't sleep.

The book, The Periodic Table (Il sistema periodico, published 1975) is a collection of autobiographical stories by the Italian author Primo Levi.

I have read several of his harrowing accounts of his life in the concentration camp and his incredible journey back home to Italy after the war.
All in English.

The Periodic Table recounts episodes in his life, all based on his love of Chemistry and his chosen career path.

I have read the book in English and am now trying to read it in Italian, a foolhardy task.

This photograph shows how I tackle the task. Various dictionaries and electronic translating tools plus, a stroke of genius, for in addition to the inexpensive copy of the book in Italian I bought a used copy of the book in English.

Thus I plough my way through it.

The translation has thrown up one interesting sidetrack. The author recounts a story in which his friend calls for him...."dopo pranzo" which I assumed, from the time of day and context, would be ..."after lunch...". However, the translator writes..."after dinner....". This strikes me as odd, and raises the whole subject of what we call the midday meal, lunch or dinner.

Does one's class and education interfere with what the author meant?
(These are rhetorical questions, please don't answer them).

In any event it gave me an excuse to stop reading and waste time pondering the use of the words.

In other words I am struggling.