Need help for correct translation of two words from English to Italian.

Also, it's not exactly correct to say that there are "gender specific translations". Italian nouns are gendered, which means that the forms of adjectives used with them depends on a property called "gender". But a female-gendered noun can be used to name a property or characteristic of a male individual.

The English word balance has many meetings. Off the top of my head it's 1. A device for comparing masses 2. The result of an accounting calculation 3. A sense that allows one to tell where one's center of mass is and how it's moving 4. The ability to control the position and momentum of one's body 5. An aesthetic judgement that various elements of a work of art are integrated in such a way that no single element dominates. Which meaning do you intend?

The number one best place to get a solid range of answer for this or any similar Italian-English interpretation questions is the forums on WordReference.com. There's an http://forum.wordreference.com/forumdisplay.php?f=4. I *think* that you want EQUILIBRIO and AUTONOMIA, without the articles, as others have said, but you could clarify what you intend. If you want a gender specific word that describes the person, you want an adjective rather than a noun, i.e. "Balanced" and "Autonomous". I can't think of any immediately unfortunate interpretations of this but you might enjoy/bear in mind http://streetcarnage.com/blog/my-unintentionally-hilarious-fascist-tattoo/.

"Calabrese dialect" is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Calabria.

I'm going to ask my Italian friends, but while we are in the topic, are you sure you want it in standard Italian and not in Calabrese dialect?

My Italian friend's translation jibes with jaguar's. She says you can get EQUILIBRIO and AUTONOMIA tattooed on your chest. She also says you don't need the articles "because those words have iconic value...it wouldn't be wrong but it would look weird." She also thirds the idea that a noun's gender doesn't inflect for a person. It would if you wanted to put adjectives on your body (if you wanted to tattoo "balanced" and "autonomous" on your body referring to yourself, those adjectives would reflect your gender). But a noun has its own gender that doesn't have anything to do with you. Happy tattooing!

I'm italian, you want l'equilibrio e l'autonomia. Equilibrio is masculine and autonomia is feminine. But you should just use EQUILIBRIO and AUTONOMIA unless you specifically want to reference THE balance and THE autonomy.

Yes makes sense I would want the Calabrese dialect. How would that differ from EQUILIBRIO and AUTONOMIA in traditional Italian? My father might be able to tell me. With balance, I am after the meaning of the word with reference to a balanced life, thoughts, and so on. Thanks for the links and thoughts everyone!

I can't translate that to Calabrese, but I came to warn you to check it with like ten people before getting it under your skin. I've been told Calabrese is difficult, so I can imagine someone who left the country 50 years ago making spelling mistakes. Probably even someone who still lives there could spell it wrong.