No, questa non è una chat.

English Translation

No, this isn’t a chat.

The page on Treccani for the word chat has a single definition that means an internet discussion, for example in a “chat room”.

The English sentence here is more likely to be used where one person is telling the other that this is going to be a serious conversation, for example a boss about to reprimand an employee, or a parent about to tell off a naughty teenager.

Now, the Italian sentence on Tatoeba was posted by someone who seems to identify as an Italian native speaker, so I’m now left wondering - can the anglicism chat also be used as a synonym for chiacchierata?

(N.B. The Italian sentence on Tatoeba was posted as a translation of an Icelandic sentence, with both the Italian and Icelandic sentences being posted by the same author, even though the person indicates on their profile that they have very little knowledge of Icelandic.)

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Odd.

But yes, “chat” in Italian has a narrower meaning than “chat” in English, and restricted to telematic communication.

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