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Sometimes the vocabulary words that Duo throws at me seem so very random... But I guess that's what I get for using such a service. ;) Anyway, one of the words from today was duk (tablecloth), and that reminded me of one of Hauge's poems. So, I went to dig up my volume of his work.
"Ny duk/New Tablecloth" is one of those ones where, even though it's so short, there seems to be variation in how some lines are translated... I suppose, since it's a bite-sized work, it makes even the smallest differences stand out even more than they would in a longer poem.
( Hauge's original )
( Bly's translation )
( Grinde's translation )
I think for the most part, I prefer Grinde's translation, though I do like the way Bly's scans. Though the last line is an exception; neither of them really work for me there. I think if I were going to translate that one it would be like... "and birds have come to settle on it" or something. (But this is a half-formed 6AM thought by someone who does not speak Norwegian, so. My opinion is worth nothing. xD)
Also, note to self: "so kom fuglane og sette seg" -> The reason you couldn't find this use of so in your dictionary is because Bokmål doesn't use it. See så instead for the equivalent. ...I need to take care when reading Hauge's work in the original, because while a lot of things do match up with the type of Norwegian that I'm learning, a lot of things very much do not. And it makes it easy to get confused or sidetracked. The regional quality of his work is one of the things that makes it so lovely! But it complicates things a bit for a learner.
"Ny duk/New Tablecloth" is one of those ones where, even though it's so short, there seems to be variation in how some lines are translated... I suppose, since it's a bite-sized work, it makes even the smallest differences stand out even more than they would in a longer poem.
( Hauge's original )
( Bly's translation )
( Grinde's translation )
I think for the most part, I prefer Grinde's translation, though I do like the way Bly's scans. Though the last line is an exception; neither of them really work for me there. I think if I were going to translate that one it would be like... "and birds have come to settle on it" or something. (But this is a half-formed 6AM thought by someone who does not speak Norwegian, so. My opinion is worth nothing. xD)
Also, note to self: "so kom fuglane og sette seg" -> The reason you couldn't find this use of so in your dictionary is because Bokmål doesn't use it. See så instead for the equivalent. ...I need to take care when reading Hauge's work in the original, because while a lot of things do match up with the type of Norwegian that I'm learning, a lot of things very much do not. And it makes it easy to get confused or sidetracked. The regional quality of his work is one of the things that makes it so lovely! But it complicates things a bit for a learner.
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.