More adventures with learning Norwegian

[yuuago]

It's always kind of interesting to discover that things I had assumed re: vocabulary definitions are not quite so.

There is a Norwegian word, "tjern", which I had assumed means "lake", because of an old film I've seen - De dødes tjern, referred to in its English title as Lake of the Dead. And - silly me - even though I should know better, I thought it was a direct translation.

Turns out, "tjern" is more like "pond", and the word for "lake" is more typically "innsjø". Innsjø translates directly as like... in-sea, inland sea, that sort of thing. And I find it kind of interesting, because in English the concept of "inland sea" does exist, but typically it only refers to very large saltwater bodies like the Black Sea. You occasionally get someone referring to the Great Lakes as inland seas, but usually not. Either way, it has to be something Really Big, not an ordinary lake.

No surprise that De dødes tjern would be translated as "The Lake of the Dead", though. "The Pond of the Dead" does not sound very suspenseful or dramatic. ;p

(I always did wonder why the body of the water in the movie was a pond, rather than an actual lake. xD Mystery solved?)

After poking around a bit, I discovered that tarn is the actual English equivalent of tjern; it's a specific word for a mountain pond, traditionally used in northern England, and it's one of those fiddly bits of vocabulary borrowed from Old Norse - tjörn. Middle English version of it is terne/tarne, apparently. Anyway, I think that's neat.



Speaking of all this, I really should get around to doing more translation things... I had Big Plans to translate some history-related stuff over Christmas break, but I never got around to it. Definitely should start again. I find that it really improves my reading compared to, say, vocabulary drills and such, because it forces me to think more consciously about the grammar and so on. And of course, I need to look up every single word that I don't know (and even sometimes ones that I do know).

That's very slow going, of course, but I find that there's something about the physical act of looking through the dictionary and grammarbook that helps with the memory a bit. I should probably try writing things in a notebook, too - well, I should be writing in Norwegian more, period, because it's good practice even if I make a ton of mistakes. But physical writing has always helped me, somehow.

Comments

[zimena]

Det er så kult når du skriver om norsk. Jeg hadde aldri tenkt over at "tjern" er mer som "pond" på engelsk hvis jeg ikke hadde lest dette innlegget, så da lærte jeg noe nytt. Fortsatt lykke til med norsken din. Det er så gøy at du vil lære det! Stå på og kos deg!

;)

[yuuago]

Takk for oppfordrinen! Jeg skal forsøke å lærer mange ting på norsk. XD Kanskje jeg skal skrive på DW hvis lærer jeg mer interessant ting.
(Jeg kunne lese alt innlegget din unntatt sist setningen. :D Jeg så etter det i en ordbok. Men å skrive er... ffff det er mer vanskelig. xD)

[kanadka]

Very cool and thanks for sharing! I love learning about neat little etymological tricks like this.

[yuuago]

Happy to share it! ^^ Writing out stuff like this helps me remember it, too.

[dhampyresa]

Pond of the Dead sounds like a comedy! I'd watch it.

[yuuago]

Well when you put it THAT way... I would watch it too! xD