yuuago | Entries tagged with languages: english

If I say the word "housecoat", do you know what I mean?

( What it brings to mind for me )

I was writing something that used the word today, and realized that I almost never see it written down - neither in fiction nor in commercial context. Starting to think it might be another regionalism that I didn't realise was a regionalism.

(A quick search as I write this confirms it probably is a regionalism. There we go.)

Sometimes I do wonder if the regional vocabulary in the stuff I write gets people confused, but... well, I very rarely write characters who would actually be speaking English, so it doesn't really matter which form of English I use. Best to just do whatever pleases me and make the narration aggressively Canadian.

Good god, lie vs lay is confusing enough in English, how the heck am I supposed to keep it straight in Norwegian?!

( Continued, lie vs lay, å legge vs å ligge vs å stå )

...9 in the morning is too early in the day for studying Norwegian. Or any kind of studying, for that matter. At least if one has only had one cup of coffee.

I translated three newspaper articles for practice, but after looking over them, I decided to only post the most detailed one, because most of the information is pretty much the same throughout. It was a very fun and interesting experiment, though, and I am glad that I decided to take the time to translate all three.

Brief summary of the conflict:

The Battle of Vågen took place in 1665, and was part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. A fleet of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) had sought port in Vågen harbour at Bergen, and an English naval fleet attacked it there. The military forces in the Norwegian fortress, Bergenhus, were supposed to be under secret orders from the Danish king to aid the English, or at least not hinder their attack. However, Bergenhus did not receive the order to help the English, and they aided the Dutch, their actual allies, instead.

The Wikipedia article about this battle is pretty detailed, for those who would like to learn more.

Anyway, here's my translation.

( The great sea battle of Vågen | Det store sjøslaget på Vågen )

( Norsk blogging )

( Explanation of the above )

( Some tl;dr about Norwegian )

Crossposts: http://yuuago.livejournal.com/1237666.html

So, I have a new book of poetry... Usually I don't enjoy poetry very much, which I guess is a little weird considering I used to write it all the time. It's just that I usually prefer epic (and old) poetry, and short/recent stuff doesn't usually interest me.

It's a collection of work by Olav H Hauge, and I love it. I came across his work on the internet while looking up something, and I became instantly attached to it... I just love the images he makes use of and whatnot.

Anyway, to my surprise, the book I bought is a facing translation - the Norwegian on one side, English on the other. This is very exciting because it was unexpected, but even more than that -- I can read it! Well, partly. For most of the longer ones, I can't read them very well. But some of the shorter poems with easy vocabulary, I can read them! And even if there are words that I don't understand, I can either suss it out or (if I give up) just check in the translation. I managed to read an entire one of these short poems by myself and I felt so fucking proud of myself, ahhh. I haven't been studying much lately, so it feels good to know that I don't suck as much as I thought.

Maybe if I treat it the same way that I would Middle English, I'll learn tons by just reading it. :D Because in a lot of ways it does have the same feel as reading Middle English does. There's a lot of similarities there....

Yeahhhh I was excited enough about this that it gets its own entry.

Crossposts: http://yuuago.livejournal.com/1149516.html

I suppose I've been quiet lately. Not commenting as much as I should. Sorry about that. I'm still around, just feeling distracted.

( Blah blah boring real life stuff )

On a much more interesting and much lighter note, I managed to go downtown today, and (unexpectedly) picked up some books. I normally don't buy books in person, because they're less expensive online, but... well. No matter. The first is a graphic novel; Scott Chantler's Two Generals, which takes place during WWII. The art style looks familiar but I can't place the author's name. Anyhow, lately I've been good at resisting new books, especially expensive ones, but this one looked so good that I couldn't resist. Nice art and a beautiful cover besides, and... well, the author is Canadian, and it's written from a Canadian perspective, and that's the kind of thing that really attracts me. So.

The second book, though... An edition of Beowulf. In Old English. It's very, very heavily glossed (verso is the text, while recto is completely glosses) but hooo boy. Uh. Whether I will be able to read it is questionable. On the other hand, it's very possible that once I get rolling, I'll get the hang of it. ... Still. Considering I haven't read Beowulf in a few years, and I've never studied Old English, and I haven't read anything in even Middle English in a good while... this should be challenging. But, well. It was only two dollars. :V

I think my desire to attempt to read it in Old English is tangentially related to an internal conflict I have been having lately. That conflict relates to Middle English. See, I've been considering giving up with struggling to learn unfamiliar languages (and giving up very quickly every time I try) and instead concentrate on learning Middle English, which I do know somewhat. I don't need to "study" it in the traditional sense of learning vocabulary and grammar rules and blah blah blah; I can already read it. So, it would just be a matter of reading things in the original texts to grow and improve. Sounds good.

( Language angst )

Current Music: Bellowhead - Broomfield Hill

Today was the last day of winter. Tomorrow, the first day of spring - that's cause for celebration, I say. I'm going to go out with my camera during the day. I think I'll head down to the river and try to get some photos there, then maybe make my way through the residential areas, with their narrow streets and thick trees. I hope the sun will be shining; photos are always nicer on sunny days. The air, too, feels different. Even so, it'll be a while before things really feel like spring - certainly tomorrow won't feel like the following --

Lenten ys come wiþ loue to toune,
wiþ blosmen ant wiþ briddes roune,
þat al þis blisse bryngeþ.
Dayeseȝes in þis dales,
notes suete of nyhtengales,
vch foul song singeþ.

Or, in translation,

Lent has come with love to town,
with blossoms and with birds round,
that all this bliss bringeth.
Daisies in the dales,
notes sweet of nightingales,
each bird a song singeth.

I've been working on translations of short Middle English poems recently. I probably shouldn't be doing it. On the one hand, translating them does help me understand them a bit better. On the other hand, this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing for my homework! Heavy glossing and commentary and authorial notes, yes, but not translating. ... Oh, well. Since I'm pretty sure I won't be able to use my translations for my final assignment, I might put some up in here later.

And since Ari is doing it, too -- "Ask me something you think you should know about me, something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about, or something you've always been curious about but have never asked, or something completely silly that you'd like me to answer for kicks. No limits on the range of questions, either: ask me anything you want to know about, whether it's a fannish opinion or a question about a fic of mine or trivia about my real life or my thoughts on events in the offline world."

... Because clearly, I want to do anything BUT homework today. And tomorrow, too.

Current Music: Loreena McKennitt - Bonny Portmore

☆❀☆

Entries tagged with languages: english

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More adventures with learning Norwegian

The great sea battle of Vågen | Det store sjøslaget på Vågen

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:D

Reading Beowulf in Old English? GREAT IDEA.

Away is heure wynter wo

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