Translation

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel Himmelstrand
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Drakeule
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Translation

Post by Drakeule » Thu Aug 25, 2016 12:50 am

Was it actually a shotgun that Donald had In the swedish version? They way it was discribed in the Australian version didn’t seem right. Unless he was using slugs and a scope.

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metoo
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Re: Translation

Post by metoo » Thu Aug 25, 2016 5:01 am

Drakeule wrote:Was it actually a shotgun that Donald had In the swedish version? They way it was discribed in the Australian version didn’t seem right. Unless he was using slugs and a scope.
The word used in the Swedish original is "gevär", which by itself just means a gun with a long barrel, i.e. a rifle or a shotgun. However, the term I believe is mostly used for rifles - had it been a shotgun the text would have said so, i.e. "hagelgevär" or "hagelbössa".

Furthermore, this passage suggests a rifle: "the bullet passes through the rear window and the back seat before it punches a hole into the glove compartment".

Also, the gun has a scope, which reinforces the impression of a rifle.

Thirdly, this passage definitively suggests a rifle:
"När han är nere på marken gör han en mantelrörelse och för in en kula i loppet, ..."
"When he is down at the ground he operates the bolt and gets a bullet in position, ..." My bad translation, I don't know the terminology in English...
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Drakeule
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Re: Translation

Post by Drakeule » Thu Aug 25, 2016 5:26 am

Thanks, metoo. The translator did seem to mess a few things up. Pretty bad if I noticed. Don't think they were too familiar with English terms.

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StefL
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Re: Translation

Post by StefL » Mon Nov 07, 2016 3:58 pm

Drakeule wrote:Thanks, metoo. The translator did seem to mess a few things up. Pretty bad if I noticed. Don't think they were too familiar with English terms.
I thought I general rule was that you always translate into your mother tongue?
Not that it keeps translators into Swedish from messing up - I've seen numerous cases of words and expressions from my professional field (science) being messed up. Classical examples are for instance the metal "tungsten", which happens to be a word of Swedish origin meaning "heavy stone" but which is called wolfram in Swedish, and lazy translators not realizing that sodium is called natrium in Swedish...

danielmann861
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Re: Translation

Post by danielmann861 » Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:42 am

Yeah, I'm currently reading it now and just got to that section. Was a bit perplexed in reading it thinking "what kind of shotgun gets that much range?"

I was thinking it sounded more like a rifle as I was reading it and wondered if it was a translation gaf? It is the same translator as far as I'm aware. Marlaine Delargy has translated all of his books thus far as far as I know so I don't know what happened here...and I haven't read the original text so I'll take peoples word here. But even I found it weird when reading thinking "what shotgun gets that much range?"

As for the book, I'm about 200pages in. I'm trying to knock it out before "I Am The Tiger" arrives. I started this trilogy actually with I Always Find You so going back to I Am Behind You is interesting to see all the little parallels between the two. i.e John's sort of friendship with a skin head in I Always Find You versus Carina's past running with skin heads for example.

It's interesting. I'm actually quite liking it on its own terms though. I'm intrigued by these characters and their past tragedies and am curious to see where this all leads. Will be curious to read I Am The Tiger when we finally get there.

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