tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679250124748682578.post6493928925786021709..comments2017-05-31T08:24:41.978+02:00Comments on Nestled Between the Mountains and a Fjord: I play a mean game of RumpeldunkHWEladhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06650916208714317375noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679250124748682578.post-609925142209687722012-03-12T15:14:52.227+01:002012-03-12T15:14:52.227+01:00Thank you for the shout-out!Thank you for the shout-out!Jeremy Sternhttp://www.getora.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2679250124748682578.post-68519849105971872662012-03-07T09:59:38.148+01:002012-03-07T09:59:38.148+01:00"I’m finally doing it. The rite of passage th..."I’m finally doing it. The rite of passage that means one has mastered a language. That’s right. I’m reading Harry Potter in Norwegian."<br /><br />It does seem like Harry Potter is the mark of mastering a language, or at least universal enough to be used for learning a language better. One of the English Linguistics students who finished in November recently wrote on facebook that he was reading Philosopher's (or Sorcerer's for you Americans :]) Stone in German, which he is taking at 100-level this term.<br /><br />"Losing that makes the book more Norwegian, sure, but at the expense of some of its brilliance. In this case the attempt to translate the ideas instead of the literal has failed sadly."<br /><br />I think translation some of both the ideas and the literal have worked, to some extent, but you need an awareness of Norwegian folklore and etymology that even the average Norwegian reader does not have (which is probably also the case with many native readers of the English books, and their rich etymology, come to think of it). Back when I was swept up in the hype, and despite reading them in English, I used to know a website in Norwegian that explained the translated names along with their original English meaning, but now I can't find it...<br /><br />"But here in Norway, I can see Norwegian prejudices and bias objectively, and my outsider stance has let me take a good look at my own prejudices more clearly than ever before."<br /><br />Not to say that the prejudices and bias ISN'T there, but you shouldn't believe so strongly in your ability to see things "objectively". Rather, you're seeing things very much subjectively rather than objectively, exactly through your outsider stance as you point out. I think you'll need more years in Norway and a deeper understanding for a more nuanced objective stance between American and Norwegian society (which lies within the term transculturation). Although, of course, none of us can help trying to make a point sometimes. Luckily for us Norwegians, the U.S. is large enough to include and accommodate all our stereotypes, seemingly without paradox. :0)<br /><br />"Until now, I always knew what I was supposed to think, and tried to think it. But this year has bared the arrogance of that to me, and shown me that much as I’d like to have some kind of superior understanding, I’m as much enmeshed in my own position in society as anyone, and so I ought not to force some kind of perfectly politically correct thinking onto my own mind, but to actually figure out what I really think, and then work to understand why."<br /><br />Words to live by indeed.Jonashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04225729719275912210noreply@blogger.com