Teacup Café XXXI

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Coffeehouse

Mhm yeah I guess perhaps so. Tho 2005 was just in the wake of the LOTR-mania and I doubt that something like that will happen in the near future.

It's weird, how those three movies changed the scenery. I remember I had to struggle to explain to kids (when I was about 12) my age what LOTR was.. swoosh! *over their heads*

When I was 12, LOTR hadn't been translated into Norwegian yet ... when I was 17, a girl in my class at secondary school was reading it in English. I remember her talking about 'Gandalf' and 'Strider' - it sounded interesting enough, but I couldn't face such large chunks of English.

Not then.

[Coffeehouse]

When did they translate it anyways? I read both in English first as far as I can remember. The Hobbit when I was pretty young, somewhere in the mid-90s, and LOTR in 96 or 97 or something, but by then it was of course translated and so I read the Norwegian version also (I remember buying all three books at Fornebu Airport in Oslo because they'd just been re-published along with a new Hobbit, which I also bought!)

I don't remember the Norwegian names in the works tho. Except Brennevinna or something, the Brandywine.

[katya]

I love your new avatar, CH! That's a great movie.

[Coffeehouse]

Thanx Robin Hood is a cool movie! I want cornbread..

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Coffeehouse

When did they translate it anyways? I read both in English first as far as I can remember. The Hobbit when I was pretty young, somewhere in the mid-90s, and LOTR in 96 or 97 or something, but by then it was of course translated and so I read the Norwegian version also (I remember buying all three books at Fornebu Airport in Oslo because they'd just been re-published along with a new Hobbit, which I also bought!)

I don't remember the Norwegian names in the works tho. Except Brennevinna or something, the Brandywine.

They were translated in the mid 1970s, I think. I first read them in Danish, actually, the first Scandinavian version I got my hands on in the library. The first version was rather bad, apparently, and later they got another translator to retranslate it. I don't remember when The Hobbit was translated - I suspect it would be later.

I could probably find out by studying a little in the library database ...

I owned a copy in English before I owned one in Norwegian. Long before.

[katya]

I read apart of The Hobbit in Japanese, but that's a little different because that's a second language to me. I recommend everyone read the English though, if they can, because I'm so in love with all the words. Every time I think of Frodo's "acrobatics" in the Prancing Pony I want to read LotR. I wonder if "acrobatics" sounds as good in other languages. It might.

[Coffeehouse]

Lol.. well we say akrobatikker in Norwegian. The same kinda I guess. I wonder what the Japanese take on names is.. F.ex. Bilbo Baggins is Bilbo Lommelun in Norwegian, which is a play on words I think: Lomme + Lun(d), which is Pocket + Clearing in the woods Am I wrong in this Varnafinde?

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Coffeehouse

Lol.. well we say akrobatikker in Norwegian. The same kinda I guess. I wonder what the Japanese take on names is.. F.ex. Bilbo Baggins is Bilbo Lommelun in Norwegian, which is a play on words I think: Lomme + Lun(d), which is Pocket + Clearing in the woods Am I wrong in this Varnafinde?

No, you shouldn't be - and you've just explained the 'Lun' part of it to me, which has always baffled me!

The first translator put 'Bilbo Sekker' - which means 'a sack' more than anything else.

And as you said, there's also 'Brennvina'

[katya]

I think the names are pretty much the same except written in Japanese characters, which makes it necessary for them to be read as "Birubo Baginzu" and stuff like that. The Hobbit is called "Hobbit no Bouken" (Hobitto no Bouken) which means "the adventure of the hobbit" and LotR is "Yubiwa Monogatari" or "story of the ring". I think the names that are English words or have some meaning are changed, like Black Riders is translated to the Japanese equivalent and Strider is also translated.

[Varnafindë]

Btw, Coffeehouse, have you seen copies of 'Ringdrotten' in the bookshops?
Quite an interesting concept - very much in the style of the Professor himself.

[Coffeehouse]

Well I don't know that's the right way to understand it. Just seems natural since it sort of explains where Bilbo lives, a pocket home in the hillside in a clearing. Also, if you think about it, Bilbo is a pick-pocketer (is that a word?) in the Hobbit, sneaking about and stealing the Ring and going in and around in the Misty Mountains, and slipping away in the Elven kingdom and also doing some pick-pocketing in the Lonely Mountain! So that's a double play on words in a way... I may be wrong.

No I haven't.. What is "Ringdrotten"?

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Coffeehouse

Well I don't know that's the right way to understand it. Just seems natural since it sort of explains where Bilbo lives, a pocket home in the hillside in a clearing. Also, if you think about it, Bilbo is a pick-pocketer (is that a word?) in the Hobbit, sneaking about and stealing the Ring and going in and around in the Misty Mountains, and slipping away in the Elven kingdom and also doing some pick-pocketing in the Lonely Mountain! So that's a double play on words in a way... I may be wrong.

I also just guess that it's right because it looks right for the reasons you say.

No I haven't.. What is "Ringdrotten"?

Translation into 'nynorsk'.
The translator doesn't just translate into the standard version of that language (which, for the rest of you, is a variety of Norwegian, the smaller one of the two official versions of Norwegian).
He makes use of the dialects - gives the Hobbits the more rustic accents, but Frodo and Bilbo less so - and gives the Gondoreans just about the standard version.

I haven't read the book, but I read the foreword by the translator, quite an interesting article, actually. I wonder whether I've got it somewhere - I missed a meeting where he was speaking about it, and he may have given away copies of that article when the meeting was announced.

[Coffeehouse]

I googled it and yeah it looks kinda cool with dialects assigned to different races. Even the Orcs get their own, that'll raise some eyebrows amongst people who speak it

Gd night ppl!

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

I've always found the comparative lack of regional voices in JRRT's work (which I've only read in English) somewhat puzzling.

[The last sane person]

OMG, Coffeehouse, yer avatar is awesome. Woot!

I loved the animated Robin Hood. Only thing better was Jungle Book. THAT is the bestest evar. Yep

[shesabrandybuck]

I just spent all evening at Red Robin with my friend and becoming friends with all the waiters and waitresses

How is everyone else?

[The last sane person]

Exhausted and sore, but otherwise happy.

And confused. I think my cockatiel just barked at me.

[shesabrandybuck]

Hmm, your cockatiel? I can see why that would confuse you...
My foot is rather sore, I have the worst foot cramp. I hate my flat feet.
Did I miss anything? Too lazy to catch up for myself heh heh....

[The last sane person]

Nah, not really.

Well, it confused me and my dogs; cause I thought one of them had barked, and each of the dogs looked at the other and wondered who was the one that barked.

Then I heard my 'tiel "Laughing" as he does when he thinks he has pulled the wool over my eyes. Sneaky little tweet that he is...

[shesabrandybuck]

Haha, thats so cute about your dogs and how they looked at each other
What kind of dogs do you have?