regndoft | -... From That Grave There Grew A Tree...-

Ok. Reading the first chapter of Catch 22 and post opinion in A course forum=Done. Also, almost finished the first of my two Swedish essays. :D

Therefore, I thought it was time for me to indulge myself and some other people on my F-List a little. Not counting the coke and chocolate next to me, that is. I remember telling (promising? o__o;) Finny amongst other people to make an entry here concerning the English edition vs the Swedish translation of Good Omens, comparing words and expressions and such. Last year, in fact. And today I finally had enough of severe procrastination to the point of ridiculousness and decided to write it.

Since I haven't actually *read* the Swedish edition, just skimmed through, I won't bring up every single difference between the two, just some of the more memorable quotes or that I find a little funny. Since I'm going to write both English and Swedish quote and then try to explain as detailed as possible the differnces it might end up quite long as well, so I'm not sure how many quotes I'll get done when I'm writing this.

Anyway, here's to dorkiness:

(In case you didn't get it, the cut text is the translation of the very first line of the prologue. Go figure if you can't figure out which that is. XP)

First thing I might mention is that the little I've read of it, the Swedish translation is very good. Most of the descriptions basically say what the original version does, except for some of the examples I'm going to bring up here and the changes of some names for the sake of linguistic convenience.

To start of lightly, I'll bring to attention the title of the book, Goda Omen, which is exactly the same as the English. The first thing that drew my attention though was the translation of The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter; "Agnes Nutters Nyktra och Precisa Profetior." I love the translation here, because it basically MEANS the same thing but the effect it has on the book is actually a little funnier than in the English version. "Nykter", (the singular form of "Nyktra",) means sober, which certainly gives some different implications than nice. XP

(Page 17, 2006 American edition.)

"Why me?" said Crowley desperately. "You know me, Hastur, this isn't, you know, my scene..."
"Oh, it is, it is," said Hastur. "Your scene. Your starring role. Take it. Times are changing."

"Varför just jag?" sa Crowley desperat. "Du känner mig, Hastur, du vet att det här inte är min likör..."
"Jodå, det är det," sa Hastur. "Din likör. Hela flaskan. Ta den. Tiderna förändras."

- Basically the same, except that they've changed the expressions scene, starring role to "Liqueur, the whole bottle." I quite liked the alcoholic references. XD

(P.38)

"Technically Aziraphale was a Principality, but people made jokes about that these days."

"Tekniskt sett var Aziraphale en Suveränitet, men det gjorde sig folk lustiga över nuförtiden."

- Not of any significance, except that the Swedish equivalence of Principality, from the word "Suverän", literally means "superb". 8D An alternate translation is sovereign, which is probably closer to what the translator was aiming for (I don't know what Principality actually IS in Swedish, I have never found any book on angels in Swedish, but I'm pretty sure it's not Suveränitet.) but it's not exactly what you as a native speaker first relate it to.

(p. 41.)

"No more compact discs. No more Albert Hall. No more Proms. No more Glyndbourne. Just celestial harmonies all day."
"Ineffable," Aziraphale murmured.

"Inga fler cd-skivor. Inget mer Albert Hall. Inga fler promenadkonserter. Inget mer Glyndebourne. Bara himmelska harmonier dagarna i ända."
"Ofattbart," muttrade Aziraphale.

-MISTRANSLATION. The only one I've found, actually. According to several online dictionaries, alternate meanings of 'ineffable' is indefinable, indescribable, inexpressible, unspeakable, unutterable or untellable, but never incomprehensible, which "Ofattbart" means. XP

"Aziraphale relaxed. "You know, Crowley," he said, beaming. "I've always said that, deep down inside, you're really quite a--"
"All right, all right," Crowley snapped. "Tell the whole blessed world, why don't you?"

"Aziraphale slappnade av. "Vet du, Crowley," sa han och strålade mot demonen, "jag har alltid hävdat att du, innerst inne, egentligen är en riktig ä--"
"Okej, okej," fräste Crowley. "Varför går du inte och berättar för hela världen!"

- The differences between these two sentences are actually both interesting and stunning. (o.o;) It seems to me that the Swedish version underlines the demonic/angelic aspects of Aziraphale and Crowley, and before reading that line it never hit me before that Aziraphale's "A--" could be the beginning of 'Angelic.' It might not have been the authors' original intention, but it's an interesting interpretation.

Aziraphale's line literally translated from Swedish means "You know, Crowley," he said and beamed towards the demon, "I've always claimed that you, deep inside, really is a real a--" I took the liberty to bold the words I found worth noting. In this context, the Swedish "Ä--" can be nothing else than "Ängel."

Crowley's line is basically the same, but leaving out the word 'blessed' and for some reason adding an exclamation instead of a question mark at the end of the sentence.

(p.105)

"Which meant, as she had feared, that it was probably in the back of a car belonging to two consenting cycle repairmen."

"Vilket innebar, precis som hon hela tiden hade befarat, att den troligen låg i baksätet på en bil tillhörande två homosexuella cykelreparatörer."

- I just love how the Swedish version straightly states that Anathema believes they're both homosexual. No waltzing around here, oh no. 8D

Quick pause here to state that the clock is ten o'clock in the evening over here and I'm getting kind of tired, so I'll just jump far ahead and add two more examples only for the sheer gayness of them. XD

(p.151)

"Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide."
"De flesta människor som träffade Aziraphale för första gången kom snabbt fram till tre slutsatser: att han var engelsman, att han var intelligent, och att han var fjolligare än en fikus i full blom."

- I nearly DIED when I read the translated version for the first time! XD Literally translated, it becomes something like "The majority of people who met Aziraphale for the first time quickly reached three conclusions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was more of a pansy than a ficus in full bloom."

Which doesn't make much sense at all, unless you know that ficus is Swedish slang for gay, queer, etc etc. That and the references to 'full bloom' nearly killed me. (Small source of annoyance: 'fjolla' is commonly translated to 'silly woman.' This is the general use, but in this context 'pansy' really is more accurate. Which almost makes it even more hilarious since pansy is also a flower. XD)

That and the fact that people reach CONCLUSIONS and doesn't form IMPRESSIONS is also kind of amusing. 83

Also, from the same paragraph:

"(...) angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort."

"(...) änglar är könlösa såvida de inte verkligen är beredda att bjuda till."

- Now, they essentially MEAN the same thing, but a literal Swedish translation could be something like this: "Angels are sexless unless they are really prepared to make an offer." For further hilarity, note that 'att bjuda', in a different context, also could mean "to invite."

Conclusion: ~~if you didn't think Crowley/Aziraphale had real basis in the book, read the Swedish version.~~ Translations=Hilarity.

//Taiyou-Chan.