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Danish in Ibsen? | ||
Tags: Danish | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Skandinavisk & Nordisk |  | |
| AlOlaf Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5233 days ago 491 posts - 617 votes  Speaks: English*, GermanC2 Studies: Danish | Message 1 of 3 26 April 2012 at 6:24pm | IP Logged |
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I'm finally getting a handle on the German, so I decided a while back to start learning Norwegian. I'm not very far along (just finished the Pimsleur course) and I'm looking for resources. I read about Heinrich Schliemann's method of comparing source texts with translations and found three works by Henrik Ibsen in two-language form, that is, with Norwegian on one page and the German translation on the facing page. The works are Peer Gynt, Et dukkehjem and Gengangere.
I started going through these books and noticed that some of the Norwegian words are different from the ones I learned and look more like Danish. For example, in all three books it's "hvad" instead of "hva", "mig" and "dig" instead of "meg" and "deg" and "sige" instead of "si". If this is correct Norwegian usage, I can"t find it in any of my dictionaries or textbooks. If it's archaic usage, I wonder if it's a good idea for a beginner like me to be learning it. Can I expect to find more deviations like these in these books? I can't find any other Norwegian-German parallel texts anywhere, except for the rudimentary Book2, which I've already worked through. Any ideas? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4929 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 2 of 3 26 April 2012 at 8:40pm | IP Logged |
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Norwegian in the 19th century was not the language as we know it today. Authors like Ibsen wrote more or less Danish which was pronounced after the Norwegian fashion, this was called riksmål. Modern bokmål is closer to the way Norwegians actually talk. And then there is, of course, nynorsk which is based on the rural dialects of Norwegian.
Today, Ibsen and other authors are normally published in modernized orthography. You finding Danicisms in his works obviously means that you have purchased an old edition which preserves the conservative orthography of the 19th century. This might not be optimal for a beginner of Norwegian, if you are still getting used to how words are spelled. Maybe you should read something different first and then come back to Ibsen when you are comfortable with modern orthography. Unfortunately, I cannot give you any advice as to what to read. I do not know Norwegian literature very well. I am more interested in Swedish and Icelandic. Edited by Josquin on 26 April 2012 at 9:39pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| davidwelsh Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5614 days ago 141 posts - 307 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, Norwegian, Esperanto, Swedish, Danish, French Studies: Polish, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Pali, Mandarin | Message 3 of 3 26 April 2012 at 11:29pm | IP Logged |
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I'd recommend Erland Loe's novel "Naiv Super". It's not too long, the language isn't too complicated, and it's been
translated into English. I'd also check out Lettlest Forlag for easy-to-read books in Norwegian. They have specially written titles, as well as adaptions of ordinary books. They're mainly aimed at native Norwegian speakers with learning difficulties, but are perfect for elementary to intermediate second language learners too. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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