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Translation - Icelandic-English - Beautiful Icelandic song/poetry (Sigur Ros and Steindor Anderson)

Current statusTranslation
This text is available in the following languages: IcelandicEnglish

Category Poetry

Title
Beautiful Icelandic song/poetry (Sigur Ros and Steindor Anderson)
Text
Submitted by emonine
Source language: Icelandic

Fjöll í austri fagurblá
freista dalabarnsins.
Ungur fylgir æskuþrá
upp til jökulhjarnsins.

Sveimað heimahögum frá
hef ég vors á degi,
víða stíða þræddi þá
þunga hraunavegi.

Heiðin breiða hugumkær
hvetur viljann ofar.
Leiðin seiðir, fráum fær,
fögrum sýnum lofar.

Gangan sækist öruggt enn
urðarróti móti.
Einatt hlutu heiðamenn
höggvinn fót á grjóti.

Hver, sem ofar á að ná,
einskis metið getur
þótt í fangið fái sá
fjúk og hretið betur.

Anda heitum yndi nóg
unaðsreitir geyma.
Seinna leitar þráin þó
þinna sveita heima.
Remarks about the translation
Hello, this is a beautiful song/poem by Sigur Ros and Steindor Anderson I would like translated. Thanks!
PS I hope I will get to go to Iceland sometime.. (:

Title
Beautiful Icelandic song/poetry (Sigur Ros and Steindor Anderson)
Translation
English

Translated by pias
Target language: English

Beautiful blue mountains in the east
tempt the child of the valley.
Young ones following their dream
up to the top of the glacier.

I have left the fields of home
on a day of spring,
to thread the wide
heavy roads made of lava.

The moorland, beautiful and widespread
spurs the will further.
The road so tough, impassable for some,
promises beautiful sights.

The hike is still safe,
rocky slopes to be forced.
Mountaineers, often got a wounded foot
by these very rocks.

The ones who reach for the top
no reward receive,
while in their arms
only snowstorm and cold spell.

Spiritual, solemn atmosphere
conceals great happiness.
Later on, the longing calls you
to return home.
Remarks about the translation
The original lyrics is alliterative, rhyming and written with very few words, lovely!! I wish it was possible to translate it that way, this is the best I could come up with. Maybe we have other members/ experts, able to help improve the translation, I hope so =)
Validated by lilian canale - 5 February 2012 14:19





Last messages

Author
Message

28 January 2012 22:18

Bamsa
Number of messages: 1524
The request can be interpreted differently since it is a poem. This version seems to be ok, but let me start with the first verse:
"dalabarnsins" dalur -> valley
"jökulhjarnsins" hjarn -> crust of snow (I guess this "crust" can be found at the top of the glacier as well)

29 January 2012 12:45

pias
Number of messages: 8113
Thank you Ernst.

About 'dalabarnsins': I've never heard this word (but I'm a beginner at Icelandic) not in my BIG dictionary and it can't be found on the net either. Could it be a local word? Don't know if it makes sense... but the original rímur was once written by Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (who lived in West Island) In this region there is a county named Dalasýsla, and according to my dictionary, you can call a man from that county a "dalamaður". Could 'dalabarnsins' refer to children native to the region?

I could change the last row -> up to the frozen crust on the glacier if that is closer to the original, no probs

Do you have any suggestions Ernst, how to translate this first part?

CC: Bamsa

29 January 2012 14:52

Bamsa
Number of messages: 1524
You are right about "dalabarnsins", you can not find it because it is a compound word: "dalur" and "barn". Off course you can call a man "dalamaður" from that region. The problem is that there are a lot of names where "dalur" is a part of the name. E.g. Lítlidalur, Stóridalur, Efstidalur etc.
Anyway "walley" in your translation has to be corrected.
I don't know how to say "jökulhjarnsins" better, because I don't know if the poet thought about the top of the glaicer or that place where the glaicer start. Just let it as it is because "up to the top of the glaicer" sounds better than "up to the frozen crust on the glacier" maybe someone else have a better idea.

29 January 2012 15:37

pias
Number of messages: 8113
"...tempt the child of the region" Is that ok?

29 January 2012 16:14

pias
Number of messages: 8113
Ernst: do you have any other suggestions for what to write instead of walley? I guess I don't understand the meaning of this word :/

29 January 2012 18:16

Bamsa
Number of messages: 1524
What you wrote is ok except: walley -> valley

29 January 2012 18:56

pias
Number of messages: 8113
I never saw the misspelling, thank you! I thought I had misunderstood the word COMPLETELY.

29 January 2012 19:09

pias
Number of messages: 8113
Lilian, I don't dare edit, since you have set a poll. Could you please fix it?

CC: lilian canale

5 February 2012 13:07

lilian canale
Number of messages: 14972
Hi Ernst,

Would you say Pia's version is fine?
I'm afraid I'll have to trust your input to accept the translation because there will be no other votes.

5 February 2012 13:07

lilian canale
Number of messages: 14972
Ops!


CC: Bamsa

5 February 2012 14:17

Bamsa
Number of messages: 1524
It is not a literal translation, which would be impossible. It can be said in many ways, since it is a poem. You can accept it as it is

5 February 2012 16:11

pias
Number of messages: 8113
Oh, I tried to stick to the original as close as possible, because that's the only way I could translate it (almost impossible to keep the rhyme in English). I would say this IS a literal translation -much more than a free, poetic one :-D