Lögberg-Heimskringla - 04.11.2005, Page 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 4 November 2005
Getting lost in translation
David Jón Fuller
Managing Editor
Translation from one lan-
guage or medium to an-
other can be difficult. This
struck me when I first went to
Iceland and learned that foreign
television shows and movies are
not dubbed into Icelandic, but
subtitled.
I don’t mind reading along
the bottom of the screen when
watching a movie in another
language, and like some fellow
students in my dorm, I used Ice-
landic subtitles as an excuse to
watch a lot of TV. “Really, I’m
studying—I can leam the gram-
mar from this.” Right.
That trick didn’t work so
well when watching “Komissar
Rex” from Germany, or mov-
ies from Finland. At that point I
was just staring at the TV. Simi-
larly, when I went to see my first
movie in Icelandic, Tár úrsteini,
I was a bit crestfallen to discover
that most of that was in German
too, being set for the most part in
Nazi Germany.
That wasn’t the first movie I
ever saw in Iceland though; that
honour belongs to The Viking
Sagas. I had come to the coun-
try with much of my knowledge
based on the sagas and some
pamphlets from the Icelandic
National League. So naturally
I assumed that seeing a movie
based on those same sagas would
be the perfect way to start soak-
ing up the culture and maybe
even meet some Icelanders.
Weil, I was partly right.
There were indeed some Iceland-
ers in the audience that night, but
what I soaked up wasn’t what I
expected. They howled with
laughter all through the movie.
I can’t say I blame them. In ad-
dition to some cheesy narration,
the movie was completely in
English, ostensibly to appeal to
a wider audience. The producers
would have done better to take a
bit more care with the acting and
writing. The lead was played by
a German bodybuilder, and the
plot was a pastiche of memo-
rable moments and stunts from
some of the more well-known
sagas. The only saving grace, for
me, was that it had been filmed
in Iceland, so I got to see more
of the landscape of the country.
I was still living in Iceland
when the original Star Wars
trilogy was rereleased around
the world. As someone who
has grown up with those mov-
ies, I was still surprised at their
popularity in Iceland. One of my
cousins, nearly the same age as
me, had also seen them as a kid
and loved them. I wondered how
this could be — surely at four
or five years old he hadn’t been
reading all those subtitles? No,
he explained; but with Star Wars
you can tell what’s going on just
by watching.
This is actually true of just
about any movie or TV show;
despite my frustration at watch-
ing Tár úr steini, I saw it again
after my knowledge of Icelandic
had improved and realized I’d
understood most of it correctly
the first time though.
And when I watched Star
Wars (Stjörnustríð), I was able
to read the subtitles with some
appreciation for the translator’s
cleverness. Luke Skywalker be-
came Logi Geimgengill. Darth
Vader became Svarthöfði.
Chewbacca, in 1997, was 7o-
hakstugga, though I was told in
the original release he was just
Loðni (“The Hairy One”).
Of course, some things just
don’t survive translation. During
a science fiction movie festival,
where I had the chance to see
Fritz Lang’s Metropolis on the
big screen, I also took in that old
chestnut The Terminator. Ar-
nold Schwarzenegger spoke the
most elegant subtitles you would
care to read. All of his signature
lines, which are half the reason
for watching his movies, were
rendered truthfully, if not suc-
cintly. My favourite: “I’ll be
back” became “I intend to come
again.”
Stop it, Arnie. I’m shaking
in my boots.
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor:
My wife andrl would.likeío.
send our warm thanks to every-
one we met during our visit to
Manitoba last spring around the
17th of June celebrations. It was
an unforgettable experience,
once in a lifetime for someone
who, from an early age, has tak-
en a keen interest in the history
of the Icelandic immigration to
Canada.
Many, many thanks to our
hosts The Jón Sigurdsson Chap-
ter IODE and the Icelandic Ca-
nadian Frón, to our excellent
guides through the settlement
areas David Gislason and Oli
Narfason, to Atli and Þrúður
of course who opened up their
home to us and to all the kind
people, far too many to men-
tion by name, that received us
so warmly.
Rentcash Inc.
xálh Storetb
Gordon J. Reykdal
President & CEO
17703 - 103 Avenue
Edmonton, AlbertaT5S IN8
Canada
Tel: (780) 408-51 18
Fax: (780) 408-5122
E-mail: gord@rentcash.ca
We most certainly intend to
retum soon for a longer visit.
Best regards,
Bergny Marvinsdóttir and
Steingrímur J. Sigfússon
Iceland
* * *.
Dear Editor:
Angel and I would like to
bring attention to Leifur Eirfks-
son’s courageous voyage to the
New World.
When we were in elemen-
tary school, the teacher would
say, “In 1492, Columbus sailed
the ocean blue.” As students,
we were taught that Christopher
Columbus was the European dis-
coverer of the New World. This
is not necessarily true. Nordic
explorer Leifur Eiríksson not
only discovered the New World
nearly 500 years before Colum-
bus, but he established a settle-
ment in what is now Newfound-
land, Canada.
In 1964 US President Lyn-
don Johnson proclaimed Octo-
ber 9 as “Leif Erickson Day.” We
wanted to take this opportunity
to use our artistic talent to create
a plaque and a flag to commem-
orate Leif Erickson Day.
On Leif Erickson Day, we
displayed our artwork at the
statue of Leifur Eiríksson in
Leif Erickson Park here in Du-
luth, Minnesota. As our art was
displayed, we noticed many
people stopped and looked. We
helped make people aware of
the historic significance of Lei-
fur Eiríksson’s voyage to North
America. Our message- is get-
ting out, and we want even more
people to be aware of this Nor-
dic explorer.
Andy and Angel Saur
Duluth, MN
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