Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.08.2007, Page 7

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1_RVK_GV_1_007_OPINION
Here in Iceland there is a phenomenon called ‘gúrkutíð’,
which if translated directly from Icelandic means ‘cucum-
ber season’. Every summer this label is applied when
discussing the apparent atrophy of newsworthy material.
Amazingly enough, when you translate Icelandic news
it is not enough to translate the words and convey the
meaning in the best possible way. Icelandic news needs
to be translated twice for people of other nationalities to
comprehend what the hell is going on. Before illustrat-
ing a case in point I think it is necessary to explain the
obvious translations and cultural differences.
So, if I was asked to sum up the Icelandic news in a
few words, to explain its quintessence, then the quote
“the extreme innocence [is] the corruption” pretty much
hits the mark. Because of this obvious lack of news,
Icelandic people resort to raising each and every event
relating to Iceland, even on the most miniscule level,
to an epic scale, in lieu of news about the Middle East,
flood victims and various other items that headline in-
ternational news. Maybe this has something to do with
the attitude of Icelandic translators. For example, I recall
watching the British show Smack The Pony many years
ago. A simple translation for ‘redrum’ became lost in
translation. The allusion to The Shining was obviously
too international for the translator, or perhaps too high
brow. In any case, his translation was rautt romm or
red rum, not ðrom (murder). Another time I looked at
the subtitles at the cinema and the term ‘blowjob’ was
translated somehow as vacuuming. However, the newest
paradigm, The Simpsons translation, made me cringe
ever so slightly. To avoid confusion, I am not focusing on
voiceovers just text based translations. There were various
confusing translations in the movie, e.g. Green Lantern
and Sinestro were translated into X-Men in Icelandic,
despite the fact that they are DC owned characters,
well known to any person well versed in the lore of pop
culture. To sum up the problem: Translators, like the news
here in Iceland, fail to convey a significant meaning. Not
only do references become lost but everything becomes
Icelandic-centric, just as if the rest of the Earth was put
there as filler material for Icelanders.
Of course the reason for mentioning these transla-
tions is to try and dissect the psyche of Iceland, at least
its news coverage. Despite there being a ‘gúrkutíð’ there
have actually been news which could actually constitute
as news in other countries. So, despite the fact I con-
sider almost of all those events not newsworthy, I shall
still “translate” them, i.e. convey the meaning without
foregoing any “cultural meaning”.
Anyways, the first headline of Icelandic news is when
a dog in Akureyri was supposedly thrown in a bag, kicked
to death whilst inside and thrown to the rocky country-
side, in the outskirts of the town, just as if he had been
a deformed Spartan infant reject. A young man was
implicated in the murder and received numerous death
threats and/or threats of bodily harm. Translation from
Icelandic psyche: “He killed the dog, wtf is wrong with
him?” “Evil person” “Did you hear about the dog, you
know Lukas?” “Poor little thing”. Well, to set the record
straight: The dog turned up alive and well. Meanwhile,
the guy didn’t venture outside for fear of retribution.
Now he is going to sue the various other individuals,
or would be assailants, who threatened him online.
Everything about this Lukas thing reeked of comedy
– despite the fact that everybody took themselves too
seriously during the whole farce; especially those guilty
of the tired cliché of “O tempores, O mores”. There is
also a subtext in this translation. Even when everybody
was jumping on the bandwagon of animal cruelty there
was not, and still isn’t, much discussion about all the
cats being left behind or chucked elsewhere to be put
to sleep because people are too lazy and irresponsible to
think ahead during the summer vacations: “Sorry, kids,
we have put the cat down because we are going on
holiday!” However, when some blabbermouths make
up a story about the death of a dog the whole event
becomes tantamount to a national tragedy.
Now we actually get to some news. The other day a
man is murdered in broad daylight, drive by style, while
changing his tires. His killer, more blind of jealousy and
despair than Othello, shoots him with a rifle and then
turns it on himself near Þingvellir. The murdered man
simply began a relationship with the man’s ex-wife,
therefore reaping the killer’s wrath. And because of
the sombre manner and seriousness of this event, I
would like to point out that in no way am I mocking
these people and the suffering that their families have
been going through. However, a translation is needed:
Most Icelanders, especially online, were quick to point
out a culprit in their witch hunt. Some fingers pointed
their blame in the direction of foreigners, others named
drugs (somehow forgetting that alcohol is one too) as
the cause of the event. An overwhelming amount of
public writing related to the matter reeked of hysteria
and insensitivity. Some Icelanders never know when to
shut up, even when they have no clue on what the hell is
going. Notice the trend? Then there was a small discus-
sion on gun control – and then the whole shock of the
matter just faded away, quite sadly on to another news
piece which has actually dominated every magazine,
newspaper and blog.
Yes, I am referring to Eiður Smári Guðjónsen, “world
famous footballer”, being attacked. This “attack”
spawned various covers and even an editorial in the
Morgunblaðið about violence surrounding Reykjavík’s
nightlife. Everything is worse now than it was twenty
years ago. I am positive that Icelanders did not drink,
fuck and fight twenty years ago or 800 years ago. Sure
we didn’t. Well here is the translation for the news about
Guðjónsen: “Það er ekki sama hvort það sé séra Jón
eða Jón” or in English – it really depends on who the
hell you are. Because, quite frankly most people forgot
that a girl, during the same weekend, got attacked by
three other girls. She was kicked, dragged by her hair,
had a bottle thrown at her – and apparently one of her
attackers did a Mike Tyson on her ear. Well, somehow
Guðjónsen being attacked downtown doesn’t sound so
catastrophic. Because, seriously, how many times has the
man been tackled in a game? A punch, push or tackle.
Semantics, I say. It just depends on your translation.
“Translating” the “News”
Text by Marvin Lee Dupree
If I was asked to sum up the Ice-
landic news in a few words, to
explain its quintessence, then
the quote “the extreme inno-
cence [is] the corruption” pretty
much hits the mark.
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