kareina: (stitched)
Back in the summer of 1989 I attended the Oslo International Summer School, where I took a class in basic Norwegian. One of the things I still remember from that class was a children's song. That song also exists here in Sweden, and I find it interesting to compare the two different versions. Since I am not the only person here on LJ who enjoys looking at language, I thought I would share:

The Norwegian version is:

Der bor en baker

Der bor en baker I Østre Aker
There lives a baker in east Aker
Han baker kringler og julekaker.
he bakes pastries and Yule cakes
Han baker store han baker små
he bakes large, he bakes small
Han baker noen med sukker på.
he bakes some with sugar on

Og i hans vindu står rare saker,
and in his window stand wonderful things
Tenk hester, griser og pepperkaker.
think: horses, pigs, and spice cookies
Og har du penger så kan du få,
and if you have money you can have some
Og har du ikke, så kan du gå.
and if you have none, you can go

and the Swedish version:

Sockerbagaren

En sockerbagare här bor i staden
a desert baker lives here in the city
han bakar kakor mest hela dagen.
he bakes cookies most of the day
Han bakar stora, han bakar små
he bakes large, he bakes small
han bakar några med socker på.
he bakes some with sugar on
Och i hans fönster hänga julgranssaker
and in his window hang Christmas things
och hästar, grisar och pepparkakor.
and horses, pigs, and spice cookies
Och är du snäller så kan du få
and if you are sweet/kind/nice you can have some
men är du stygger så får du gå!
but if you are bad/misbehaving you may leave

I am amused to see how alike some of the lines are--only the spelling of those words changes as one crosses the border, but other bits are totally different. I wonder if it is a sign of cultural difference that in Norway one needs cash in hand to get holiday cookies, but in Sweden just being a good kid will get you them.


Wow, three posts in one day, one can tell that [livejournal.com profile] lord_kjar is on his computer this evening. I often think of that many things to say, but it is rare these days that I actually sit down and type them. (If you saw only two you aren't on that filter; ask if you want to be.)
kareina: (me)
Today was not as productive of a work day as yesterday. But then, I suspected that might be the case when I didn't stop working till about midnight last night. By the time I finished my yoga and read for a bit it was 02:00 before I went to sleep.

I still managed to crawl out of bed around 09:00 and crossed the street for breakfast and work. My experiment was still running fine when I checked this morning (though, perhaps, I should check again on my way home this evening), but I was feeling a bit tired, and had forgotten my phone charger, so I returned home, plugged the phone in, and took a ten minute nap.

Then [livejournal.com profile] clovis_t wanted to do a bit of shopping, and I needed the exercise, having worked yesterday in lieu of getting out for a walk, so I joined him in wandering to some of the local shops (and found where the Friday market is locally) for about an hour and a half. Then I managed a bit of uni work before deciding I was hungry, so I went home and converted the last of Monday's market vegtables into a pot of soup, to which I added the last of the home-made spinach pasta. Yum! (potato, carrot, garlic, brocclini, broad beans, some small black lentils, the spinach pasta, and butter).

Just about the time I finished eating and was thinking of heading back across the street to be useful, [livejournal.com profile] clovis_t came home, looked out our window and commented that the Alps were out. So I quickly finished the washing up, and he and I set out on a small adventure. Since he doesn't have rollerblades we took the metro a couple of stops north, and then walked over to the park I found last weekend and walked up the hill. He wonders if it is a man-made hill, since it looks so odd standing up all by itself like that. There isn't any outcrop on it, just some stone paths that have been added to give people enjoying the part a variety of choices of routes to the top.

The view from the top was even better than last time--the full range of the Alps was visible, from well to the east across the north, and well into the west. With the sun setting behind the mountains to the west they were quite pretty--not much detail visible, but beautiful silhouettes. The park is just as lovely as I remembered it, and since there is a small river running through it, I'll have to try visiting it during summer when it is hot and see if it is any better there.

We then walked home (about an hour) and I came back in intending to work. Well, studying another language counts as work, right? No, I was not listing to my Italian CD's. Instead I found a nice on-line Norwegian Language lesson, and spent a happy hour playing with lesson 1, which is pretty much all review for me from the class I took back in 1989-1990. Then I *finally* returned to uni work for a bit. Now I'm going to go home and play a D&D game. Tomorrow I hope to get more work done, so that I can keep March at full time hours in terms of amount of uni work done.
kareina: (me)
Today was not as productive of a work day as yesterday. But then, I suspected that might be the case when I didn't stop working till about midnight last night. By the time I finished my yoga and read for a bit it was 02:00 before I went to sleep.

I still managed to crawl out of bed around 09:00 and crossed the street for breakfast and work. My experiment was still running fine when I checked this morning (though, perhaps, I should check again on my way home this evening), but I was feeling a bit tired, and had forgotten my phone charger, so I returned home, plugged the phone in, and took a ten minute nap.

Then [livejournal.com profile] clovis_t wanted to do a bit of shopping, and I needed the exercise, having worked yesterday in lieu of getting out for a walk, so I joined him in wandering to some of the local shops (and found where the Friday market is locally) for about an hour and a half. Then I managed a bit of uni work before deciding I was hungry, so I went home and converted the last of Monday's market vegtables into a pot of soup, to which I added the last of the home-made spinach pasta. Yum! (potato, carrot, garlic, brocclini, broad beans, some small black lentils, the spinach pasta, and butter).

Just about the time I finished eating and was thinking of heading back across the street to be useful, [livejournal.com profile] clovis_t came home, looked out our window and commented that the Alps were out. So I quickly finished the washing up, and he and I set out on a small adventure. Since he doesn't have rollerblades we took the metro a couple of stops north, and then walked over to the park I found last weekend and walked up the hill. He wonders if it is a man-made hill, since it looks so odd standing up all by itself like that. There isn't any outcrop on it, just some stone paths that have been added to give people enjoying the part a variety of choices of routes to the top.

The view from the top was even better than last time--the full range of the Alps was visible, from well to the east across the north, and well into the west. With the sun setting behind the mountains to the west they were quite pretty--not much detail visible, but beautiful silhouettes. The park is just as lovely as I remembered it, and since there is a small river running through it, I'll have to try visiting it during summer when it is hot and see if it is any better there.

We then walked home (about an hour) and I came back in intending to work. Well, studying another language counts as work, right? No, I was not listing to my Italian CD's. Instead I found a nice on-line Norwegian Language lesson, and spent a happy hour playing with lesson 1, which is pretty much all review for me from the class I took back in 1989-1990. Then I *finally* returned to uni work for a bit. Now I'm going to go home and play a D&D game. Tomorrow I hope to get more work done, so that I can keep March at full time hours in terms of amount of uni work done.

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