The death of children (Norwegian - nyorsk)

The death of children (Norwegian – nyorsk)

by Jostein Sæbøe

The death of children (Norwegian – nyorsk)

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A Note on the Language and on Translation: Translating texts into Norwegian means that one must choose between two official varieties of written Norwegian: bokmål, ‘Book Norwegian’ or nynorsk, ‘New Norwegian’. In many respects, today, these two varieties overlap to the point of being indistinguishable. But many formal differences in both grammar and vocabulary do exist. Historically, during the long period in which Norway was ruled by Denmark (1380-1814), bokmål developed out of and away from written Danish. Nynorsk, on the other hand, is a reconstructed independent national language, based on dialects and on Old Norse (norrønt). The endeavour to create nynorsk began around 1850 and was carried out over several years by the self-taught linguist Ivar Aasen. Today, nynorsk is a minority written language, which is most widely used in the western parts of Norway, whereas bokmål is the dominant written form in the east. But these days, both bokmål and nynorsk are used as standard written Norwegian all over the country. Spoken Norwegian, on the other hand, consists of a great variety of dialects which are more or less influenced by the two written forms.

All the writings of Jostein Sæbøe are in nynorsk. As an example. you may listen to ‘Når barn døyr’, which is his translation of ‘The deathof children’ by Richard Berengarten. See also translation into Norwegian bokmål and more notes on the two main varieties of the language.

The death of children (Norwegian – nyorsk)

Når barn døyr

Barn som døyr er det som sterkast krenkjer

natur og rettferd. Bortkasta å spørja kvifor.

Kva rettferd er, fattar ingen.

Kva slags straff kan nokon gong retta dette opp?

Det finst ikkje påskot, årsak eller alibi.

Barn som døyr er det som krenkjer mest.

Alle som pratar om dette, læst som

dei kjenner lagnadens vegar. Trass i at

vi må tru på kva rettferd er, fattar ingen

korleis lagnad og slumpetreff er samanvovne.

Han som berre trur på sunn fornuft, han lyg.

Barn som døyr er det som krenkjer mest.

Døden fortener ikkje å hausta grøde

frå desse som knapt fekk leva. Foreldra græt.

Kva rettferd er, fattar ingen.

Kom med trøyst då, og mot. Ukjende, vener,

er vi ikkje alle foreldre når barn døyr?

Kva rettferd er, fattar ingen.

Barn som døyr er det som krenkjer mest.

Richard Berengarten

Norsk gjendikting ved

Norwegian (nynorsk) translation

Jostein Sæbøe

Jostein Sæbøe is a Norwegian teacher, translator, journalist and literary critic. Born in 1942 in the village of Voss near Bergen on the west coast of Norway, he has been a prolific translator of books of poetry into Norwegian. Works he has translated from English include: Korte dagar, endelause netter (lit.‘Short days, endless nights’, 2011), selected from Mean Time by Carol Ann Duffy; For øyane syng eg ( lit. ‘For the islands I sing’, 2015), a selection of George Mackay Brown’s poems; and Slik går det med kjærleiken (lit. ‘That’s how it goes with love’, 2022), from What Love Comes To, by Ruth Stone. His many translations from other languages include: Eit ord i ei stjerne (lit. ‘A word in a star’, 2012), poems by the Dutch poet Hannie Rouweler; and Eit hjørne på jorda (lit. ‘A Corner of the Earth’, 2018), poems by the Mongolian poet and editor Hadaa Sendoo.

As a literary critic, Jostein Sæbøe has published reviews in newspapers and magazines for more than sixty years. In 1999, he published Litteraturen i Romsdal, a comprehensive history of literature for the Romsdal region. Between 1980 and 2010, he gave numerous public lectures on Norwegian writers. He has also worked as a journalist for NRK Radio (the Norwegian National Broadcasting Company) and on the regional paper Romsdals Budstikke. He is one of the founders of the Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson International Festival of Literature in Molde (1992), named after the Norwegian poet who won the 1903 Nobel Prize for Literature. From 2003 to 2009, he was a Board Member of the Bjornson Akademie and he is the Deputy Chair of the Gunnar Haukebo Art Collection Association both in Molde.

In 1971, Jostein Sæbøe graduated in Nordic and English Language and Literature (M.A.) from the University of Bergen, and from that year until 2005 he taught Nordic and English languages and literatures at Molde Grammar School. Then, from 2005 to 2014, he taught Norwegian for foreigners: mainly to medical staff from other countries working in Norwegian hospitals.