What a glorious day this is! The sun has been shining all day, and my energy has been as powerful and steady as a strong, slow wave. Blessed be this Tuesday!
And now over to more serious business, he he. As I, a few minutes ago, started translating todays Heavenletter, I discovered some wonderful gems hidden in the sentences. How I love the depths the switching between languages take me to - the hidden angles and undiscovered webs that unfold themselves as I translate.
The Norwegian language is very similar and yet very different from the English language. Sure, we are all part of the Germanic class of languages, and there are many lent words from one language to the other (yes, you English speaking people actually DO use some of our proud Viking-heritage, he he he :))
One of the most noticeable differences is that we have a LOT of words, and also an endless opportunity to create new ones. You can just add one word to the next, and sort of fuse them together to a new one, and as you do - you twist the meaning and create a whole new field of thought. My husband (who is American) is constantly amazed at how many different words we have for the same, or similar, thing - to most accurately describe an abstract or concrete term. The only one that comes to mind right now that we talked about a couple of days ago is "Skilsmissebarn" which means "child of divorced parents". Daniel thought it very strange we had an actual word for it, and I myself thought it equally strange the English language doesn't have one, considering there are so many children of divorced parents! Ahem. Where was I...
Ah, yes, the translation of the day! It began with the title: What is on your mind today?
Which translates into the equivalent expression in Norwegian: Hva har du på hjertet i dag?
which, in turn, translates directly back into: what is in your heart today?
Actually I have never before paused with this expression, and let the meaning sink in. We use it all the time, so it has become more of an empty phrase than something to think about. How wonderful this saying is... "What's in your heart today?" I am confident that even though our rational mind does not consider the meaning, the subconscious will almost certainly react to the words and start stirring our hearts to awaken it and the thoughts lingering in it. On the other hand it completely changed the Heavenletter, because suddenly the question didn't just involve our minds, but our hearts as well.
The next oddity I came across was almost at the end: "if some thoughts enter and you think better of it"
The translation is almost identical: "hvis noen tanker slipper inn, og du kommer på bedre tanker" (tanke=thought)
but the subtle difference is striking - if some thoughts enter and you are reminded of better thoughts. At least it is striking in my language - it shows in such excellent simplicity how one thought inevitably follows the next, and how you yourself decide which thought to believe.
Yep. Incredible how much fun one can have with words, no? ;)
Much love, light and blessings to you all!