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Freelance translator and/or interpreter, Verified site user
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Norwegian to English: Du må ikke sove! (You must not sleep!) General field: Art/Literary Detailed field: Poetry & Literature
Source text - Norwegian Du må ikke sove
Jeg våknet en natt av en underlig drøm,
det var som en stemme talte til mig,
fjern som en underjordisk strøm -
og jeg reiste mig op: Hvad er det du vil mig?
- Du må ikke sove! Du må ikke sove!
Du må ikke tro, at du bare har drømt!
Igår blev jeg dømt.
I natt har de reist skafottet i gården.
De henter mig klokken fem imorgen!
Hele kjelleren her er full,
og alle kaserner har kjeller ved kjeller.
Vi ligger og venter i stenkolde celler,
vi ligger og råtner i mørke hull!
Vi vet ikke selv, hvad vi ligger og venter,
og hvem der kan bli den neste, de henter.
Vi stønner, vi skriker - men kan dere høre?
Kan dere absolutt ingenting gjøre?
Ingen får se oss.
Ingen får vite, hvad der skal skje oss.
Ennu mer:
Ingen kan tro, hvad her daglig skjer!
Du mener, det kan ikke være sant,
så onde kan ikke mennesker være.
Der fins da vel skikkelig folk iblandt?
Bror, du har ennu meget å lære!
Man sa: Du skal gi ditt liv, om det kreves.
Og nu har vi gitt det - forgjeves, forgjeves!
Verden har glemt oss! Vi er bedratt!
Du må ikke sove mer i natt!
Du må ikke gå til ditt kjøpmannskap
og tenke på hvad der gir vinning og tap!
Du må ikke skylde på aker og fe
og at du har mer enn nok med det!
Du må ikke sitte trygt i ditt hjem
og si: Det er sørgelig, stakkars dem!
Du må ikke tåle så inderlig vel
den urett som ikke rammer dig selv!
Jeg roper med siste pust av min stemme:
Du har ikke lov til å gå der og glemme!
Tilgi dem ikke; de vet hvad de gjør!
De puster på hatets og ondskapens glør!
De liker å drepe, de frydes ved jammer,
de ønsker å se vår verden i flammer!
De ønsker å drukne oss alle i blod!
Tror du det ikke? Du vet det jo!
Du vet jo, at skolebarn er soldater,
som stimer med sang over torv og gater,
og opglødd av mødrenes fromme svig,
vil verge sitt land og vil gå i krig!
Du kjenner det nedrige folkebedrag
med heltemot og med tro og ære -
du vet, at en helt, det vil barnet være,
du vet, han vil vifte med sabel og flag!
Og så skal han ut i en skur av stål
og henge igjen i en piggtrådsvase
og råtne for Hitlers ariske rase!
Du vet, det er menneskets mening og mål!
Jeg skjønte det ikke. Nu er det for sent.
Min dom er rettferdig. Min straff er fortjent.
Jeg trodde på fremgang, jeg trodde på fred,
på arbeid, på samhold, på kjærlighet!
Men den som ikke vil dø i en flokk
får prøve alene, på bøddelens blokk!
Jeg roper i mørket - å, kunde du høre!
Der er en eneste ting å gjøre:
Verg dig, mens du har frie hender!
Frels dine barn! Europa brenner!
Jeg skaket av frost. Jeg fikk på mig klær.
Ute var glitrende stjernevær.
Bare en ulmende stripe i øst
varslet det samme som drømmens røst:
Dagen bakenom jordens rand
steg med et skjær av blod og brand,
steg med en angst så åndeløs,
at det var som om selve stjernene frøs!
Jeg tenkte: Nu er det noget som hender.
Vår tid er forbi - Europa brenner!
- Arnulf Øverland, 1937
Translation - English You must not sleep
I awoke one night from an odd dream,
it was as if a voice spoke to me,
remote as a subterranean stream -
and I stood up: What do you want from me?
- You must not sleep! You must not sleep!
You must not believe, that you have only dreamt!
Yesterday I was convicted.
Tonight they have raised the scaffold in the courtyard.
They are getting me at five o'clock tomorrow!
The whole cellar here is full,
and every barracks has cellar by cellar.
We lie and wait in stone cold cells,
we lie and rot in dark holes!
We do not know ourselves, what we are lying and waiting for,
and who can be the next that they get.
We moan, we scream, but can you hear?
Can you absolutely not do anything?
No one gets to see us.
No one gets to know, what is going to happen to us.
Furthermore:
No one can believe, what happens here daily!
You think, that cannot be true,
people cannot be that evil.
There must be decent people here and there?
Brother, you have yet much to learn!
One said: You will give your life, if it is needed.
And now we have given it - in vain, in vain!
The world has forgotten us! We are forsaken!
You must not sleep more tonight!
You must not go to your merchantry,
and think of what gives gains and losses!
You cannot blame farmlands and husbandry
and that you have more than enough with that!
You must not sit safely in your home
and say: It's sad, poor them!
You must not accept so incredibly well
the injustice that does not affect yourself!
I shout with the last breath of my voice:
You are not allowed to go around and forget!
Do not forgive them; they know what they do!
They blow on the embers of hate and evil!
They like to kill, they rejoice during wailing,
they want to see our world in flames!
They wish to drown us all in blood!
You don't believe it? But you know it!
You know, that school children are soldiers,
who swarm with songs over markets and streets,
and enthused by their mothers' pious deceit,
want to protect their country and want to go to war!
You know of the lowly betrayal of people
with courage and with belief and honor -
you know, that a hero, the child wants to be,
you know, he wants to wave with a sabre and flag!
And then he is to go out in a rain of steel
and get caught in a section of barbed wire
and rot for Hitlers' Arian race!
You know, that is man's purpose and goal!
I didn't realize. Now it is too late.
My sentence is just. My punishment is deserved.
I believed in progress, I believed in peace,
in work, in unity, in love!
But the one who does not want to die in a pack
gets to try alone, on the executioner's block!
I shout in the darkness - oh, if only you could hear!
There is only one thing to do:
Protect yourself, while you still have free hands!
Save your children! Europe is burning!
I shook of frost. I got on my clothes.
Outside was a glittery star sky.
Only a smoldering strip to the east
warned of the same as the voice in the dream:
The day behind the edge of the earth
arose with a glow of blood and fire,
arose with an anxiety so unspirited,
that it was as if the stars themselves froze!
I thought: Now there is something that happens.
Our time is past - Europe is burning!
As a native Norwegian speaker, I grew up both in Norway and in California, and have later lived for extended periods of time abroad, in Hong Kong, Japan and France. Having a knack for language, perhaps due to having grown up knowing two languages, I have quickly picked up new languages. While studying as an exchange student in Hong Kong, I promptly learnt to read local menus semantically. Due to my own over-efficiency while studying for my degree in Cognitive Science, I ended up getting a degree in Japanese at the same time, whereupon I studied as an exchange student for one year in Kyoto, directly afterwards lived in Tokyo for half a year, and later came back and worked in Tokyo for seven months in an all Japanese environment. I have also picked up enough French to stay there for months at a time without too much linguistic hassle.
This being said, my educational background is not largely related to language. I am educated as an electronics technician with a specialty in space technology, and have university degrees in information science including informatics, and cognitive science which includes psychology, linguistics, information science and philosophy.
I also have teaching experience teaching classes as well as creating and correcting homework assignments for classes in cognitive science, artificial intelligence and computer programming, with classes conducted both in English and Norwegian.
Subject matter
Subject matter I am confident in translating includes anything computer related, electronics related, psychology related, and more.
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