# Icelandic: Út um græna grundu



## Alxmrphi

> Náttúran, umhverfið og ferðamál er meðal þeirra málaflokka sem teknir eru fyrir í þættinum *Út um græna grundu* á laugardagsmorgnum. Oftar en ekki eru kynntir spennandi staðir, sem vert er að heimsækja, *hvort heldur* að sumri eða vetri. Þátturinn hefst á spurningu dagsins. Hlustendur fá að spreyta sig á skemmtilegum spurningum tengdum sagnfræði, landafræði eða náttúrufræði og í lok þáttar fæst svarið.
> 
> Umsjónarmaður er Steinunn Harðardóttir.





> Nature, the environment and _ferðamál _are among their_(? its?)_ set of issues _sem teknir eru fyrir í þættinum_ *Út um græna grundu* on a Saturday morning. More often than not there are exciting locations announced, which are worth visiting, if instead _að_ summer or winter. The show/story has a question of the day. The audience are allowed to _make an effort_ _á_ entertaining questions tengdum history, geography or nature studies and the end part _fæst_ answered.


I think I've bitten off more than I can chew here, but I have a few questions.



 The title of these podcasts are "*Út um græna grundu*", does this mean "*Out through (in?) the green meadow*", I'm not sure if meadow is the correct word.

  What does *ferðamál* mean? I can't find it in the dictionary, but it seems to be the joined words for "holiday" and "talk", so I'm thinking basically that, does it mean "talking about holidays" or something similar?

 Since these are podcasts, I'm not sure what* þáttur* is referring to, it seems to be story / show, but it also seems to refer to the podcast, is that right? I know its other meanings are _*part / factor / act*_ etc..

 Does "_sem teknir eru fyrir í þættinum_" mean "_Which are taken from the podcast / show_"

  "*hvort heldur*" confused me becuase both words have different meanings and I really didn't know what to chose, can someone tell me what it means here, I've had a guess but I don't think it's correct.

Að spreyta sig = (dictionary) exert oneself / make an effort ... I don't think this fits here.

  What does the á translate in "á skemmtilegum spurningum", I can see "entertaining questions" in the other part but can't translate it as it's very dependent on what á means here.
 fæst in the last sentence... aðstoð!

 Just generally, if you see something I've misunderstood or that could be translated / phrased better, please tell me.
 
*Oftar en ekki íslenska er mjög erfið að skilja!
Takk fyrir*

- Alex


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## thegooseking

2. _Ferðamál_ would be 'travel issues'. You've got the _mál_ part by translating _málaflokka_ as "a set of issues" already.

3.* Þáttur* can mean 'programme'. That's probably what it means here. 'Show' would work as a more colloquial translation.

4. *taka eitthvað fyrir* means "to deal with something", so "_sem teknir eru fyrir í þættinum_" probably means "which are dealt with in the show".

5. *hvort heldur* means 'either'. So "either (in) summer or winter". I'm told it's quite old-fashioned, though.

6, 7 & 8. Hlustendur fá að spreyta sig á skemmtilegum spurningum tengdum sagnfræði, landafræði eða náttúrufræði og í lok þáttar fæst svarið.
The audience can test themselves on interesting questions connected to history, geography and nature studies and at the end of the programme the answers are given.
Note that the Icelandic _actually_ says "the answer is given". Since spurningum is plural, though, it should really say "í lok þáttar *fást svörin*", and I've translated it as if it does 

9. I would say "on Saturday mornings" instead of "on a Saturday morning" for _laugardagsmorgnum_... but maybe that's just a difference in our respective dialects of English


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## Alxmrphi

Thanks GK, I didn't think about mál like that, digicol gave me that direct translation, I got "talk" from* mál* (language / talk) but yeah "_málaflokka (issues set [set of issues])_" would imply that it probably means "issues" here 

Regarding your response to 4.
Teknir (from að taka) isn't connected to þættinum is it? I thought it was þættinum because of* í* before it.
*
Hvort heldur* makes sense now! Places to visit, in the summer or the winter

Your saturday morning thing sounds reasonable, but I think it might also be a difference between our English variants as well!

My only remaining question really is if you translated "answers" into English from the past participle in Icelandic of *að svara* ?

Would a literal look at it say:

"*Og* *í* *lok* *þáttar fæst* *svarið*"
"*and* *in* *the end* *of the programme* *get *[middle voice] *responded *(to)"

If I know I can read it the correct literal way, then the translation into English makes sense, just checking that I've interpreted what is going on, in the correct way.

Thanks!


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## thegooseking

Yes, my response to 4 was just... wrong. I've edited it to something altogether more plausible. Sorry. 

No, I translated 'answers' from the Icelandic noun '_svar_'. I took the _-ið_ to be a definite article. That's why I thought it should be _svörin_, the plural, instead of _svarið_, the singular. We use the middle voice because it's a passive construction, which is to say *svarið* is the subject of *fæst*. If *hlustendur* was the subject, then we wouldn't use the middle voice. I think? It's doubly confusing because *fá* can mean to receive _or_ to give (senses 1 and 4 in digicoll).

In any case, *svarið* is the plural imperative of *að svara*. It's not a past participle as far as I can see.


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## Alxmrphi

I should have checked, *svarað* is the pp of *að svara*.
I can see now it probably is the noun *svar* (wasn't aware it was neuter) but yeah there does seem to be some missing concordance with the number (svarið [eintala]) and (spurningum [fleirtala]).

I don't like *að fá*, I usually think "get" immediately, and that doesn't apply at all here!
So many new words to learn anyway....... ahhhhhhhh.

Thanks again GK  !


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## thegooseking

The only thing I can think of is that maybe there's only one question per week: then there would be multiple questions over the show in general (counting multiple episodes), but only one answer in any given episode of the show. I'm don't think that's really indicated in the Icelandic, but I suppose it _might_ be the case.


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## Alxmrphi

A very plausible guess! 
Plural as it's talking about over the course of the podcasts (programmes), but specifically one per show.
That explains why it's like that! 

I'll let you know the answer in 500 years when I can speak Icelandic


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## Pont neuf

I have no comments on the translation in the above posts, you've got it right.


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## Alxmrphi

Pont neuf said:


> I have no comments on the translation in the above posts, you've got it right.



Hi Pont,
How would you translate the title? I'm not sure if it's an idiom or not, I tried in post 1 but it really doesn't seem the best translation, how would you translate it?

Thanks
Alex


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## Pont neuf

Sorry for the late reply but I'll give it a try.

"*Út um græna grundu*" does not translate directly into English because the meaning of this sentence is idiomatic in a way. First, this sentence is taken from a poem or a song, I don't remember which but I think a poem, anyhow it is a song lyric and not a sentence that people would normally use in everyday spoken Icelandic. The meaning of "*Út um græna grundu*" can be understood in basically two different ways. First, as an isolated sentence it may refer to a person who is viewing landscape in spring or summer, looking at fields or green meadows and taking in the vastness of this sight and then also roaming these fields either in mind or in body. The second meaning could refer to the "state of  greeness of the meadows" or the "condition of the greeness of  meadows in springtime." The *"Út um" *refers to "all over", as when you say: 'Mjólkin helltist út um allt': the milk spilled all over. Hann hljóp út um allt túnið: He ran all over the meadow. 

In summary, a direct translation of "*Út um græna grundu*" is not possible as I see it, as it refers to a state of taking in or beholding a vision of green meadows or the act of describing something that takes place in green meadows, such as 'fuglarnir sungu út um græna grundu' means 'the birds sang all over the green meadows.

I hope this helps a little and i wish I could do better. I understand the phrase perfectly but explaining it in English is another matter.


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