# Swedish: Ja är torpare jag, och ja har det så bra



## Eddy Bones

Hi all.

We have a cross-stitched piece in our home in some language I'm not familiar with, so I'd like to know if anyone can help with a translation. I've been looking into languages a little and I think it's either Danish or Norwegian, but I have no experience whatsoever in Scandinavian languages. It's all in capitals, so I'll just keep it the same for the sake of not murdering the language. Here's what it says:


> JA ÄR TORPARE JAG, OCH JA HAR DET SÅ BRA



Someone on another forum thought it might be Finnish, but I doubt that after a cursory look at the foundation of the language.  But what would I know about it! 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I'm sorry if it's annoying getting people on here just for phrase translations.  I'm not sure how often it happens.  This is probably one of the only places I'm going to find a translation, though.


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## TarisWerewolf

I would say that it's neither Danish nor Finnish. It's Swedish. I don't know what it means, because my Swedish isn't really up to par and I'd hate to misinform you.


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## allchopin

I will give it a shot (it is Swedish):
"Yes the house is a mess, and yes it is good that way" 

Disclaimer: not a native of Sweden!


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## Eddy Bones

Thank you so far!   If anyone else can back up what's been mentioned already that would be great.


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## María Madrid

Yes, I'm a "torpare" and yes so long. 

Unless he meant "och jag har det så bra" so it would read and I'm doing fiine.

Torpare: some kind of farmer, but maybe it's slang for something else.

Ha det bra is a way to say goodbye, wishing someone has a good time... can't really think of a similar expression in English at this moment. Hope this helps so far.


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## jonquiliser

María is close: the "ja" here isn't_ yes_, it's just the way "jag" (I) is pronounced. And torpare, though it surely was a form of farmer, isn't slang (and never was, I think), it was a specific way of 'renting' a small-scale farm. Owners of large farms would sometimes rent a small cottage and a few pieces of land to someone, in exchange for this someone working on his field. (so the crofter - this is the translation I found - had really hard times, trying to run his own farm while he also had to work the fields of the other farmer. This was outlawed somewhere in the beginning of the 20th century)

So it says: I'm a crofter I am and I'm all well.

Can't think of a better way to express "jag har det så bra" - it means sort of my life is good, things are going well for me.

It's Swedish, no doubt


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## Χριστινα

This is the first sentence of a swedish song:
​ 
Jag är torpare jag  och jag har det så bra,
jag ligger på soffan för så skall de va.
Håhå  jaja, håhå jaja ......​ 
Translates into something like
 
I'm a smallholder*) and I'm just fine,
I'm lying on my couch, that's the way things are supposed to be 

.....

*) farmer without land of his own

 Χριστίνα
​


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## María Madrid

jonquiliser said:


> María is close: the "ja" here isn't_ yes_, it's just the way "jag" (I) is pronounced.


I know, it's only that I found it kind of odd to write ja and jag in the same sentence meaning boht jag. In any case I "read" Jag är torpare, ja, now I see it's the other way around. Thanks for the explanation!


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## jonquiliser

María Madrid said:


> I know, it's only that I found it kind of odd to write ja and jag in the same sentence meaning boht jag. In any case I "read" Jag är torpare, ja, now I see it's the other way around. Thanks for the explanation!



It is a bit of an odd quirk of Swedish, that's true. This extra "I" simply works for emphasis, or not even that sometimes. You can do the same with the other personal pronouns; "hon är bra hon!" That means just that "she's good", to get closer to the Swedish you can just say "she's good, she is". Same thing with a name, by the way: María är nog bra, hon!


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## María Madrid

I know that, I just meant I missed it because of the way it was spelled. Normally you write jag or ja, but don't use different spellings for the same word in the same sentence. I unconciously changed the word order to fit the meaning (I read jag + ja instead of ja + jag as it's written).


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## jonquiliser

Ah ok, I get you now! Sorry  (but there is no "yes" in there anyway) Me too I was confused that they'd spelt it in two different ways... Suppose it's just for the rythme or something


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## Eddy Bones

Thanks so much one and all.  Well, that's one mystery solved.


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