# Norwegian: en hårsbredd fra å få spille VM-finale



## Grefsen

I came across the article Endelig klar – 16 år etter that had the following sub-headline:



> *I 1991 var Bente Nordby en hårsbredd fra å få spille VM-finale som 17-åring. 16 år etter får hun endelig spille en VM-kamp på kinesisk jord.*



Is *hårsbredd *used to mean coming extremely close to something?  If so then would this be a fairly accurate translation?

"In 1991 Bente Nordby was extremely close to playing in the World Cup Final as a 17 year old.  Sixteen years later she finally receives (the chance) to play a World Cup match on Chinese soil."


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## Grefsen

Grefsen said:


> I came across the article Endelig klar – 16 år etter .....



I also was wondering if the headline could be translated as "Finally ready - 16 years later"?


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## Tjahzi

Swedish has the same expression, although the word is "hårstrå" (hår-strå, hair-straw). It's simply a symbolic way to describe a very small margin, so small that a single straw of hair is what makes the difference. And as the Norwegian word suggests, it's the breadth, - bredd (as in thickness), and not the length that is implied. 

The headline sounds fine to me, although "Ready" sort of implies that it is she that has changed, or that it has been in her hands, which obviously hasn't been the case, so personally I would go with something along the lines of "finally there" ("endelig da"?), but the Norwegians can probably sort that out.


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## Grefsen

Tjahzi said:


> Swedish has the same expression, although the word is "hårstrå" (hår-strå, hair-straw). It's simply a symbolic way to describe a very small margin, so small that a single straw of hair is what makes the difference. And as the Norwegian word suggests, it's the breadth, - bredd (as in thickness), and not the length that is implied.
> 
> The headline sounds fine to me, although "Ready" sort of implies that it is she that has changed, or that it has been in her hands, which obviously hasn't been the case, so personally I would go with something along the lines of "finally there" ("endelig da"?), but the Norwegians can probably sort that out.



*Tusen takk Tjahzi!  *

Here are the possible translations for *klar* given by an ordbok I frequently use:

"bright, clear, distinctly, light, lucent, lucid, luminous, plain, ready, shining"


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## Myha

The meaning of _klar_ in that phrase is like you correctly said *ready*.  as in.. finally ready for the match. If you should use finally *there*, that then implies to me that the world cup finale is in the same place, where as finally ready for a finale is something different. Just my two cents there


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## Tjahzi

Yes, indeed, you'll have to get a Norwegian to get that perfect, btu froma Swedish point of view, there are two, different, meanings. The more common, I would say, is the one leaning towards "done" or "finished, which is unrelated to the other 'group' which all more or less translate to, its cognate, I believe, clear. No doubt we are dealing with the former group here, but I'm not 100% sure about the exact conotation in Norwegian.


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## Myha

<<< Norwegian...

I would use *ready*, but *finally there* is also an option. Depends on what you're looking to highlight in the meaning.


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## Grefsen

I'm still a little unsure about the translation for the sentence *16 år etter får hun endelig spille en VM-kamp på kinesisk jord.  

*Could it perhaps be "Sixteen years later she finally gets to play a World Cup match on Chinese soil."?


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## Myha

Sounds good to me!


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## Grefsen

When I used an online translator on this first sentence of the second paragraph of this article the result is a good example of why online translators aren't very reliable.  Here is the *norsk tekst:*

*Noen timer tidligere hadde det imidlertid vært store diskusjoner i den norske leiren om hvem som skulle starte mellom stengene. 

*And here is the almost complete gibberish result from the translator:

A few concurrent a prior owned facts however been big discussions in it Norwegian camp about whoever do be about begin between closure. 

This is my attempt at a translation:

"A few hours earlier there had been a big discussion in the Norwegian camp about who should start between the posts."


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## Tjahzi

Sounds good to me, just a few notes.

The word "imidlertid"(/"emellertid") has the meaning of "although" or "however", however, it's not realyl necessarily to include, although that depends on the context, your call. 

I'm sure you noticed, but just to make sure, "discussions" are pluralised in the Norwegian text but singularising it does indeed sound better in English.


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## Grefsen

Tjahzi said:


> Sounds good to me, just a few notes.
> 
> The word "imidlertid"(/"emellertid") has the meaning of "although" or "however", however, it's not realyl necessarily to include, although that depends on the context, your call.



*Tusen takk* for your feedback.    I wasn't sure how I would include *imidlertid* in the translation.  Any suggestions?



Tjahzi said:


> I'm sure you noticed, but just to make sure, "discussions" are pluralised in the Norwegian text but singularising it does indeed sound better in English.



I guess another option could be "A few hours earlier there had been *big discussions* in the Norwegian camp about who should start between the posts."


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## Tjahzi

I don't think it's necessary to include those nuanceses, although you could. 

From what I gather, (the English translation of) the text must have been going something like this; "...[something good was mentioned]. However, a few hours before the game...". It's simply used like a linking device to contrast the event to what has been previously mentioned. 

And yes, you could go with "big disscussions", but it would not alter the actual meaning so I'd say it really doesn't matter, from a semantic point of view.


Just felt it was worth being aware of (in case you weren't).


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