# Norwegian:  You are amazing!



## Grefsen

A Norwegian friend of mine just had an incredible day recently where she accomplished more than what most of us mere mortals could probably do in an entire week. 

I would like to write the following to her *på norsk:
*
You are amazing!  I'm really impressed with what you were able to accomplish in just one day.  Are you Superwoman perhaps?

Here is my attempt:

Du er fantastisk! Jeg er virkelig imponert over hva du kunne oppnå i løpet av en dag. Er du Superwoman kanskje?


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## missTK

Forslaget ditt er bra - ingenting å rette på her


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## Grefsen

missTK said:


> Forslaget ditt er bra - ingenting å rette på her


*Tusen takk så mye for positiv tilbakemelding.* 

At first I considered writing* "**Du er utrolig!"* (You are unbelievable!) Would this be correct too?


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## GraaEminense

Grefsen said:


> At first I considered writing* "**Du er utrolig!"* (You are unbelievable!) Would this be correct too?


It would. Actually, 'utrolig' would be closer to my understanding of 'amazing', and 'fantastisk' closer to 'great'. Either works, but there's a subtle difference in meaning. 

With us minor languages having long traditions for translation of foreign comics I think you should translate "Superwoman" too, but that's hardly essential.


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## Grefsen

GraaEminense said:


> It would. Actually, 'utrolig' would be closer to my understanding of 'amazing', and 'fantastisk' closer to 'great'. Either works, but there's a subtle difference in meaning.


*Tusen takk for det! *



GraaEminense said:


> With us minor languages having long traditions for translation of foreign comics I think you should translate "Superwoman" too, but that's hardly essential.


*Er det "Superdame" kanskje? *


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## GraaEminense

Grefsen said:


> *Tusen takk for det! *


Jo værsgo'. 

*



			Er det "Superdame" kanskje? 

Click to expand...

*Tja... 'Superkvinnen' høres bedre ut (tror imidlertid Supermanns kvinnelige motstykke var Mirakelkvinnen (Wonder Woman), men Superkvinnen er nok en mer gjenkjennelig beskrivelse). 'Dame' høres feil ut uten at jeg kan sette fingeren på hvorfor, jeg skylder på at jeg nettopp har gått av vakt og det er over midnatt. Uansett bør det være i bestemt form, Supermann slipper unna fordi han er et etablert egennavn.


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## Grefsen

GraaEminense said:


> It would. Actually, 'utrolig' would be closer to my understanding of 'amazing', and 'fantastisk' closer to 'great'. Either works, but there's a subtle difference in meaning.



When I looked up 'amazing' using tritrans, here were the results I got:

*forbausende, forbløffende, overraskende

*According to* lexin.no, *here are the English translations:

*forbausende: *amazing, astonishing, astounding

*forbløffende:  *amazing, staggering, astounding

*overraskende: *surprising


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## GraaEminense

Grefsen said:


> When I looked up 'amazing' using tritrans, here were the results I got:
> 
> *forbausende, forbløffende, overraskende*
> 
> According to* lexin.no, *here are the English translations:
> 
> *forbausende: *amazing, astonishing, astounding
> 
> *forbløffende: *amazing, staggering, astounding
> 
> *overraskende: *surprising


Indeed. 'Forbausende', 'forbløffende', 'overraskende' are pretty close to 'utrolig' (which means 'unbelievable', which is close to the translations above), and so 'utrolig' would be a good translation for 'amazing'. 

If you use 'fantastisk' in this context it would convey something along the lines of "you are truly an extraordinary person to have done this" ('great'), whereas 'utrolig' would mean "I am surprised/would not have believed that anyone could manage to do what you have done" ('amazing'). It's a subtle difference that is difficult to translate, but which I think is present in English as well. 

But this is only important if you're really picky, and either works.


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## Grefsen

GraaEminense said:


> Indeed. 'Forbausende', 'forbløffende', 'overraskende' are pretty close to 'utrolig' (which means 'unbelievable', which is close to the translations above), and so 'utrolig' would be a good translation for 'amazing'.


I would appreciate if someone could explain a little more what the difference is between *'forbausende'* and *'forbløffende.' *

*På forhånd takk!*  



GraaEminense said:


> If you use 'fantastisk' in this context it would convey something along the lines of "you are truly an extraordinary person to have done this" ('great'), whereas 'utrolig' would mean "I am surprised/would not have believed that anyone could manage to do what you have done" ('amazing'). It's a subtle difference that is difficult to translate, but which I think is present in English as well.


*Tusen takk for forklaringen.  *


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## missTK

The difference is small, but *forbløffende *leans more towards amazing and *forbausende* is closer to surprising, puzzling. If that makes any sense at all. "I can't believe that can be done" vs. "I can't believe they really did that". Forbausende is rarely used to express amazement in the positive sense, forbløffende more often (but could still be negative).


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## cevita

> I would appreciate if someone could explain a little more what the difference is between 'forbausende' and 'forbløffende



I dont think I have ever used the word "forbausende". But I once explained it like this:
I might be "forbauset", if something "forbausende" happened.

If someone is sick and get well in a short time (which they couldn't have cause the disease was really bad) it is forbausende (unbelievable).
In English i would have thought "Oh.. did he recover that fast..? ..How is that possible..". 

All the dictionaries say "utrolig, overraskende" but I think "unbelievable " is a better word.


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## mezzoforte

Sorry to interrupt, but I'm just wondering why it's not spelled "*uttrolig*".  To me, "*utrolig*" should mean "_uncalm_"... instead of "_unbelievable_".  I'm just trying to understand how this language works, lol!  I'm guessing there is no word for "_uncalm_" (which also isn't a word in English).


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## missTK

mezzoforte said:


> Sorry to interrupt, but I'm just wondering why it's not spelled "*uttrolig*".  To me, "*utrolig*" should mean "_uncalm_"... instead of "_unbelievable_".  I'm just trying to understand how this language works, lol!  I'm guessing there is no word for "_uncalm_" (which also isn't a word in English).



Why? It's u-trolig (the negative prefix is u, not ut). Urolig is also a common word, and the meaning is as you guessed, "uncalm".


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## mezzoforte

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

"*u*" means "_un"_
"*ut*" means "_out"

_I get it now.  Thank you

P.S. So "*uten*" is like "_out one_"... like being "out of" something.  !!!!


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## hanne

mezzoforte said:


> P.S. So "*uten*" is like "_out one_"... like being "out of" something.  !!!!


"uten" means "without".
I doubt very strongly that it is a combination of "ut + en".


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## mezzoforte

hanne said:


> "uten" means "without".
> I doubt very strongly that it is a combination of "ut + en".



Okay.. but anyway in English, "_out of_" is similar to "_without_"; that's why I thought it might explain how the word came to be.   I'm also kind of curious about the word "*også*"... because "_and so_" is similar to "_also_".


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