Mark, I apologize. I should have thought of this much earlier, that is, to review the text in the .pub format. There it is clear. The hyphen quotation mark does NOT come at the beginning of the phrase as it appears here. Instead, it comes at the end of the previous statement of Andrea's. So here Andreas is thinking about what he had just said. So my original translation should remain as is and from now on I'm going to refer to my .epub text regularly. You can safely ignore all the previous discussion. And now to revisit the translation and comments in the next unit.
Yes, that's a perfectly good translation. But why would either one of them say that? As you originally pointed out, we have a quotation indicator here. And they are taking turns so it would be Andreas talking about Gustav. Why would he say that Gustav was thinking about anything? Gustav is not even in the room. That just doesn't make sense. No, the closest to a logical explanation would be that Andreas makes this observation about little Gustav who may have had a crush on someone called Stina and would think about her. I searched the entire novel and this is the only occurrence of Stina's name so we don't really know. But if that is plausible then "Han tenkte seg om" could be translated as "He used to think about..." or "He imagined himself with..." and then in the next unit the old master-pilot suddenly remembers that little Gustav used to think about Stina.
Also, "tenke seg om" can mean to consider, to reflect, to imagine, or as the British say, to fancy something or someone and I think that is the intended meaning here. Little Gustav "fancied" Stina. I'm just struggling with how best to put it into English. So here Andreas is speaking saying something like "He fancied" or "He was imagining himself for someone". Then in the next unit the master-pilot completes the thought with "Little Gustav for Stina on the reef".
That was confusing. Who would be talking at this point? Which one of the characters would say out loud "he thought about it."? It doesn't make sense. Wait a minute! "Han tenkte seg om" could possibly mean "he was reflective" or "he was always thinking". So then Andreas could have said this.
Discussion
Mark, I apologize. I should have thought of this much earlier, that is, to review the text in the .pub format. There it is clear. The hyphen quotation mark does NOT come at the beginning of the phrase as it appears here. Instead, it comes at the end of the previous statement of Andrea's. So here Andreas is thinking about what he had just said. So my original translation should remain as is and from now on I'm going to refer to my .epub text regularly. You can safely ignore all the previous discussion. And now to revisit the translation and comments in the next unit.
by DavidKenstad 2 weeks, 1 day agoYes, that's a perfectly good translation. But why would either one of them say that? As you originally pointed out, we have a quotation indicator here. And they are taking turns so it would be Andreas talking about Gustav. Why would he say that Gustav was thinking about anything? Gustav is not even in the room. That just doesn't make sense. No, the closest to a logical explanation would be that Andreas makes this observation about little Gustav who may have had a crush on someone called Stina and would think about her. I searched the entire novel and this is the only occurrence of Stina's name so we don't really know. But if that is plausible then "Han tenkte seg om" could be translated as "He used to think about..." or "He imagined himself with..." and then in the next unit the old master-pilot suddenly remembers that little Gustav used to think about Stina.
by DavidKenstad 2 weeks, 1 day agoPerhaps, 'He thought for a moment.'
by markvanroode 2 weeks, 2 days agoAlso, "tenke seg om" can mean to consider, to reflect, to imagine, or as the British say, to fancy something or someone and I think that is the intended meaning here. Little Gustav "fancied" Stina. I'm just struggling with how best to put it into English. So here Andreas is speaking saying something like "He fancied" or "He was imagining himself for someone". Then in the next unit the master-pilot completes the thought with "Little Gustav for Stina on the reef".
by DavidKenstad 2 weeks, 3 days agoThat was confusing. Who would be talking at this point? Which one of the characters would say out loud "he thought about it."? It doesn't make sense. Wait a minute! "Han tenkte seg om" could possibly mean "he was reflective" or "he was always thinking". So then Andreas could have said this.
by DavidKenstad 2 weeks, 3 days ago– At the beginning. Does it need another "?
by markvanroode 2 weeks, 3 days ago