I’m not even sure if Icelandic is a dialect of Norse, but mutually intelligable, or not, or what.
Long story short: My dear old mum got a letter from a hotel she stayed at - in Reykjavic. She paid the bill presented, and apparently had no trouble dealing with them in English.
Fast forward to now, more than a year after she stayed there. A mysterious letter with the hotel’s emblem appears. It is written in Icelandic (we assume; I don’t speak it or anything like it). There is a completely-unintelligable letter followed by an equally-unintelligable document of some kind, which looks like maybe a bill. However, it might not be. It’s for 105… dollars. (Not kroner. What does that mean?) Even if it were a scam… well, I think even the dimmest scammer would realize he had to make the fake bill intelligable to the audience. As of right now, we could respond even if we wanted to because we can’t read the address.
So… does anyone speak Icelandic? Can I post the letter here?
WormTheRed does. I think others do as well. Check out the do-Icelanders-believe-in-elves thread on page two of GQ. If it’s in Icelandic, it’s also fairly easy for a Norwegian speaker to give you the gist of it, and we have some of those.
As a Swede I could probably make somewhat sense of it as I’m sure many others here could as well, our languages aren’t that much different. If you’re not shy about the contents for some reason, post it and I’m sure we’ll decipher it for you.
You could also try running it through Google translate for swedish, danish, and norwegian. That might give you some idea of the gist, but it will probably choke on þ and ð.
I can translate it, no probs. But I won’t be able to answer until Saturday, unless you want to post it, PM or E-mail it to me in the next couple of hours.
(ha! never thought speaking Icelandic would be handy here :))
Everything is handy here, eventually. An expert mathematician who commutes by unicycle and who can translate from Lojban to Bulgarian wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow here.
[sub]Actually, I know him. But he’s not a member of the Dope. Pity.[/sub]
I am very sorry for having crushed one of your elves and stolen your towels. I am filled with shame and remorse. You will be glad to know that I mailed the corpse (wrapped in towels with your logo) to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute. Since they profited from the goods, I have forwarded your letter to them; I am sure they will remit you the $105 very soon.
Yours,
smiling bandit
An online translator renders this:
Yndi Hótel : ÉG er mjög hryggur fyrir having troðningur einn af þinn ungur áll og þinn handklæði. ÉG er fiskflak með skömm og samviskubit. Þú vilja vera glaður til vita þessi ÉG póstlagður the lík ( umbúðir í handklæði með þinn nafnplata ) til vísindamaður á the Smithsonian Stofnun. Síðan þeir okrari frá the eigur , ÉG hafa flutningamiðlari þinn bréf til þá ; ÉG er viss þeir vilja gefa eftir þú the $105 mjög bráðum. Þinn , bros stigamaður
Barring the odd capitalization and the occasional English word left untranslated (“logo” was no problem but “the” seems to have thrown it), this should be readily understood by the hotel.
What does it say? The only dictionary I have is Zoëga’s, which isn’t modern. It has stigamaðr as “highwayman.” No bros, but brosa is “a smile” and “to smile.” At a guess, I’d imagine bros stigamaður comes out as “Smile, Highwayman!” They list two bros- compounds: bros-leitr, “with smiling face”; bros-ligr, “ridiculous.” ETA: perhaps “Highwayman-smile,” that sort of “gimme-all-yer-money” grimace that roadside mauraders used to use on their victims?
Note: the ownership of an Old Icelandic-English dictionary does not imply Icelandic competence. I am not your translator, you are not my client. This post does not establish translator-translatee priveleges.
Yndi Hótel : ÉG er mjög hryggur fyrir having troðningur einn af þinn ungur áll og þinn handklæði. ÉG er fiskflak með skömm og samviskubit. Þú vilja vera glaður til vita þessi ÉG póstlagður the lík ( umbúðir í handklæði með þinn nafnplata ) til vísindamaður á the Smithsonian Stofnun. Síðan þeir okrari frá the eigur , ÉG hafa flutningamiðlari þinn bréf til þá ; ÉG er viss þeir vilja gefa eftir þú the $105 mjög bráðum. Þinn , bros stigamaður
Word for word that would mean:
Loving hotel. I am most sad for having stampede one of your young aluminum and your towel. I am a fish filet with shame and guilty conscience. You want to be happy to know that I posted the dead body (packing in towel with your nameplate) to scientist at the Smithsonian Institute. Then they “corrupted” (okrari) from us the ownership. I have transport agent your letter to them. I am sure they will give in you the $105 very soon. Yours smile highwayman (aka smiling bandit)
For obvious reasons, I have no desire to make an international phone call just to check in the blind hope that somebody who knows something and can explain it to me over the phone in English (assuming I can make myself understood at all). And then call back three more times for a half-hour each time. Heh.
Eeeeh. International calls are cheap these days with services like Skype. And you can then blame any misunderstandings on ‘network issues’. Or ‘elves’.
