Learning Swedish with Di Leva
December 10, 2008
Even though Thomas Di Leva wrote some nice songs in English, I believe non-Swedish audiences never got to hear the full extent of his imagination. He’s simply a much better poet in Swedish, and he bends and tweaks the language more daringly. Double meanings and ambiguities make the text so much richer. It is much easier to accomplish precisely the ambiguities you want when you know a language intimately, and not just fluently. And when you’re just fluent, you may not notice the any unintended ambiguities in your text. Damn, language is difficult. But very fascinating.
Sadly, I never got very far in learning Cantonese, yet. I don’t want to say it’s because my Special Someone would only teach me utterly useful phrases like “I am a silly pig” and the like. I can still say it, but I can’t type it here, so you’ll just have to believe it.
Her Swedish is much better. She reads my Swedish cookbooks no problem. But neither of us can carry on much of a conversation in the other’s native language. After so many years, the only language we share is English, aside from the secret funny phrases we invent together.
Anyway, one thing we do share in Swedish is the music of Thomas Di Leva, and his lyrics provide another entry point and motivation to learn the language. Some random examples below. They aren’t as ambiguous as I mentioned above, but that made them easier to translate.
EDIT: The translations below are randomly chosen from different songs.
Även Du Kan Bli En Fjäril! You, too, can become a butterfly!
Fåglarna älskar bakom molnen. The birds are making love behind the clouds.
Jag är din hemliga vän. I am your secret friend.
Vi får vingar när vi älskar. We grow wings when we make love. (Well “får” does not mean “grow”, strictly speaking, but it is the most sensible word to use. It means “we receive” or “we get”, and just like these, it implies something passive. Wings grow on our backs but we don’t have to actively grow them.)
Du öppnar din mun och ur den föds en planet. You open your mouth and a planet is born out of it.
