Friends! I've started a whole new project. I'm translating old Swedish poetry into English and localising them for the Australian market. Victor Rydberg's old classic Tomten was victim number one. My first issue was that mid winter in Sweden really is mid summer in Australia, so of course the poem had to change quite a bit…

To start with, here is a basic attempt at translating the very beautiful poem directly to English without localisation. A Tomte in this context can be best described as a house goblin. A creature that – if you are nice to them – helps out a bit around the farm.

The Midwinter night is cold and harsh, 
The stars glimmer and flicker, 
Everyone sleeps in desolate farm, 
Deeply during midnight hour. 
The moon wanders its silent course, 
Snow shines white on pine and spruce, 
Snow shines white on roofs, 
Only Tomten is awake.

And here is my translation:

The midsummer day's heat is fierce
Sun burnt skin blisters and shimmers
All are awake on crowded beach
In their ugly fashionable swimmers
The sand wanders as it always do
Into bum crack, top and stupid hairdo
Someone drowns out in the deep
Only the drunks are asleep

Australian poetry for sure...

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