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- Topic: Swedish >
- "Orkar du?"
84 Comments
517
Also my father said that 'att orka' means 'schaffen', and he is kind of a Native speaker (although he doesn't speak it well, because he's never lived in Sweden).
1458
I think it's sometimes a good translation, but in many cases schaffen would be klara or klara av in Swedish. Or more colloquially, fixa. It depends on context.
I think it is a fine translation. "Orkar du?" conveys the same meaning as "Schaffst du das noch?" 'Noch' implying that you could not have enough energy left for a given task.
Side note: "Schaffst du das?" can sometimes imply a lack of trust in someones abilities, e.g. "Are you even able to do that?"
Is there a swedish word for that/can orkar be used in that sense aswell?
What with orkar meaning 'to have enough energy' and hinner meaning 'to have the time,' Swedish is so concise. I wish we had handy words like these in English. I suppose that we do have such words, in the sense that we can simply say 'to wear,' rather than something like har på sig, which, if I'm correct, literally means 'to have on oneself' (an article of clothing). Still, such words seem more ubiquitous in Swedish.
2296
There are words for "orkar" and "hinner" in Finnish too, "jaksaa" and "ehtiä", and I agree; it's really much more handy!
984
Swedish has the word 'bära' which, among other things, can mean wear. Duolingo does not recognise this for some reason. Example: Han bär hatt – He's wearing a hat.
984
Good to hear! I reported one instance of it a few days ago, but then I just stuck to 'har på sig'.
I didn't know either. UK/US tech writer, but epic fail on the 'internet slang', I guess. ;-) http://www.netlingo.com/word/nsfw.php
Could I say "do you feel up to it?" In my English (California), at least, this is equivalent to "do you have the energy to do it?". The similar "are you up for it?" would maybe be more "do you feel like/are you interested in/do you have a desire to do it?" (although in my region this would more commonly be "are you down for it"?)
245
"Orka" can be both about physical energy or mental energy (or ability to eat). But If it is just about willingness, then other words are better. Examples: "Har du lust?" (Do you have the desire [to do it]) or "Känner du för det?" (Do you feel like/for it) I hope that answes your question :-)
1458
That is also an accepted answer. I might prefer to translate it back into Swedish as Klarar du det/dig?
There are handy (one-word) expressions in both, Swedish and English.
Swedish: "orkar" for having enough energy "hinner" for having enough time "heter" for being called (*)
English: wearing for "har på sig" cooking for "lagar mat"
(*) Actually, there are expressions for "to be called" in many languages, for example in French ("s'appeler") or in German ("heißen").
The "bothered" feels more British English to me. If I say (in my 'American' English) "Do you have the energy to go to ICA and get a liter of milk?" to my husband he might well reply, "No, I can't be bothered."
Bothered, to me, is more about annoyance (e.g.) but for him, a person who is seldom annoyed or peeved about anything, it's more a matter of energy or inclination. So I can see how there could be some slop across the translations.
1458
If you do not orkar do something, that means you cannot do it because you are too tired, not strong enough or something like that. If you don't orkar eat something, then you can't eat it because you've already eaten so much you can't eat any more, or you don't have an appetite.
108
Aguantar o soportar creo que es el mejor equivalente a este verbo en general. En el caso de la comida sería tanto NO CABER o NO ENTRAR.
32
How to remember this verb? I find it hard to come up with any memory association. I am a native finnish speaker
32
In finnish there is slang word orkku which means an orgasm. Should I take this memory association :) ?
Technically speaking, it's for animals and humans only, I suppose. But practical usage extends way beyond that. You might say that the flower orkade push itself through the concrete. The forklift orkade lift the load you were unsure about. And the phone orkar kanske lite till if you're lucky. It's a very versatile word, and though I wouldn't reach for it always, it can be used in quite a lot of situations.
I think the difference between a "sense" and a literal translation of a word is being discarded in Duolingo's translation of "orkar." Google Translate gives this word's English translation as simply "can," which is very streamlined and natural-feeling. Shouldn't "can" be acceptable here? Idiomatic baggage shouldn't be appended in every translation.
<pre>E.g.:
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If "orkar" must equal "to have the energy to" then it's logical that: "Pojken ater maten" must equal "The male-gender immature human places the food in his oral opening, chews it, and ingests it."
I have the feeling Duolingo is looking for an unnaturally precise translation here, and it bugs me immensely.
1458
It's unfair to say that we're looking for an unnaturally precise translation here, since the range of what we're allowing is huge. We do have several translations with can on the list of allowed ones, like Can you do it? Can you make it? Can you take it? among others. Do you suggest that we should also allow the translation Can you? all on its own? There's no report for that alternative in the incubator.
The people who created the course are people with solid skills in both languages and we chose the translations based on our understanding of how words correspond to each other in the two languages. There is no English verb that corresponds closely to the Swedish verb orkar, which is why we try to describe its meaning as well as we can, and accept a lot of translations.
Languages tend to map out reality in different ways, therefore there isn't always a literal translation for a word into another language. The sentence Pojken äter maten has a perfect English translation in The boy eats the food. The Swedish sentence Jag orkar inte does not have a perfect English counterpart. This is one of the things that makes language learning so complex and fascinating.
1458
Thanks for noticing! We know the course isn't perfect, but we've put a lot of thought into creating it.
Manage has decades ago given given this. But no more nowdays: to have strength, will or stamina enough to be able to be bothered to colloquial http://redfoxsanakirja.fi/#!swe_eng_orka i have to say i prefer also power before energy. But i am old and not english, but quit finish. But of course energy is quit okei thinking about the meaning (one possibililty) if you think whats happening. what they say in movies?