72 Comments
Yeah, it seems that there are some words like this in sweedish, hard to translate literaly
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).
890
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?
Really? I'm half German, from the Kiel area, and my family uses it exactly like that.
But sometimes a sentence which is just one word in English har på sig... wearing
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.
I always forget har på sig, thanks for the literal translation because it's much easier to remember!
- 1714
There are words for "orkar" and "hinner" in Finnish too, "jaksaa" and "ehtiä", and I agree; it's really much more handy!
- 422
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.
We generally try to accept that as a translation. I'm currently working through some error reports on those skills, so if you reported that recently, I'll be getting to it soon. :)
- 422
Good to hear! I reported one instance of it a few days ago, but then I just stuck to 'har på sig'.
Dutch has 'red je het?" which can mean either 'do you have time?' or 'do you have enough energy?', kind of like 'will you make that?'.
Would it be okay to ask "Orkar du?" when asking someone to do something? Like sending my boyfriend to the store?
Yeah, that would work: Orkar du gå och handla? very roughly: ’Do you have the energy to go grocery shopping?’ or ’Could you go grocery shopping [implied: or are you too tired?]’
What if it's about asking a NSFW question, for example if there's a couple and one of them asks...
- 40
Whoever made this course it is suspicious because it came in a round of "Kiss me" "Feel me" and Do you have the energy"
NSFW? Is this American? This native English speaker has never come across it.
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
- 890
That is also an accepted answer. I might prefer to translate it back into Swedish as Klarar du det/dig?
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"?)
"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 :-)
I nearly put “can you be bothered?”, but I wasn't sure how leanient Duolingo would be. That's generally how people seemed to use it when I lived in Sweden.
Kan man också översätta det som "Could you be bothered?" eller "Would you mind?"
I love swedish for these kind of words which we would need 3 or 4 words for in english. I dont like everything about swedish, but i like that!
I love these! There are some very awesome ones, though I can think of one word translations for several of them, so not as unique as stated.
I especially loved the tingo (pascuence) :)
- 1085
Most translators say that orkar means bothered. How does it become "have the energy"?
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.
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").
- 1182
Can my native tongue (Japanese日本語) be resemble to "Orkar du" ------"元気ですか？Genki desu ka?" ? I also reminded my friend from Sweden who lives in and learn Japanese said that Swedish is sometimes resemble to Japanese (though there wouldn't be linguistic relationships... Amazing :O )
I think it's probably closer to やる気, though I don't speak Swedish well enough to be completely certain.
Didn't see this in the discussion, so...
I provided "Do you have enough energy" as a translation, and it was marked wrong.
Is there a subtle difference that I've missed, or should this be reported?
'Have the stamina' for 'orkar' is not accepted... I suppose not all possible translations can be managed
I am spanish and I dont know what actually is refering with that expression in English
- 890
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.
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.
Orcas orkar a lot! :D
Sure! Should be easy to make a memory association to longevity. :)
And thanks to you, I'll now associate orcas with orgasms for the rest of my life.
I wrote "Do you feel like it?" "Jag orkar inte" always translates to I don't feel like it, in my house...
We'd say jag känner inte för det in Swedish. I agree they can be pretty close, though.
Is orkar litereally/just about not having enough energy, being tired. Or generally physically not able to. Or even broader, just not able to ( due to prior engagements etc)
So, energy, or being able to (like are you able to make it, to the party or whatever) ?
It's only about energy, although that energy can be either relating to physical or mental strength - or both.
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.:
</pre>
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.
- 890
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.
Sometimes one seems to think a language course is "just thrown out" without much thought. After looking closely, one suddenly sees a part of the amount of work unfolding bit by bit. It's all under the surface, hidden by the sweat of the teachers. Well done and thanks a lot.
- 890
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?
