"Jag önskar mig en hund."
Translation:I am wishing for a dog.
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"I wish for a dog" sounds very ungainly and archaic in English. Nobody really speaks like this. Not for about 90 years anyway. I would argue that it has fallen out of common parlance and "i want a dog" and "i would like a dog" convey the same meaning regardless of the literal Swedish translation.
What role exactly does "mig" play in this sentence? Is the overall sentence literally more like "I wish for me a dog"?
Yes, if one wishes for a noun, it is "önska sig": Jag önskar mig en hund
But, if you wish that something will happen och or that something had happened: Jag önskar att jag hade skrivit den här boken (I wish that I had written this book)
And you can also wish someone else something: Jag önskar dig en god jul (I wish you a merry Christmas)
You say noun = sig and follow that with önskar mig en hund (a dog is a noun) please advise
Its just the way some Germanic languages work. In this case, you wish something for yourself, and the mig points that out. It is the same in German. If you would not include it, one may understand you are wishing for a dog in general, not just yourself or any person in particular, or maybe wish a dog (the best of luck, for example). I'm pretty sure this used to work in old English as well, like "I wish me a dog". It doesnt sound too unfamiliar, but the languages just developed differently
879
Like in German "Ich wünsche MIR eine Hund". You wish to get something yourself, I assume you could also wish for another person in Swedish "jag önskar dig en hund", right?
Yes, but no one would say "I wish for a dog." Maybe in poetic prose writing, but not in normal conversation. "I long for a dog" perhaps. But the most normal idiomatic equivalent to the Swedish sentence is, in fact, as kinj1973 proposes. It should be accepted. If any of you subscribe to the Antosch and Linn daily sentences, you can see they have the right idea: The translations demonstrate how a given sentence in the target language would actually be expressed in English. Then there is a word by word breakdown. It's important to understand the literal sense of a sentence in one language, but also to know what would express the equivalent thought in the other language..
What's wrong with "I want a dog"? The admittedly more literal "wish for" isn't an expression you would really use in this context. "The children bug me because they wish for a dog"? Really?
I think the point here is as a learning exercise for us. ie. We translate (fairly) literally in order to understand the grammar and vocab rather than for the most natural English meaning. We can mainly deduce from the stilted translation what the more natural meaning would be.
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That's fine when translating to Swedish, but when you translate it to English, you're translating it to a form that an English-speaker would naturally say. Almost no one ever uses 'wish' like this in English anymore, except as a stilted, parodied form ("I wish you to pass the crumpets, mumsie"). "Wish" has taken on the connotation of something one fantasizes about ("I wish I'd win the lotto") or emotionally yearns for ("I wish I could find a better job"), or for something that someone would like seen done or changed ("I wish they'd take that sign down", "I wish I'd never done this!"), rather than a mundane intention to possess something, e.g. a pet. "I want" should be an acceptable translation.
"I wish you to pass the crumpets, mumsie" had me in stitches for a good 5 minutes
EvilAshe--good point well put. Take heed, everyone. If the Swedish sentence is an expression of a fantasy wish, we'd say "I wish I had . . . " [but]. If it's something you would tell the clerk in a pet store, then "I'd like a dog" or "I want a dog" would be appropriate.
The way they translate into English is better because you understand Swedish grammar and syntax better. If you refer to the German Bonus Skill on Idioms and Proverbs, they give "English equivalents" (like you suggest) instead of translations, which is not at all helpful in learning German. "The straw that broke the camel's back" might mean the same as "the drop that made the barrel overflow", but it is not helpful in learning German and how things should exactly be worded in German.
Although the English translations are sometimes awkward, I do think it's important to get at the meaning of the Swedish sentence, which is after all, what we're translating. So although we might say "I want a dog", it's not really what this sentence means.
One is want, the other is wish. I imagine they're used in very similar ways, though they're not exactly the same.
