"Storebror ser deg."

Translation: Big brother is watching you.

[r2p2d2]

Jeg ser på TV = I am watching TV
i thought the på was what distinguished 'see' from 'watch'. am i wrong?

[Luke_5.1991]

You're very much correct, but this is the translation used for the famous quote from Orwell's "1984", so we needed to include it.

[Regney]

Would, "Storebror ser på deg," be acceptable?

[Luke_5.1991]

Yes, absolutely.

[Jnis418148]

Does that translate to big brother is watching over you?

[TelepathicEntity]

Nope, just watching.

[AlistairDu9]

No much less benevolent than that, the book is well worth a read, as is Animal Farm.

[AsyaSapozhnikova]

Yes! Exactly, I thought about the same thing)

[Stardecki]

Basically Norway talking about Sweden.

[MattHaythem]

"Krig er fred. Frihet er slaveri. Uvitenhet er stryke."

[JackMcslay]

It's quite a whiplash to get this sentence in the "family" section haha!

[p8c]

i am wondering if this something that is actually said in norway and part of norwegian culture, or if it just a word exercise that happens to be from a popular book?

[Sharpish1]

No, it's the classic quote from George Orwell's book "1984".

[p8c]

yep. then i wonder if 1984 was so popular that it in a sense transcended culture to become a sort of (at least western european/north american) part of popular culture?

[amaratea]

it surely was - and is. 1984 is one of the key novels of XX century. You will find references even where you don't expect them to be.

[p8c]

i should reread it!

[amaratea]

Go ahead :) and top it with "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, if you haven't read it yet. 1984 is scarier and hence more popular but BNW..won the competition ;)

[ixionpearl]

If you enjoy 1984 and Brave New World, you might like WE.

[Ambrose_Burnside]

yes you should. the politicians of today are using 1984 and brave new world as more 'instruction manuals' than the warnings they were meant to be!

[Boguniu]

definitely. it can make you scared... be prepared. It's not about the TV show of our contemprary days.

[Andy642820]

Also read Zamyatin's "We"

[kfdurham]

That's an interesting thought, but it turns out that Duolingo users are crowdsourcing the translation of different texts:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/09/17/duolingo-gets-15-million-to-translate-the-worlds-text-through-online-learning/.

[SnowDragon07]

[NorskAlexander]

Eep!

[hectorlqr]

War is peace

[Limeativity]

2+2=5

[TomWardReg]

Someone to lead us, someone to follow

[Tom77072]

Vi elsker deg storebror

[Janis_lmao]

Why is it "my" big brother and not "the" big brother, i mean, i don't quite see where it says "meg" or something like that?

[amaratea]

If I got your question right, then it's because possessive pronouns are often omitted when talking about relatives.

[Janis_lmao]

Thank you! I had an idea it could only be when talking about relatives but now you confirmed it

[JaneJustice]

The best quote in the course so far!

[Martha518834]

I'm litterally studying 1984 right now. I'm a little terrified.

[Jeanseigne]

Ahaha they know their classics

[Boguniu]

Yeah, and say "Hi" to Room 101...

[FabioFaber]

Either duo likes Orwell or is up to some kind of conspiracy

[S.A.Debre]

It sounds like she had a stroke mid-sentence.

[Hscoa]

crap went from 0 to 100 real quick!

[Violiwolias]

Storebror alltid ser deg

[Jorun-la]

"Storebror ser deg alltid" sounds better ;)

[LINHARS]

In a normal setting "storebroren din ser deg" could mean: Your big brother is looking after you."

"Storebror ser deg alltid" could mean something positive.

[noellica]

Ha

[Mark318377]

Trust me, you have NO idea. But some of us are watching storebror. ;)

[Snowdrop225]

Kudos for this intelligent doubleplussmart course

I had this tab open and for a second I thought Duo on the tab icon just blinked at me. I nearly jumped. Storebror ser meg indeed :1