does "ved" only mean "by" or would "beside" also be a correct translation? in English these two words are not quite the same although either one works here.
I think 'beside' would be 'ved siden av' (literally: by the side of).
Is it common to pronounce 'ved' like 'hva' as it's done in this audio or is it a bug?
It's supposed to be like 'veh.' Probably a bug. Listen here: https://forvo.com/word/ved#no
det er flagget som vaier i vind!