Lost Art Press

‘Slöjd in Wood’ and Google Translate

Posted on by fitz

SlöjdCover

Were it not for the translation expertise of Ingmari Bergqvist, and the work of Heather Barthell and Peter Follansbee (along with the author) in massaging that translation, it would have taken far longer than it did to get an English-language version of Jögge Sunqvist’s “Slöjd in Wood” (first written and published in Swedish) ready for press.

But we’re almost there – barring any last-minute complications, the file will be off to the printer on Friday morning, available for pre-publication ordering this week and shipping out five weeks thereafter.

I do, however, still have to finish the cover – and that foregrounds the indispensable work of the translators. They did the interior copy, but not the back cover. So to Google Translate I went:

Carved wood is an inspiring ledger that describes how you slides simple, functional and fun wooden objects with knife and ax.

Among other things, you will learn how to make spoons and threads, bowls, butter knives and turtles, hangers, knobs and wings, pine strips, curtain sticks, cutting boards, leather slides and pallets.

What tools and tools do you need? How do you choose the right material? Which woods and techniques are best suited for different objects? The book contains everything you need to know about cleavage, drying, teasing, grinding and grinding, painting and surface treatment. Here is also a comprehensive dictionary that explains all phonetic expressions.

Jögge Sundqvist is a smoother and manufactures painted seating furniture, cabinets, kitchen utensils, sculptures and writing boards in a deep western bastard mooring-tradition as he has learned from his father, Wille. He carefully chooses the material in the woods and processes it roughly with ax and knife. Jögge is represented by public embellishment at museums and at municipalities and county councils. Since 1986 he has held workshops, courses and lectures in both Europe and the United States. s u r l l e is his folk artistic alias. Wood carved out the first time in 2002 and is now published in a completely revised edition.

Good for a laugh, but not so good as descriptive copy.

Now I’ll rewrite that into something more compelling…and recognizable as English. Just as soon as I stop giggling.

— Megan Fitzpatrick

 

 

37 thoughts on “‘Slöjd in Wood’ and Google Translate”

  1. You better keep the turtles and cleavage! >:| I’ll grant a pass on grinding as that is deeply personal and should not be seen by anyone.
    🙂

  8. Now I’m dying to make some turtles, knobs and wings.
    I’ve had the good fortune to meet Jogge, and he is a smoother. With a kick ass soundtrack.

  9. I want to be a smoother …… in a deep western bastard-mooring tradition, With public embellishment.

  10. “you will learn how to make spoons and threads, bowls, butter knives and turtles, hangers, knobs and wings, ” A fantasy novel, about wizards, warlocks, and witches? I’m in.

  11. I’ve been sharing various Swedish woodworking words I learn with my Swedish friends, some of whom did Educational Slöjd in school. They’ll be happy to learn what this is all for now 😉

  12. I studied Geology in college and graduate school. As I remember it, ‘cleavage” is the way a mineral will break along preferred planes as determined by the mineral’s internal crystal structure and chemical composition. Example is calcite which will break along planes which intersect at angles of 75 and 105 degrees, respectively. In woodworking terms, cleavage would have to be along the grain if you separate the fibers with an edge tool.

    1. Reading this blog is not counted as ‘getting out more’. 🙂

      Teasing aside, I found your comment really interesting–joke’s on me I guess.

  14. Bastard mooring, cleavage, turtles, hangers, knobs and wings…whats not to like? Even without the Google translation, this is a book I have been looking forward to coming out…as well as a few others in the pipeline

  15. I think we need more woodworking books about cleavage, teasing, and grinding. I can see it now: woodworking harliquine novels flying off the shelf. The Tender Turner, The Shave horse Hunk, The maiden of marquetry, and who could forget The romance of the Bench- maker.

    1. Based on the name Kamp Wood Studios seems a perfect place for the creation of this new series of woodworking harlequin novels. Thanks to Google Translate the Kamp part is already built in and we all know there will be a happy ending.

  16. It’s got cleavage, teasing, grinding and grinding, oh and turtles. Sign me up , I’ll take one.

  20. Empirical proof that humans are still smarter than the computers we build… thankfully!☺ On the flip side, software doesn’t get offended when we laugh at its error.

  21. “Inspiring Ledger” is offically my band name of the week.

    Many years ago we would conduct a “pre-litmus test” a companies fit for the German ERP software SAP by babelfish translating their corporate slogan from English to German, then from German to English to see how well it survived the journey. The results kept many ERP nerds laughing well into the evening in the mid 90s (simpler times).

  23. If you keep changing it from one random language to another and eventually back to english, it continues to evolve.

    “Jogg SUNDQVIST is gentle and produces a magical tradition of hand-painted furniture, freezers, kitchen appliances, sculptures and offices in the far west, where he learned his father’s teachings. He carefully chose the material in the forest and worked roughly with his shoulder and his knife. Georgie has public decorations in museums, municipalities and administrative boards. Since 1986 he has organized workshops, courses and conferences in Europe and the USA. I am his adoptive father.”

      1. Good point, I should’ve asked them in stead of you, I guess. Thanks anyway, and thank you so much for everything you do and write!

Comments are closed.