When I’m asked for some variety of furniture (I’m a carpenter) I always say, “my fee is based on how long it took me to learn how to do it that fast.” It’s not an unreasonable ask.
This is an old joke where the mechanic repair person etc simply turns a screw and fixes whatever and the client demands an itemized invoice explaining the high price and its the same turning the screw is cheap, learning what screw takes a long time and therfore is not cheap.
Good day! As a jazz piano player I feel the same pain. People want me to play for their wedding reception in exchange for a piece of cake, rather than paying for the years of study and and practice. But, with that said: Dr. Crawford, if you have some kind of event that needs some piano background, you can count on me! I more than owe you for the hours of amazing content you have shared :) 40 is the new 30 Peace! Kenny
I’m part of a group that makes a serious study of Tolkien’s elvish languages and we get requests a lot for tattoo translations. We always advise just doing a transliteration in the Tengwar script and not a translation, since understandings and opinions change over time. I support your decision!
That's gotta be a fun group. Actually, of all things, it was Tolkien's languages that got me interested in etomology so many years ago. As a fan, I was playing the MMO Lord of the Rings Online, and wanted a name for my "minstrel" character. I settled on "Benuilir" which supposedly translates to some super dorky like "According to the ever-song". For one, I wanted Ben in it because I think it's funny to stuff my name in screen names (It's_raining_Ben - things of that nature). The rules for Sindarin are amazing, and "Ben" as a beginning word in which it doesn't morph to "Pen" is only sourced once in a letter from Aragorn to the shire in which it seems to mean "according to". I swear I had a point, but I seemed to have gotten carried away... Anyway that's a super cool sounding group.
Your story reminded me of the joke of the repair man that charged $10,000 for a job that consisted of tightening a loose bolt on a very expensive machine. The machine's owner was unsatisfied with the price tag and demanded a detailed invoice explaining why 10k. The detailed invoice: "- Screwing loose bolt: $1 - Knowing which bolt to tighten: $9,999"
Thank you for you detailed explanation! I am sorry to hear your doubts over your PHD, but I am very thankful for your excellent work here on TH-cam and beyond! You really help me to understand see the difference between what people want to see in the old texts and what we actually know. Stay strong and alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Dr. Crawford!
Happy birthday Dr. Crawford! Reminder - With age comes wisdom, with wisdom comes relief from the misapprehensions of our youth, and with that relief comes the energy to pursue our best desires.
Glad you've dropped things that are burdensome, you shouldn't hesitate to do so again if need be. You deserve to do work that feels worthwhile. I know it won't make you any wealthier, but I hope to see more of your poems going forward as well- your expertise is not the only way you're affecting the world! All the best from beautiful Hordaland.
I admire and appreciate your dedication to making academically rigorous information about Old Norse language, culture, and mythology widely available. May the next 39 years bring you an abundance happiness and fulfillment.
Wow man. I feel for you. I can see that this is really weighing on you, and I'm another voice who understands how little people understand the value of advanced learning, and specialized skills. Good luck. I look forward to more books.
Hey, I'm one of those people! After many years of iterating on design I ended up finally getting that tattoo, and although I did not end up going with the old norse translation that you provided (I went with English using a runic font), I was glad to have your expertise on the subject. I still consider it money well spent, even though I ended up going a different direction.
Happy Birthday, Dr. Jackson. I appreciate all the work you've done. I've enjoyed your translations immensely. Keep up the good fight, you are bringing knowledge to many.
I've gotten asked to translate things into Latin for tattoos since the nineties, and I've always just advised them not to get a tattoo in a language they aren't fluent in. I don't want to be a part of someone getting a tattoo that they themselves don't understand. Even when people ask for translations for other purposes, they soon realize the number of questions I'll ask about what they actually mean and how they feel about various workarounds that might be necessary quickly makes it not worth it to them. 😀
I agree wholeheartedly. If you’re going to get something tattooed on your skin forever, maybe put in the effort to learn how to read and write it yourself first. I can’t tell you how many cringey Chinese tattoos I’ve seen that were clearly done mainly for the Chinese character aesthetic with little regard for linguistic accuracy or making sense. It’s always struck me as kinda disrespectful to do that when you have zero personal connection to the language yourself.
My sympathies to you. I've lost track of the number of unpronouncable tattoos I've seen containing Greek letters that were clearly designed by people without a lick of knowledge about the Greek alphabet. Σ is not an E; Θ and Φ are not remotely like O. That configuration of characters is nonsensical, and I don't have enough hands to adequately facepalm about it. 🤦
@@AtomikNY Once on the beach ages ago with an ex gf who was Japanese, she started laughing when someone walked by with kanji or something similar tattooed on them. I asked her why she was laughing, and she said it meant "toilet."
Dr. Crawford, your work is meaningful. I look forward to every video and listen to your audiobooks frequently. Your work provides so much education and entertainment value to more people than you think. It will pay continue to pay off with patience. You’re one of the few authentic gateways laypeople like myself have into understanding and appreciating these topics. Don’t feel regret, you are very appreciated by many who you will never know.
Happy birthday Doctor Crawford. Your explination is very thoughtful and well said. You never have to justify yourself to use idiots watching slackjawed, but I appreciate the insight into your worldview. As someone else who works in language education, though not even close to your level, I always think "if you love the language enough to get it tattood you should be dedicated enough to do the research on your own. I mean, you love it right? Go learn about it." It seems especially lazy to me that people would ask for a wholesale translation and not "hey, I did some research. I did the best I could. If I pay you a consultation fee could you proofread my work". Not telling you to change your mind or do anything of course. More shouting into the void.
I just wanna say thank you so much for your videos. As a (relatively) recent linguistics grad who post graduation kinda fell out of love with it, your videos alongside Simon’s really do keep some of that passion and interest alive. I literally only did an undergrad degree and that felt exhausting and consuming so I can’t imagine yet simultaneously understand your frustration. Just again want to say thank you for doing what you do, even if it’s only small, you’re a success and you’ve kept me in the circle of one of my own passions. (Also happy birthday!)
I think you've absolutely been a success. I'm certain that in years to come, you will have taught more people about Norse myth, culture, and language than anyone else on the planet. It is a devastating shame that you're struggling to make a living despite the great contributions you've made and continue to make towards education.
I empathize a lot with this, I have a college degree in Hispanic Literature, spent five years on it, had the time of my life doing it and then everything became a hard time after graduating. I still feel I made the right choice studying what made me feel passionate, but it is unfortunate that fields like these are a struggle to make a fullfilling living out of.
I breed chickens for show, the issue is the number of people happy to give chickens away or sell them for $5 each. Makes them pretty undervalued to the average person. The only advantage of a craft which people also undervalue is that they often don't have a cheap alternative option for what they want. I suppose Amazon might be changing that in some instances though.
I was introduced to you by an art professor for a class on writing runes as calligraphy . She fiercely rejected any mystical interpretation. I’ve been following you since. I admire how you’ve eked out a living outside the world of academia. Props to you!
Happy birthday Dr Crawford! You seem so much happier than you did a few years ago when I started watching your channel. I imagine that's down to Lauren. So pleased for you! All happiness and the best of luck for the future xxxxx EDIT: If you're reading this, youo can probably tell I wrote it arouund halfway through the vid. Have just got on to the bit about life expectancy. Wish there was something inspiring to say, but I completely see where you're coming from. I'm thinking of retiring early just now - mainly because if I'm unemployed much longer, I'll lose my house, but because I'm almost 55, I do have options (and the privilege of a public sector pension with 23 years' contributions in it). Just the idea of retiring makes my look back on my life and wonder what the point was, what the end goal was supposed to be. But the more I think of it, the more I wonder if this wouldn't be a reasonable move anyway. It would free my time for the academic work I've yearned to do all my life. I do hope you find some purpose. And maybe a well-paid side hustle. Good luck.
I appreciate your explanation of the difference between [courage] / [a courageous man]. It's given me not just a particular cultural fact. It's opened up a view of Norse culture like one of the Rocky Mountain vistas in your videos--and a tool that I can use in approaching any culture. So, props, & Happy 39th. 🙏 🖖
Happy belated birthday 🎉 I hope you had an amazing day also I’m hoping you’re going to bless us with a new book soon. I cannot wait for the Prose Edda translation to come out. Please tell me it’s coming soon.
I have one tattoo. I spent a lot on it because the artist gave me several hours in the studio, several more hours preparing the art when I wasn't there, and many more hours unrenumerated becoming an expert artist such that he's who I trust with my body. If I need a translator to help me create my next piece, I'll expect their fee to be just as high, for the same reason.
Happy birthday! Your videos have inspired me to try to translate a poem from an alien vs predator comic, that was supposed to be in old norse (presumably, it's vikings vs a xenomorph), they'll certainly be a massive help too. Just practice and fun for me, personally. It's such a long passage, likely written without the language in mind, and not to mention inconsequential, that even if we could figure out a fair price to check my work, I'd certainly feel bad having wasted your time.
Happy birthday Dr Crawford I always thought of it as a "lazy tax" for people who can't be bothered to learn anything about what they want tattooed. It's absolutely laziness on their part imo because you provide a huge resource for learning in your channel and your books
Very fair take. In my situation, I can answer IT questions with the same caveats. Worst case scenario can be big liability if I'm wrong, best case scenario I spent years learning my skills.
The concept of paying for the years developing expertise rather than the hours or minutes spent on the task is a struggle to convey to some people in a lot of fields. As far as tattoos go, anyone who's asked tattoo artists for their thoughts will tell you that it's generally a bad idea to get a tattoo that you can't read yourself anyway. Symbols, pictures, those sorts of things are fine; but if it's script, you're usually not going to get it to actually say what you want unless you can read for yourself that it actually does so.
A tattoo is pretty personal, and I've never understood why people would have a tattoo in a language which they don't know. Then it's not really their creation, and they don't have a good sense of the meaning. I've studied Latin, and many people ask for translations for tattoos in Latin as well. I also avoid helping as I probably can't give them exactly what they look for, usually because short words or phrases never have an exact mapping to a different language, but since they were asking in the first place, they wouldn't precisely know how the translation differs.
Don’t mean to speak out of turn but you seem particularly down in this video. Wishing you all the best. You definitely make my day when I see your videos.
As a norwegian with the name Runar, meaning runes, getting a tattoo of it in runes sounds pretty dope... Although this is most likely a terrible idea 😅
Print it on a t-shirt. You can put it on and off whenever you like, change the font, the colors, add swirls, and so on. I will never understand how people can put up with an indelible stain on their skin. I couldn’t resist the urge to scratch it off as soon as I get tired of it. Guess we are all different.
Heck yeah! The Prose Edda is on it's way! I have Anthony Faulkes's translation and it's decent. I got a bit of amusement out of his interpretation of the kennings and I look forward to seeing what you come up with for your interpretation. ETA: Happy birthday!
I have a success metric: Being able to contribute academically or not to the spreading of truths and and facts into the world, and performing original work contributing to the body of human knowledge, *without* also having to grade midterm papers.
Hi from beautiful Scandinavia))) Prof. Crawford. Just out of curiosity - answer is not required… Would it not be easier to translate from one of Scandinavian+ languages like DK NO IS or SE? Or do you think they changed too much. For example when you say there is no sh. But in modern Norwegian there is kjære - hissing cat sh. My point may be accepting only translatuons from Scandinavian languages? Also maybe video idea. We would love to see Scandinavian villages in US. Like Northfield or Elkhorn?
I see your point as valid and reasonable. On the other hand, altough I'm not into tattoos, yet I like do some writings on my stuff. Ex. I've tried to figure out how to carve in runes the name "Sultr" on my pocket knive, a name of the Hel's knive from her kitchen. Just for fun, because I feel it's egdy and fun to have such a personalized pocket knive :P Like a "truest modern viking", arrrr!! I though it would be cool if I figure out how to write it all by myself. Sure, I do realize, I won't be ever as fluent as Dr Crawford, especially after just a few days spent on learning runes. But it's just a damn knive and I feel, it adds some value if I translate and write those runes by myself, even if they are wrong. After I've watched some of your videos and read some articles I've came out with tree different posible translations. I couldn't tell witch one is "the most correct" so finally I've chosen one randomly. Still I'm not sure if it's correct or not, but I had some fun with this, I have a pocket knive that I can "show off" with my friends, and even if someone will point out "hey, you've written it wrong", I can tell, "yeah, probably, I'm no specialist after all. How you would write it?" But it would be nice if someone with actuall knowledge of language and runes ocasionally would make some checking if we noobs are learning anything or not and correct our mistakes.
Good for you Jackson! Very sound arguments. I'd do the same. Hope you get more income from your expertise in a more fulfilling way. I'm sure it will happen in time. And congratz!
I really appreciate your channel and all the time and work that goes into the videos you make. I own your books and look forward to the Prose Edda. Thanks for choosing to share your knowledge, I don't doubt that we'd all be walking around spreading copypasted nonsense about this period of history if it wasn't for you!!
I completely respect your reasoning. I want to pay you for your translation services for a story I'm writing but having heard your feelings about it I wonder if it could instead be appropriate if I, having indulged myself with the wealth of your available writings and vidoes, make some educated guesses at translations I need and have you kinda give me a tip of your hat if I'm in the right direction or need to go back to square one? Because I'd gladly pay for that assistance if it would be less time consuming on your part and moreso on mine. Happy birthday btw
a birdacious hatchday, from someone just on the other side of the illusive four-oh. and i would totally be willing to pay 50 bucks to see your rendition of "All hail the Overbird! Did the mammals surrender yet?" in all seriousness†, you seem to woefully underestimate how much meaning your work and your presence has to us viewers, especially those of us who walk that thin path between nerddom and the status of a Sonderling (excuse my German, all the English words like oddball or weirdo don't quite capture what i mean in this case.. lone wolf maybe, but that's unnecessarily edgy and depressed) in any case, i think your impact is a lot greater than what you're willing to admit to yourself. maybe you're just too humble and goody-two-shoes. greetings from Bavaria
This discussion of tatoo requests brought up for me the question of what draws people to your discussions. I was attracted because I have always had an interest in historical linguistics and in Scandinavia in a very broad sense. I am not an expert by any means in either of these subjects. Call me naive, but it took me a while to realize that there were many other types who were drawn to your channel..........for want of a better way to describe them I would call them 'Lord of the Rings' type people....finding interest it the lore and myth of the Vikings. I guess what I am trying to say is that I respect your understanding of linguistics and support your thoughts that using your skills to translate for tatoos is a poor use of your skills.
Taking an English word and trying to shove it into runes is probably the least interesting thing to do in this topic. I find it much more interesting to look at how runes and proto-norse or old norse actually were used, and have learnt quite a lot from your videos on the topic! Happy birthday!
Hey Dr. Crawford; have you had any interest in covering old Saxon or its descendants in a video? I think it’s a language that’s often forgotten and the endangerment of modern Low Saxon/Low German it would be very interesting to cover the language that would go on to influence the Scandinavian languages so much later on.
Don't blame you man, I'm a tattooer and I don't think its my responsibility either, when it comes to anything I cant read its the customers responsibility. If they spell a kids name wrong, its on them.
Yes, but what if I want "cowboy hat" in runes? 😊 Just kidding, btw I am one of those people who randomly stumbled upon your channel. Interest in language, not much knowledge of old Norse despite a degree in indo european linguistics, it was great to find your work.
The only foreign language tattoo that makes sense to me is my daughter’s. She reads ancient Greek herself and has a quote from a Greek philosopher in ancient Greek, which she copied out and arranged herself for her tattoo artist. Not a translation from modern English, no translation help required.
Its sorry to see people treating you like a vending machine for cool viking-looking words when youve really put a lot of time, effort, and money into becoming an educator. Folks need to realize they arent entitled to your labor for trivialities like that
Several weeks later, I have started to roll Old Norse translations back out as a Patreon reward again
When I’m asked for some variety of furniture (I’m a carpenter) I always say, “my fee is based on how long it took me to learn how to do it that fast.” It’s not an unreasonable ask.
Which is valid, people forget skills take time.
This is an old joke where the mechanic repair person etc simply turns a screw and fixes whatever and the client demands an itemized invoice explaining the high price and its the same turning the screw is cheap, learning what screw takes a long time and therfore is not cheap.
reminds of the joke about the mechanic's invoice: "$1 for whacking the thing, $9999 for knowing where to whack"
@@groezy I like that 😂
@@TL-angzarr lol we told the same joke
Yes! This is the SPECIFIC VIDEO I needed! I'm off to get my Busk MCMXCII tattoo immediately. No regerts!
Happy birthday, Doctor Jackson Crawford
Good day! As a jazz piano player I feel the same pain. People want me to play for their wedding reception in exchange for a piece of cake, rather than paying for the years of study and and practice.
But, with that said: Dr. Crawford, if you have some kind of event that needs some piano background, you can count on me! I more than owe you for the hours of amazing content you have shared :)
40 is the new 30
Peace!
Kenny
You should trade him jazz music for a tattoo translation ;)
Joke’s on you, you just did my Bush 92 tattoo for free. Happy birthday! Thank you for your videos
I’m part of a group that makes a serious study of Tolkien’s elvish languages and we get requests a lot for tattoo translations. We always advise just doing a transliteration in the Tengwar script and not a translation, since understandings and opinions change over time. I support your decision!
That's gotta be a fun group. Actually, of all things, it was Tolkien's languages that got me interested in etomology so many years ago. As a fan, I was playing the MMO Lord of the Rings Online, and wanted a name for my "minstrel" character. I settled on "Benuilir" which supposedly translates to some super dorky like "According to the ever-song".
For one, I wanted Ben in it because I think it's funny to stuff my name in screen names (It's_raining_Ben - things of that nature). The rules for Sindarin are amazing, and "Ben" as a beginning word in which it doesn't morph to "Pen" is only sourced once in a letter from Aragorn to the shire in which it seems to mean "according to". I swear I had a point, but I seemed to have gotten carried away... Anyway that's a super cool sounding group.
I really struggled in the 1992 US election as a Viking.
:(
I will never forget when Ross Perot boldly declared, “Norsemen go home!”
What's the situation with the electoral college for Vinland?
Your story reminded me of the joke of the repair man that charged $10,000 for a job that consisted of tightening a loose bolt on a very expensive machine.
The machine's owner was unsatisfied with the price tag and demanded a detailed invoice explaining why 10k.
The detailed invoice:
"- Screwing loose bolt: $1
- Knowing which bolt to tighten: $9,999"
Look at you, establishing and maintaining boundaries. Love it. Happy birthday, Jackson.
Artists often face similar things being asked to do work for free as "exposure"
Happy Birthday, thank you so much for the information you give to us!
Thank you for you detailed explanation!
I am sorry to hear your doubts over your PHD, but I am very thankful for your excellent work here on TH-cam and beyond!
You really help me to understand see the difference between what people want to see in the old texts and what we actually know.
Stay strong and alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Dr. Crawford!
Happy birthday Dr. Crawford!
Reminder -
With age comes wisdom, with wisdom comes relief from the misapprehensions of our youth, and with that relief comes the energy to pursue our best desires.
Glad you've dropped things that are burdensome, you shouldn't hesitate to do so again if need be. You deserve to do work that feels worthwhile. I know it won't make you any wealthier, but I hope to see more of your poems going forward as well- your expertise is not the only way you're affecting the world! All the best from beautiful Hordaland.
I admire and appreciate your dedication to making academically rigorous information about Old Norse language, culture, and mythology widely available. May the next 39 years bring you an abundance happiness and fulfillment.
that's how people end up with tattoos that say "cheapskate with a tiny member"
Yeah… I’d get it removed, but I’m not gonna pay that much! But the tattoo’s not true, I swear…
@@nocturne000 lol
Wow man. I feel for you. I can see that this is really weighing on you, and I'm another voice who understands how little people understand the value of advanced learning, and specialized skills.
Good luck.
I look forward to more books.
Hey, I'm one of those people! After many years of iterating on design I ended up finally getting that tattoo, and although I did not end up going with the old norse translation that you provided (I went with English using a runic font), I was glad to have your expertise on the subject. I still consider it money well spent, even though I ended up going a different direction.
Happy Birthday, Dr. Jackson. I appreciate all the work you've done. I've enjoyed your translations immensely. Keep up the good fight, you are bringing knowledge to many.
I've gotten asked to translate things into Latin for tattoos since the nineties, and I've always just advised them not to get a tattoo in a language they aren't fluent in. I don't want to be a part of someone getting a tattoo that they themselves don't understand. Even when people ask for translations for other purposes, they soon realize the number of questions I'll ask about what they actually mean and how they feel about various workarounds that might be necessary quickly makes it not worth it to them. 😀
I agree wholeheartedly. If you’re going to get something tattooed on your skin forever, maybe put in the effort to learn how to read and write it yourself first. I can’t tell you how many cringey Chinese tattoos I’ve seen that were clearly done mainly for the Chinese character aesthetic with little regard for linguistic accuracy or making sense. It’s always struck me as kinda disrespectful to do that when you have zero personal connection to the language yourself.
Recte dices, amice
My sympathies to you. I've lost track of the number of unpronouncable tattoos I've seen containing Greek letters that were clearly designed by people without a lick of knowledge about the Greek alphabet. Σ is not an E; Θ and Φ are not remotely like O. That configuration of characters is nonsensical, and I don't have enough hands to adequately facepalm about it. 🤦
@@AtomikNY Once on the beach ages ago with an ex gf who was Japanese, she started laughing when someone walked by with kanji or something similar tattooed on them. I asked her why she was laughing, and she said it meant "toilet."
Dr. Crawford, your work is meaningful. I look forward to every video and listen to your audiobooks frequently. Your work provides so much education and entertainment value to more people than you think. It will pay continue to pay off with patience. You’re one of the few authentic gateways laypeople like myself have into understanding and appreciating these topics. Don’t feel regret, you are very appreciated by many who you will never know.
Happy birthday Doctor Crawford. Your explination is very thoughtful and well said. You never have to justify yourself to use idiots watching slackjawed, but I appreciate the insight into your worldview. As someone else who works in language education, though not even close to your level, I always think "if you love the language enough to get it tattood you should be dedicated enough to do the research on your own. I mean, you love it right? Go learn about it." It seems especially lazy to me that people would ask for a wholesale translation and not "hey, I did some research. I did the best I could. If I pay you a consultation fee could you proofread my work". Not telling you to change your mind or do anything of course. More shouting into the void.
I just wanna say thank you so much for your videos. As a (relatively) recent linguistics grad who post graduation kinda fell out of love with it, your videos alongside Simon’s really do keep some of that passion and interest alive. I literally only did an undergrad degree and that felt exhausting and consuming so I can’t imagine yet simultaneously understand your frustration. Just again want to say thank you for doing what you do, even if it’s only small, you’re a success and you’ve kept me in the circle of one of my own passions.
(Also happy birthday!)
Happy birthday, Dr. Crawford! Thank you for all of the knowledge you've shared with us over the years.
Can you translate “this is not old Norse” into old Norse for a tattoo? 🥸
Transliterate it into Elder Futhark and there you go. 😅
@@JorgeTrejo23 lol did you just tell me to go futhark it myself? Fine, I shall go futhark myself! 🥳
I'm not sure if there's an Old Norse word for Old Norse
þetta er ekki fornnorrænt
I think you've absolutely been a success. I'm certain that in years to come, you will have taught more people about Norse myth, culture, and language than anyone else on the planet. It is a devastating shame that you're struggling to make a living despite the great contributions you've made and continue to make towards education.
Dr. Crawford is a really awesome guy.....
Dr. Crawford, Happy Birthday! Your channel is a true gem.
I empathize a lot with this, I have a college degree in Hispanic Literature, spent five years on it, had the time of my life doing it and then everything became a hard time after graduating. I still feel I made the right choice studying what made me feel passionate, but it is unfortunate that fields like these are a struggle to make a fullfilling living out of.
Same thing happens in the Blacksmith community. Continue to stick to your principles. Happy Birthday.
I breed chickens for show, the issue is the number of people happy to give chickens away or sell them for $5 each. Makes them pretty undervalued to the average person. The only advantage of a craft which people also undervalue is that they often don't have a cheap alternative option for what they want. I suppose Amazon might be changing that in some instances though.
I was introduced to you by an art professor for a class on writing runes as calligraphy . She fiercely rejected any mystical interpretation. I’ve been following you since. I admire how you’ve eked out a living outside the world of academia. Props to you!
Happy birthday, Dr. Jackson Crawford. Thanks for all the content you give us.
Happy birthday Dr Crawford! You seem so much happier than you did a few years ago when I started watching your channel. I imagine that's down to Lauren. So pleased for you! All happiness and the best of luck for the future xxxxx
EDIT: If you're reading this, youo can probably tell I wrote it arouund halfway through the vid. Have just got on to the bit about life expectancy. Wish there was something inspiring to say, but I completely see where you're coming from. I'm thinking of retiring early just now - mainly because if I'm unemployed much longer, I'll lose my house, but because I'm almost 55, I do have options (and the privilege of a public sector pension with 23 years' contributions in it). Just the idea of retiring makes my look back on my life and wonder what the point was, what the end goal was supposed to be. But the more I think of it, the more I wonder if this wouldn't be a reasonable move anyway. It would free my time for the academic work I've yearned to do all my life. I do hope you find some purpose. And maybe a well-paid side hustle. Good luck.
Well, happy birthday, Doc! I hope this next year brings you happiness and success
Happy birthday Jackson, love watching your videos!
Sir, wishing you well from sunny Louisiana. I hope for you that this year is more fulfilling and prosperous than any before it.
You are a great professional and inspiration for me, recently I bought your The Wanderer's Havamal, your work is amazing. Greetings from Brazil
Happy birthday! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge 💚
Happy birthday! Best channel on TH-cam!
I DEMAND A SHRUBBERY
Big congrats for your birthday. Maybe halfway, yes, but the best halve is maybe yet to come. Have a fulfilling new year!
Happy Birthday! Thanks for all the videos you've made
I appreciate your explanation of the difference between [courage] / [a courageous man]. It's given me not just a particular cultural fact. It's opened up a view of Norse culture like one of the Rocky Mountain vistas in your videos--and a tool that I can use in approaching any culture.
So, props, & Happy 39th.
🙏
🖖
Happy birthday 🎂 hope it is a great one!
I respect you very much for pursuing somethign you’re so very passionate about
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday! Wishing you all the best for the coming year!
Happy Birthday!! Keep up the great vids!
Happy belated birthday 🎉 I hope you had an amazing day also I’m hoping you’re going to bless us with a new book soon. I cannot wait for the Prose Edda translation to come out. Please tell me it’s coming soon.
I have one tattoo. I spent a lot on it because the artist gave me several hours in the studio, several more hours preparing the art when I wasn't there, and many more hours unrenumerated becoming an expert artist such that he's who I trust with my body. If I need a translator to help me create my next piece, I'll expect their fee to be just as high, for the same reason.
Happy birthday!
Your videos have inspired me to try to translate a poem from an alien vs predator comic, that was supposed to be in old norse (presumably, it's vikings vs a xenomorph), they'll certainly be a massive help too. Just practice and fun for me, personally. It's such a long passage, likely written without the language in mind, and not to mention inconsequential, that even if we could figure out a fair price to check my work, I'd certainly feel bad having wasted your time.
I understand your reasoning. Great video and work, keep it up.
Happy Birthday 🥳
Happy birthday Dr Crawford
I always thought of it as a "lazy tax" for people who can't be bothered to learn anything about what they want tattooed. It's absolutely laziness on their part imo because you provide a huge resource for learning in your channel and your books
thank you for all your knowledge
I would like "JC don't do tattoo" translated into baby futhark please.😋
Thank you for your work, sir. Happy Birthday!
As an artist I feel ya on the wanting something for nothing.
May you find your elusive concepts soon, and have a happy birthday in the meantime!
Happy Birthday Dr. Crawford , ,
Happy birthday sir!
Very fair take. In my situation, I can answer IT questions with the same caveats. Worst case scenario can be big liability if I'm wrong, best case scenario I spent years learning my skills.
Happy Birthday!!!!
The concept of paying for the years developing expertise rather than the hours or minutes spent on the task is a struggle to convey to some people in a lot of fields.
As far as tattoos go, anyone who's asked tattoo artists for their thoughts will tell you that it's generally a bad idea to get a tattoo that you can't read yourself anyway. Symbols, pictures, those sorts of things are fine; but if it's script, you're usually not going to get it to actually say what you want unless you can read for yourself that it actually does so.
A tattoo is pretty personal, and I've never understood why people would have a tattoo in a language which they don't know. Then it's not really their creation, and they don't have a good sense of the meaning.
I've studied Latin, and many people ask for translations for tattoos in Latin as well. I also avoid helping as I probably can't give them exactly what they look for, usually because short words or phrases never have an exact mapping to a different language, but since they were asking in the first place, they wouldn't precisely know how the translation differs.
@@midtskogen let's not forget when they replace random letters with greek. i have many grievances about bad tattoos to air here.
Don’t mean to speak out of turn but you seem particularly down in this video. Wishing you all the best. You definitely make my day when I see your videos.
Fun Fact: Buske is swedish for Bush, so translating it to Busk would not be crazy (not that this lessens anything that was said in the video)
Happy birthday! 🎉🎉🎉 Birthday buddies!
As a norwegian with the name Runar, meaning runes, getting a tattoo of it in runes sounds pretty dope... Although this is most likely a terrible idea 😅
Print it on a t-shirt. You can put it on and off whenever you like, change the font, the colors, add swirls, and so on. I will never understand how people can put up with an indelible stain on their skin. I couldn’t resist the urge to scratch it off as soon as I get tired of it. Guess we are all different.
Heck yeah! The Prose Edda is on it's way!
I have Anthony Faulkes's translation and it's decent. I got a bit of amusement out of his interpretation of the kennings and I look forward to seeing what you come up with for your interpretation.
ETA: Happy birthday!
Happy birthday.
I have a success metric: Being able to contribute academically or not to the spreading of truths and and facts into the world, and performing original work contributing to the body of human knowledge, *without* also having to grade midterm papers.
Happy bday!
Just translate "Bush" to a "Shrubbery" and just go with runes for "Ni"
What is Ni?
@@RoyalKnightVIII From Monty Python's Holy Grail movie. The knight's wanted a shrubbery and couldn't utter the word "Ni"
@@markcash2 ahhhh I see
Hi from beautiful Scandinavia))) Prof. Crawford. Just out of curiosity - answer is not required…
Would it not be easier to translate from one of Scandinavian+ languages like DK NO IS or SE? Or do you think they changed too much. For example when you say there is no sh. But in modern Norwegian there is kjære - hissing cat sh.
My point may be accepting only translatuons from Scandinavian languages?
Also maybe video idea. We would love to see Scandinavian villages in US. Like Northfield or Elkhorn?
I see your point as valid and reasonable. On the other hand, altough I'm not into tattoos, yet I like do some writings on my stuff. Ex. I've tried to figure out how to carve in runes the name "Sultr" on my pocket knive, a name of the Hel's knive from her kitchen. Just for fun, because I feel it's egdy and fun to have such a personalized pocket knive :P Like a "truest modern viking", arrrr!!
I though it would be cool if I figure out how to write it all by myself. Sure, I do realize, I won't be ever as fluent as Dr Crawford, especially after just a few days spent on learning runes. But it's just a damn knive and I feel, it adds some value if I translate and write those runes by myself, even if they are wrong.
After I've watched some of your videos and read some articles I've came out with tree different posible translations. I couldn't tell witch one is "the most correct" so finally I've chosen one randomly. Still I'm not sure if it's correct or not, but I had some fun with this, I have a pocket knive that I can "show off" with my friends, and even if someone will point out "hey, you've written it wrong", I can tell, "yeah, probably, I'm no specialist after all. How you would write it?"
But it would be nice if someone with actuall knowledge of language and runes ocasionally would make some checking if we noobs are learning anything or not and correct our mistakes.
A bit topic adjacent, would you consider doing a video on old Norse names for their animals (pets) , if they kept records of such things.
Til hamingju með afmælið!!!
happy birthday sir
Happy B-day friend!
LOL, I didn't even need to watch this first to understand what you were saying!
Good for you Jackson! Very sound arguments. I'd do the same. Hope you get more income from your expertise in a more fulfilling way. I'm sure it will happen in time. And congratz!
But my tattoo of "Stop using icmp echo request to test tcp port availability" has little hope? sads.
I really appreciate your channel and all the time and work that goes into the videos you make. I own your books and look forward to the Prose Edda. Thanks for choosing to share your knowledge, I don't doubt that we'd all be walking around spreading copypasted nonsense about this period of history if it wasn't for you!!
Judging by your example I can kind of see what kind of requests you're getting lol
Happy birthday by the way!
I completely respect your reasoning. I want to pay you for your translation services for a story I'm writing but having heard your feelings about it I wonder if it could instead be appropriate if I, having indulged myself with the wealth of your available writings and vidoes, make some educated guesses at translations I need and have you kinda give me a tip of your hat if I'm in the right direction or need to go back to square one? Because I'd gladly pay for that assistance if it would be less time consuming on your part and moreso on mine.
Happy birthday btw
a birdacious hatchday, from someone just on the other side of the illusive four-oh.
and i would totally be willing to pay 50 bucks to see your rendition of "All hail the Overbird! Did the mammals surrender yet?"
in all seriousness†, you seem to woefully underestimate how much meaning your work and your presence has to us viewers, especially those of us who walk that thin path between nerddom and the status of a Sonderling (excuse my German, all the English words like oddball or weirdo don't quite capture what i mean in this case.. lone wolf maybe, but that's unnecessarily edgy and depressed)
in any case, i think your impact is a lot greater than what you're willing to admit to yourself. maybe you're just too humble and goody-two-shoes.
greetings from Bavaria
†) by which i don't mean i'm not serious. i _will_ pay US$50 for that translation, or alternatively for "the mammalian hegemony shall fall"
Ameture silversmith reporting: Southwestern silver jewelry interest me greatly. How dare you, sir? :D
Thank goodness… I’m looking to rename a sailing boat.
This discussion of tatoo requests brought up for me the question of what draws people to your discussions. I was attracted because I have always had an interest in historical linguistics and in Scandinavia in a very broad sense. I am not an expert by any means in either of these subjects. Call me naive, but it took me a while to realize that there were many other types who were drawn to your channel..........for want of a better way to describe them I would call them 'Lord of the Rings' type people....finding interest it the lore and myth of the Vikings. I guess what I am trying to say is that I respect your understanding of linguistics and support your thoughts that using your skills to translate for tatoos is a poor use of your skills.
Taking an English word and trying to shove it into runes is probably the least interesting thing to do in this topic. I find it much more interesting to look at how runes and proto-norse or old norse actually were used, and have learnt quite a lot from your videos on the topic! Happy birthday!
Hey Dr. Crawford; have you had any interest in covering old Saxon or its descendants in a video? I think it’s a language that’s often forgotten and the endangerment of modern Low Saxon/Low German it would be very interesting to cover the language that would go on to influence the Scandinavian languages so much later on.
yeah, people ask me how much i charge for lace pieces... i tell them i don't make pieces fast enough for anyone to be able to afford them...
$5000 for a three word translation...alright, so we have a starting price.
Don't blame you man, I'm a tattooer and I don't think its my responsibility either, when it comes to anything I cant read its the customers responsibility. If they spell a kids name wrong, its on them.
This video made me want to learn old Norse and youbger futhark so that I can "translate" the lyrics of Paranoid.
Yes, but what if I want "cowboy hat" in runes? 😊 Just kidding, btw I am one of those people who randomly stumbled upon your channel. Interest in language, not much knowledge of old Norse despite a degree in indo european linguistics, it was great to find your work.
The only foreign language tattoo that makes sense to me is my daughter’s. She reads ancient Greek herself and has a quote from a Greek philosopher in ancient Greek, which she copied out and arranged herself for her tattoo artist. Not a translation from modern English, no translation help required.
Happy Birthday
Its sorry to see people treating you like a vending machine for cool viking-looking words when youve really put a lot of time, effort, and money into becoming an educator. Folks need to realize they arent entitled to your labor for trivialities like that