Ni slippa väl ej med mindre

English translation: you wil not be let off unless

09:37 Aug 12, 2012
Swedish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Swedish term or phrase: Ni slippa väl ej med mindre
Another phrase from the letters that is perplexing me (please see my other recent KudoZ questions). I have progressed to 1882 now.

"Och Mall som var på Åhagen, är din kammrat efter Ida, hon är ju mycket religiöst sinnad, men för öfrigt mycket snäll. Ni slipper väl ej med mindre ni gör bättring och omvänder eder också, du förstår mig nog."

To me, something like "You wouldn't get off lightly if you repented and converted as well...", but perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree. I have found references for "släppa med mindre", but can't find a decent translation.

Any advice warmly received.
/Richard
Richard Green
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:45
English translation:you wil not be let off unless
Explanation:
You wil not be let off unless you repent and convert

The key here is 'med mindre' = 'unless'

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Note added at 48 mins (2012-08-12 10:25:36 GMT)
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And of course: wil should be will. Bad fingers here.....

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Note added at 7 hrs (2012-08-12 16:46:09 GMT)
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I see that several respondents might not have noticed, understood or accepted what I said about 'med mindre'. I should have offered a reference, and here it comes - better late than never: http://www.eudict.com/?lang=sweeng&word=med mindre

On the other hand, George's 'hardly' would merge nicely into my text example, to cater for the 'väl'-modifier.
Selected response from:

Leif Henriksen
Norway
Local time: 11:45
Grading comment
Fantastic contribution to the discussion, Leif. I would have missed 'med mindre' myself if you hadn't pointed it out, and I think this is key to the successful translation of this quite tricky phrase. Many thanks, Leif.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +4you wil not be let off unless
Leif Henriksen
5 -1You will hardly get away with less
George Hopkins
4 -1You probably won't get away with anything less than
J Christian Odehnal
3 -1you won't get off the hook any more lightly
SafeTex


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
You will hardly get away with less


Explanation:
You have to tweak it a bit to suit the context...

George Hopkins
Local time: 11:45
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 52

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  SafeTex: 'to get away with sth' is a phrase but not sure that you can add 'with less' here or that the final suggestion reflects what the source segment wants to say
1 hr
  -> Too bad. How do you translate "väl" in this case?
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
you won't get off the hook any more lightly


Explanation:
standard phrase


    Reference: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/get+off+the+hook
SafeTex
France
Local time: 11:45
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 11

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  George Hopkins: No hook mentioned in source text...
27 mins

disagree  asptech: See the other comments about "med mindre".
1 day 22 hrs
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42 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
you wil not be let off unless


Explanation:
You wil not be let off unless you repent and convert

The key here is 'med mindre' = 'unless'

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 48 mins (2012-08-12 10:25:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And of course: wil should be will. Bad fingers here.....

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2012-08-12 16:46:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I see that several respondents might not have noticed, understood or accepted what I said about 'med mindre'. I should have offered a reference, and here it comes - better late than never: http://www.eudict.com/?lang=sweeng&word=med mindre

On the other hand, George's 'hardly' would merge nicely into my text example, to cater for the 'väl'-modifier.


Leif Henriksen
Norway
Local time: 11:45
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in NorwegianNorwegian, Native in Norwegian (Bokmal)Norwegian (Bokmal)
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Fantastic contribution to the discussion, Leif. I would have missed 'med mindre' myself if you hadn't pointed it out, and I think this is key to the successful translation of this quite tricky phrase. Many thanks, Leif.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Lene Johansen
6 hrs
  -> Takk, Lene - det er godt å se at jeg ikke er den eneste som forstår :)

agree  Cetra Hastings
20 hrs

agree  asptech
2 days 1 hr

agree  Cynthia Coan: I like this translation; it gets the meaning across while avoiding excessive wordiness.
2 days 4 hrs
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12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
You probably won't get away with anything less than


Explanation:
Complete sentence:

You probably won't get away with anything less than repenting and converting as well, I'm sure you know what I mean.

A modern Swedish equivalent of this sentence would be:

Ni slipper väl inte undan med mindre än att ni gör bättring och omvänder er också, du förstår mig nog.

'med mindre [än att]' is a conjunctive expression that Norstedt translates as 'unless' or 'short of', however to me it sounds better with 'with anything less than'

'väl' here expresses presumption, so 'probably' is a possible translation, although you could also use things like 'I guess …' 'I'd say...' at the beginning of the sentence.

'hardly' is better translated as 'knappast' and could replace the negation in the sentence:

Ni slipper väl knappast undan …

'nog' is similar to 'väl', but could also be used to express a greater degree of certainty:

'surely' or prefacing the sentence with 'I'm sure … ', 'No doubt …' etc

I used Norstedt as my resource for this answer.

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Note added at 4 days (2012-08-16 15:33:23 GMT) Post-grading
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Both 'unless' and 'anything else than' are conditional expressions. One of the differences between them is that the force of 'anything else than' is greater than 'unless'. This would be in line with the intensifier 'mycket' earlier in the sentence and the drastic consequences (repenting and converting), which give the sentence a jocularly exagerrative style.

J Christian Odehnal
Czech Republic
Local time: 11:45
Native speaker of: Swedish
PRO pts in category: 15
Notes to answerer
Asker: I really appreciate your effort in your contribution to the discussion, Christian. If I could have given points to more than one answer, especially for the research value of your answer, I would have done.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Leif Henriksen: What, apart from your 'to me it sounds better', makes you overrule Norstedt's precise translation of 'med mindre'? Since this is the key to understanding the content, you miss the point by taking on the huge task of overruling Norstedt.
20 hrs
  -> Norstedt is not a dictionary of 19th century Swedish. Even if it were, a professional translator uses his language knowledge and intuition to reach a final decision. Dictionaries can inform that decision, but not decide for you. I sincerely hope you agree
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