English – Salix Lingua

Salix Lingua offers rapid, precise and professional treatment of Danish and English texts in terms of:
• Translation from Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic into English – and from English into Danish.
• Proofreading of Danish as well as English texts.
• Special focus on academic literature.

Areas of specialisation include cultural history, religion, pedagogy, literary history, historical linguistics, archaeology, Viking Age and Middle Ages. But I’m open to new challenges – all you have to do is ask.

Salix Lingua

Salix Lingua was established in 2012 by Karen Bek-Pedersen.

Proofreading

More than fifteen years of experience with English as well as Danish texts – primarily academic literature within the humanities broadly speaking – including history, religion, literature, archaeology, psychology, linguistics and name studies – resulting in a reputation for efficiency and meticulousness.

Translation

English and Danish from Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic.

Danish from English and vice versa.

More than thirteen years of experience.

Declaration of love

There is something delicious about working with language. This is nerdy work – in the most positive sense of that word. Language is like tin – is is malleable and can be shaped, and if you polish it a little bit it shines.

Salix Lingua is my declaration of love to the Danish as well as the English language.

Who is behind Salix Lingua
I grew up in Denmark – taking my Highers at Fredericia Gymnasium in 1995 – and have always had a keen interest in nature, languages and history. Particularly prehistoric times, foreign cultures and the linguistic relationship between people and their surroundings continue to fascinate me. Cross-country skiing and rowing are my preferred sports. Moving through landscapes by the force of your own power is a wonderful way of experiencing nature.

In 1996 I moved to Edinburgh and studied ethnology and folkloristics at the university there. Later on, I lived and worked in Aberdeen, also at the university. Many years of living and working in Scotland have given me insights not only into Scottish and British culture, but also into Danish. You learn much about your own country by going abroad for an extended period of time.

I now live permanently in central Århus, but retain close ties to Scotland and a particular fondness for Orkney.

Academic research

Although Salix Lingua is my main focus, I continue to do academic research within the fields of pre-Christian Scandinavian religion and mythology. My interests also include Celtic mythology, Icelandic sagas, folktales and narrative traditions, ballads as well as Scandinavian and North Atlantic cultural history.
I defended my PhD on the norns and the concept of fate in Old Norse mythology at the University of Edinburgh in December 2007 – the book was published in 2011 by Dunedin Academic Press: The Norns in Old Norse Mythology.
My book on gods and goddesses of Norse mythology, which is in Danish – Guder og Gudinder i Nordisk Mytologi – was published in 2021 by Turbine Forlag. And in 2022, I had the pleasure of writing a very small book on the very large topic of myths – Myter, published as part of the Tænkepauser-series with Aarhus University Press.

From the workshop:

A translator’s workshop constantly sees new books, articles and other texts coming through the door to be proofread or translated before they are sent out into the world again in their new guise. Perhaps your text also has an interesting topic?

Here is a selection of topics that have been through the Salix Lingua workshop over the past year:

A book on Bob Dylan, the Danish welfare state, memory culture in medieval Iceland, the Russo-Japanese war, cookery books in post-war Denmark, loneliness among elderly people, the reconstruction of a Norwegian Viking ship, web series and much more.

Briefly put: Salix Lingua covers a wide range of topics – and I’m always happy to learn something new.