Danish: Som om man aldrig har været her

[Rejzko]

Hello, I would like to know the meaning of the phrase in this context. It is in the film Klienten. Te psychologist's client, a mass murderer, wants to die and have it as he never existed. He has kidnapped the psychologist and is standing with her on a cliff high above the water. He is intending to jump to the water and make it look like the psychologist pushed him. Ad then the water carries him to the sea and his body will be never found.

Kan du se det? Glemslen. Den er dernede. I vandet. Løb ud i havet. Ud i ingenting. Som om man aldrig har været her.

Can it be translated: Can you see that? Oblivion. It is down there in the water. It runs into the sea. (or: Carried into the ocean). Into nothingness. As if I was never here. (or as the water was never here??)

The text seems a bit strange to me.

 

[raumar]

I suppose the text seems strange because the words are spoken by a suicidal mass murderer. He speaks incoherently, in fragments - he does not speak in complete sentences. I think you should keep the original punctuation, and the fragmented way of speaking. It is probably meant to reflect the speaker's state of mind.

I am not a native English speaker, but I would suggest a translation along these lines: "Can you see it? The oblivion. It is down there. In the water. Run into the sea. Out into nothing. As if one never has been here."

"Løb ut i havet" does not really make sense, since it is written in the imperative form. Is it a command? If so, to whom? But I suppose you should keep the original form, instead of rewriting it into something more meaningful.

You ask about "Som om man aldrig har været her", and I assume that "man" is the word that causes problems for you. It corresponds to the English pronoun "one". If the speaker had said "jeg", the sentence would be more personal and less of a general statement.

I think this meaning of "one" from the WordReference Dictionary fits this case:

a person of the speaker's kind; such as the speaker himself or herself:
to press one's own claims.

 

[PoulBA]

I would suggest that "løb ud i havet" is a (very) lazy, or perhaps mumbled, rendering of "det løber ud i havet".
And yes, "man" is an impersonal pronoun (upersonligt stedord, if you want to study it in a grammar) - in English usually translated one or you. Etymologically it is the word "mand" - like man from Mann in German, and on from homme in French.
Apropos the example from WRD, one's - man does not have its own conjugated forms but uses the normal third person reflexives.
For uses of man, you might check out "Musens sang".

 

[Rejzko]

I suppose the text seems strange because the words are spoken by a suicidal mass murderer. He speaks incoherently, in fragments - he does not speak in complete sentences. I think you should keep the original punctuation, and the fragmented way of speaking. It is probably meant to reflect the speaker's state of mind.

I am not a native English speaker, but I would suggest a translation along these lines: "Can you see it? The oblivion. It is down there. In the water. Run into the sea. Out into nothing. As if one never has been here."

"Løb ut i havet" does not really make sense, since it is written in the imperative form. Is it a command? If so, to whom? But I suppose you should keep the original form, instead of rewriting it into something more meaningful.

You ask about "Som om man aldrig har været her", and I assume that "man" is the word that causes problems for you. It corresponds to the English pronoun "one". If the speaker had said "jeg", the sentence would be more personal and less of a general statement.

I think this meaning of "one" from the WordReference Dictionary fits this case:

I agree, my final choice was "If one was never here." Thank you very much.

 

[bicontinental]

(Den = glemslen) Løb ud i havet.

Grammatically speaking, this is the past tense of the verb at løbe and I think it makes sense in this context. He is referring to glemslen, which ran into the sea, i.e. they are not watching it happen, it doesn't run into the sea, rather it did... as if you/one never existed.