Learning to Speak Swedish
Have you ever been to a country where you do not speak the language? If you have someone with you that speaks the language you can always ask, What did they say? Huh? and so on. When I was in Sweden last year I felt like I was on Mars at times. It was very frustrating for me and I'm sure for the people who don't speak English to communicate.
So, I have decided to try and teach myself Swedish. It can get quite confusing for me. English is confusing to me sometimes and that is my first language. I know Greek but I am not fluent as I should be.
It is really confusing when one word means something in one language and something else in another. For instance, nai in Greek means yes. Nej in Swedish means no and in English it is a sound a horse makes.
If I can figure this whole language thing out, hopefully by October I will be able to at least understand enough Swedish to get by.
Wish me luck!
posted by greekzoe at 5/16/2006 08:41:00 PM
7 Comments:
Wow, good for you for taking the initiative. I can speak French, a passable level of Spanish (mostly French with added "o"s and "a"s as needed, and a lot of improvisation!) and a pseudo-fluent version of German, which my cousins there affectionately call "Anne-Marie-German", like I have my own dialect. I think the more you know, language-wise, the smaller the world gets and that's a good thing.
Good luck with it!
Cheers,
AM
Good luck with the Swedish!
I'm very familiar with it since it's the second official language in Finland due to the ca. 6% Swedish language minority, and we had to learn it at school from 7th year (13 or 14) on. I can't speak it much though since I've not had any use for it since school (also unfortunately I was always very lazy with the vocabulary homework at school). Can read it pretty well though.
Hi Zoe
I speak French as a second language & it's come in handy at times. Often if I meet someone who speaks a language I don't I'll ask them if they speak French. Surprisingly enough, many do (mostly Europeans) & we're able to converse. I live in a tourist area where many of the visitors are from Europe.
I also think that having another language opens your mind up. Many languages have words for different ideas that are not directly translatable.
...is that a word?
Good luck with your Swedish lessons!
Love
Dale
Hi again-
I think it's awesome that you are learning Swedish. Wow - that looks like a difficult language to learn - much harder than the Romance languuages, I think.
I am attempting to learn Chinese (Mandarin). The grammar is simple, but the tones are SO difficult, so when I attempt to speak it, people don't always understand me.
I do have the numbers down, which always impresses the store clerks! They love it when foreigners try to speak Chinese!
Good that you are starting now. You'll learn alot by October. It will make your trip much more enjoyable. Have fun and good luck to you Zoe!
Bye!
Sue D.xx
Do you need a sparring partner? Although I am a Finn, my mother-tongue is Swedish!
We are some 300000 native swedish speakers here and I can act as your cyberspace-coach! :)
The accent is a little bit different ( an ancient form of swedish they say...) like the french in Canada but the words, the rules and the writing are exactly the same.
B.t.w. my wife is earning her living as a free-lance translator between swedish, finnish and english.
Once you have learnt swedish you can continue with finnish under the supervision of E.L. Wisty ... :)
Shoo Gwanny! Hewre awre some vewry impowrtnant wowrds!
Pizza - pizza
yum-yums - yum yums
sluta - quit
djurpolisen - animal cops
kattlåda - littner box
Shoo! Wiss tsose wowrds well mastnewred you can live a comfowrtable life in tsis pawrtment
Hey. I would enjoy helping you :-). I am Swedish, I have lived in the United States for fifteen years, and I live in Chicago. I am learning Korean, as well as Chinese (mandarin), and yes! the tones are difficult.. Wow.. Good luck, och tack så mycket!
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