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| Jeito Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5818 days ago 55 posts - 63 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Mandarin, German, Italian, Portuguese | Message 9 of 24 28 March 2009 at 1:59am | IP Logged | |||||
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If you don't mind, I would like to tack on a Swedish accent question. I lived for a few months in Stockholm and studied Swedish there. My ear is attuned to the accent from that region. I find it the easiest to understand. I know in Skane, the accent has sounds closer to Danish. So here is my question. Local public television plays a police drama filmed in Sweden. It's called Wollander after the name of the principal character in the drama (and his disobedient, cop daughter). Anyway, it appears to be filmed in Ystad. While the accent is clearer, than southern Swedish it sounds quite a bit different from the Swedish I heard in Stockholm and it is harder for me to understand. Can a native Swedish speaker describe the difference in accent between Ystad and Stockhom and explain why it may be harder to understand for an outsider? Tak ska du ha. Edited by Jeito on 29 March 2009 at 1:06am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6910 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 10 of 24 28 March 2009 at 2:48am | IP Logged | |||||
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First of all, the sounds that the Skåne accent (as if there was just one!) has, and which may resemble Danish, is mainly the throat-r - which is also present in the regions of Blekinge, Småland, Öland, Halland, and occasionally Västergötland and Östergötland. Nothing particularly Danish about it (too my ears).
From what I can remember, none of the main Wallander actors have a southern accent, although the supporting cast may. As for it sounding a bit different from Stockholmska - of course it does. You should hear more diphtongs and throaty r:s. You might hear another "lilt" (but that goes for _every_ region, and then there are local variants). If you are familiar with (or have paid attention to) the two pitch accents, you might also find that any Swedish accent/dialect has them, but that the "tone curve" varies (as if you were to make a musical transcript, the actual notes would differ). Side note: I hear all Mandarin tones in my own Swedish accent (Gotland, not Skåne), while I constantly hear other Swedish learners of Chinese having problems even distinguishing between them. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeito Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5818 days ago 55 posts - 63 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Mandarin, German, Italian, Portuguese | Message 11 of 24 29 March 2009 at 1:04am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks, I will pay attention to dipthongs and r's next time I watch. I am not sure what you meant by "pitch accents" though, can you elaborate a little more?
PS I am watching "Let the Right One In" tonight. Let's see how much I understand of that. Edited by Jeito on 29 March 2009 at 1:05am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6910 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 24 29 March 2009 at 3:59am | IP Logged | |||||
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Swedish has two tone/pitch accents which occur in words with at least two syllables. The present tense (läser, skriver, ligger, springer, kommer) usually takes the acute accent (not to be confused with "´"). That accent is also very common in most languages without pitch accents. Compare "Johnson", "running", "breakfast", "Swedish", "language" et.c..
Many infinitives (läsa, skriva, ligga, springa, komma) use the "grave" accent (not to be confused with the "`"), and how that sounds is impossible to explain in writing. It's "fall-rise" in many dialects, while it's "rise-fall" in mine. Two-syllable first names such as Pelle, Bosse, Kalle, Lasse, Arne, Lotta, Maja, Emma, Stina, Sara have that "grave" accent. If you want to sound "native" you have to be able to produce the tones yourself, but it's not the end of the world if you don't. In a few occasions there are identical words but pitched differently (bear in mind - not "stressed"). More about that when you get there... :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeito Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5818 days ago 55 posts - 63 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Mandarin, German, Italian, Portuguese | Message 13 of 24 29 March 2009 at 8:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hej Jeff,
Thanks for the explanation. I will pay more attention to pitch from now on. BTW, I watched "Let the Right One In," last night. It was supposed to take place in one of the western suburbs of Stockholm. It was definitely much easier to understand because of the accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeito Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5818 days ago 55 posts - 63 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Mandarin, German, Italian, Portuguese | Message 14 of 24 29 March 2009 at 8:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
You can pick up used ones sometimes for a reasonable prices on E-bay. I bought a used Linguaphone Svenska Kurs there and got a pretty good deal. Maybe because it was cassettes and not CDs. BTW, if we are placing language materials for sale on e-bay is there a place to post a notice on this board? Or is that considered spam? Inquiring minds want to know. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeito Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5818 days ago 55 posts - 63 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Mandarin, German, Italian, Portuguese | Message 15 of 24 29 March 2009 at 8:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
Edited by Jeito on 29 March 2009 at 8:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tyr Senior Member Sweden Joined 5783 days ago 316 posts - 384 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish | Message 16 of 24 31 March 2009 at 11:24am | IP Logged | |||||
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Does anyone have any examples of spoken Skanska?
I'm told that when I speak I sound quite Skanish, I often get mistaken for Danish even - I can't roll my Rs and their throaty Rs are quite like northern British ones. I'm thinking perhaps I should aim for this- afterall a foreigner who speaks Scouse as opposed to just standard stuff would be very amazing in English. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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