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Swedish/Sweden is tiny and unimportant? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4981 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 9 of 39 02 May 2011 at 10:44am | IP Logged | |||||
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Henning Mankell!! He's the reason I learn Swedish, I even went to Ystad, which was just so lush! Plus, Stockholm is
seriously beautiful. Who cares about useful? It's as useful as you make it. Edited by Alexander86 on 02 May 2011 at 10:44am 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 10 of 39 02 May 2011 at 12:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
Since it is a national sport in Norway to make fun of Swedes, I can think of a number of possible answers to this one :-). Since I actually enjoy Swedish, I will however try to answer in a responsible fashion. 1. You can read lots of wonderful literature. 2. You can listen to lots of great music. 3. You'll be a hit among the Swedish girls - and there are worse fates for a young man. 4. You get 3 1/2 cultures and languages for the effort of one (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Swedish-Finnish). 5. Plus Swedes are really gentle and nice. If I was forced into exile for some reason, Sweden is probably the country I would have chosen to live in. 6. It may offer you job opportunities, that the more studied languages will not, since there are few Americans who are actually good at speaking Swedish. 7. You could probably study in Sweden for very little cost, since studies at the University there, like in Norway, is practically free. 11 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6105 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 11 of 39 02 May 2011 at 2:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
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A few more reasons:
1) If you are learning languages for pleasure rather than strictly usefulness then Swedish is a delight. As ellasevia on this Forum once said, Swedish is such a nice bouncy playful language. I agree, I like the sound of it too, and the prospect of speaking it makes it highly attractive to learn for me. 2) Great Swedish design from cameras (Hasselblad) to cars (Volvo, SAAB), although I'm so-so about Ikea products. You can enjoy these without knowing Swedish of course, but it makes the country and culture more attractive for a would-be learner. 3) I studied glass-making, some of my favourite glass artists came from Sweden (also Czech Republic)...to spend a couple months visiting their studios would be a dream. 4) Food is pretty good. Last time I went the apple-cake and elk meat were highlights! Edited by Mooby on 02 May 2011 at 6:49pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6582 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 13 of 39 02 May 2011 at 3:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
Actually, walking through an IKEA store knowing Swedish is a delight, especially if it's not in Sweden. It's like walking through a landscape of references and plays on words that nobody understands but you (not even the staff!). Walking through IKEA in Chicago many years ago and seeing that the kids' area was called "Småland" made me laugh out loud. (You'll have to learn some Swedish to get that pun; I'm not explaining!) Edited by Ari on 02 May 2011 at 3:31pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 14 of 39 02 May 2011 at 5:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I had a lot of fun following Ari's advice to learn Swedish -- I ran up to the kids room and started turning over the furniture. "IKEA" and "families with kids" are terms so synonymous here that some of the product names have become houshold German words.
HUMLA - bumblebee (stuffed bee) KRAMA - hug (washcloth) MAMMUT - mammoth (stool, it's pretty durable, I have to say) LILLABO - wooden train set -- if you take it apart it means "little lie" or "little home" -- correct me if I'm wrong VIKA - must be something like "versatile" because it's used for a mix-n-match product SNILLE - genius (office swivel chair) SKUB- (this one is a mystery, is it from skubbar?) PAX - peace, (which IKEA combines with place names for their furniture series) SÖT - cute (stuffed toys) VYSSA VACKERT - "sleep sweet" (mattress) TROFAST - true, steadfast (child's storage shelf)
or even better, you can enjoy Swedish without knowing the IKEA products! Although I have to admit, some of the stuff we thought we'd have gotten rid of by now we still have... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6582 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 15 of 39 02 May 2011 at 6:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
Glad I inspired some language learning! I'll help you out with the tricky ones. LILLABO - wooden train set -- if you take it apart it means "little lie" or "little home" -- correct me if I'm wrong I suppose you meant "little live" with a 'v'? Correct. A translation of "nest" might be more appropriate in usual circumstances, though I think the "home" translation is what's hinted at in this case. Either way it's not strictly grammatically correct, but works as a cutesy compound word. It could possibly be meant as the name of a little town. VIKA - must be something like "versatile" because it's used for a mix-n-match product Means "to fold" SKUB- (this one is a mystery, is it from skubbar?) Mystery for me, too. Dialectal, maybe? PAX - peace, (which IKEA combines with place names for their furniture series) Well, whilst "pax" means "peace" in Latin, the Swedish word is what you shout out when you want to "call" something as yours, like "I call shotgun!" or "I call first ride!". The former in Swedish would be "Pax för att sitta fram!" (the "att" pronounced like "å"). I guess the thinking is their furniture is so comfy you'll want to "call" it before someone else sits there? VYSSA VACKERT - "sleep sweet" (mattress) Actually, "vyssa" means more something like "to lull to sleep", especially with songs, humming, hushing and slowly rocking the baby. TROFAST - true, steadfast (child's storage shelf) Yes. Also "loyal". Edited by Ari on 02 May 2011 at 6:47pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 16 of 39 02 May 2011 at 7:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks for reading into some of those for me. I like the insight you give on PAX
I call it "expensive" ;) (You'd have to see the catalog to know what I mean)
I guess it would be funny to for a Swede to hear the conversations in a household with IKEA stuff, since we just call the things by their names like, "hey, put your toys back in the trofast kasten". -- Swedish+German -- "the loyal box"! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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