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Swedish - dialect problems ? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ABOUJAD Triglot Newbie France myspace.com/chajaloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5855 days ago 5 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 1 of 20 12 June 2009 at 1:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hej / Hei !
I have recently begun studying Norwegian. I fell in love with the sound of it and after reading an article called "Why Norwegian is the easiest language for English speakers to learn" I decided to go for it. However, recently I have been having second thoughts and am considering switching to Swedish. Firstly, resources for learning Norwegian seem to be few and far between. Secondly, several people (Swedes and others) haved advised me that Swedish would be the most useful Scandinavian language to learn. But my main concern is that I have come to understand that even if I master Bokmål one day, that it may be totally useless for oral communication because there are so many different dialects in Norway, some of which are extremely different from Bokmål). I'm wondering if it would be like learning MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) only to find out on your first trip to Egypt that no one actually speaks that way in everyday life and that you cannot understand most of what is being said. So, any way, after that long explanation, my basic question is this: Would I have the same problem if I switched to Swedish ? In other words, is the written language (what I could learn through teach yourself methods and online resources) the way Swedes really speak in everyday life, or do they too speak dialects that are more or less (in)comprehensible to varying degrees ? Thanks for your advice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tupiniquim Senior Member Brazil Joined 6086 days ago 184 posts - 217 votes  Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, Russian | Message 2 of 20 12 June 2009 at 3:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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. Edited by Tupiniquim on 31 July 2009 at 11:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5835 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 3 of 20 12 June 2009 at 9:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would be interested in reading the thread but I cannot get the link to work. From what you say it would seem I am wasting my time learning Norwegian. Not only are Norwegians generally very proficient in English but they don't even speak standard bokmal in everyday life. Is this correct? So I would never have much of an opportunity to practise the language.
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| Tupiniquim Senior Member Brazil Joined 6086 days ago 184 posts - 217 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, Russian | Message 4 of 20 12 June 2009 at 10:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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. Edited by Tupiniquim on 31 July 2009 at 11:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6912 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 20 13 June 2009 at 2:14am | IP Logged | ||
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Standard this, standard that... I have yet to meet, say, a British person speaking exactly as they do on BBC (or did in the English courses of yore). There will always be invididual, regional and social varieties in speech.
Why MSA is called that if a speaker of it doesn't understand Egyptian locals is beyond my comprehension. Maybe they should call it something else. In short - you will not have any problems with standard Swedish. You will be understood everywhere, but don't forget material in other accents (just switch on the radio or the TV set). I'm also quite sure that this is the case with Bokmål. Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 13 June 2009 at 2:14am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ABOUJAD Triglot Newbie France myspace.com/chajaloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5855 days ago 5 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 6 of 20 13 June 2009 at 6:18am | IP Logged | ||
Hi, and thanks for your reply. As to why MSA is called that, it's because it is the "written" standard in all Arab countries, but the only time you hear it actually spoken is in news broadcasts, formal speeches, etc. In the same way, Bokmål and Nynorsk are the "written" standards in Norway, and I have been told by Norwegians and by foreigners who have learned Norwegian that there are dialects in Norway that are so different that even other Norwegians have trouble understanding them, and that some are farther from Bokmål than even Swedish. So, it's not just a question of "retional accent". And yest, I am sure that with Standard Swedish I would be understood everywhere, just like I am sure that I would be understood all over Norway speaking standart Bokmål. My concern is that I would not understand people speaking in dialects around me, not that these same people would not understand me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Calvino Diglot Groupie Sweden sammafllod.wordpress Joined 5969 days ago 65 posts - 66 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: French, Spanish, German | Message 7 of 20 13 June 2009 at 9:38am | IP Logged | ||
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Aboujad:
In the late 19th-early 20th century, Sweden underwent a rather harsh programme of dialect-flattening, driven by the ideal of cultural unity and a desire to strengthen the nation-state. This led to the virtual extinction of many traditional dialects, many of whom can today only be heard spoken by the extremely elderly, or in the recording archives of the dialectology research institutes. As a matter of fact, Swedish used to have more, not less, dialectal heterogeneity than Norway, probably owing to the fact that Sweden is bigger and have many areas that used to have scant communication with the central region. Around my hometown, there are many places where the old local dialect used to be virtually incomprehensible to a man from, say, Stockholm -- more incomprehensible, even, than the Norwegian of an Oslo-ite would be to the same stockholmer, making one wonder why the former is a dialect where the latter is another language. But that's the way these things work :) Today, however, the chances are minuscule that you will stumble upon someone whose variety of Swedish is so strange that you will not understand him, and if you do, it will probably be an old man in some remote country end that you are unlikely ever to visit anyhow :) Edited by Calvino on 13 June 2009 at 9:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6912 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 20 13 June 2009 at 6:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Aboujad, you will be able to understand dialects/accents as long as you keep your ears open and exopose yourself to varied content. As for people speaking differently from the writing, you won't have too much trouble with that, since the orthogaphy is a bit weird in itself (e.g. several consonant clusters all sounding like /sh/).
In certain dialects ö become u (or vice versa), e and ä merge, i become e/ä, o become ö and so on. The thickest ones I've heard is Överkalix-mål, Träslövs-mål and Älvdalska (included in a TV documentary about dialects). Calvino, which is your hometown? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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