Posts in August 2009

Buying a Car in Sweden

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Aug
31
2009

A few days ago one of the readers of this blog asked a question about car dealers in Sweden. He wanted to know whether they are as pushy and obnoxious as their American counterparts.

That’s a very good question, but I am not sure whether I am the right person to answer it. Why? I’m not a fan of car dealerships and I dislike them just on principle, be it in the US, Sweden or Brazil. It’s all the same to me.

My experience with car salesmen in Sweden is very limited. Though I tried to purchase a car from a dealer on four occasions, I always ended up buying from a private person. Why? The dealers seemed totally uninterested in selling me anything at all.

On all occasions, the experience was the same. Anna entered the dealership and tried to locate someone who would answer her questions. Anna had a list of questions ready already and knew exactly what kind of car she wanted. But nobody looked even vaguely interested in selling her a car. Any car.

I’m not sure why it was like that. Maybe I didn’t look like a serious buyer. Maybe the dealers thought it wouldn’t be worth their time and energy. Dunno.

The one time (the fifth occasion) when a car salesman actually talked to me, he tried to sell me a lemon. What sounded great over the phone turned out to be a total wreck in person. But the guy didn’t figure on me bringing along a friend who inspects cars for a living.

Every time I bought a car, I found it through the word of mouth. Of course, those were all used cars, because I didn’t really see a point of spending the money on a new one, if an older model would do the job just as well.

Buying a car in Sweden is a really straightforward process. There’s no need to change the tags, you (or the previous owner) just have to send in a change of ownership form and that’s pretty much it. After a few days you‘ll get a document in the mail confirming that you are the vehicle’s new legal owner. But don’t forget to insure the car! Every vehicle with a valid registration sticker MUST be insured. Otherwise you may end up paying hefty fines.

  • bilförsäkring – car insurance
  • bilhandlare, bilförsäljare – car dealer(ship)

Happy driving!

 
Posted under Culture
Tagged with , 		2 Comments | Post a Comment

Dem Pesky Personal Pronouns

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Aug
26
2009

The other day I got an email asking me to clarify which form of the third person plural personal pronoun (that would be the Swedish equivalent of “they” in English) was correct. The question, of course, was about “de” and “dom”.

Hmmm… it’s an interesting question. Both of those words are pronounced the same – as ”dom” and mean exactly the same. In fact, the explanation that you can see in many grammar books for foreigners is that we write “de” and pronounce it “dom”.

Hmmm… then what about those not so infrequent times when you can see “dom” actually written as “dom”? Though personally it rubs me the wrong way, you can find plenty of “dom” in less formal written Swedish. And that’s one thing I really don’t understand. After all it’s so much faster and more efficient to write “de” instead of “dom”. And I don’t know if it’s just me, but “de” just LOOKS more sophisticated, too.

So yes, we say “dom” and write it mostly as “de”, except for the times when we write it as “dom”. Easy!

But then there’s “dem” which also sounds like “dom”.

“Dem” is the object pronoun of “de”. “What’s that?”, I hear you ask. That’s when a personal pronoun acts as an object in a sentence. Like that:

  • Jag ser dem. – I can see them.

So basically, you have two different words: “de” and “dem”, which are both pronounced as “dom”. And sometimes written as “dom” as well.

See? That wasn’t confusing at all, now, was it? :)

 
Posted under Grammar
Tagged with , 		12 Comments | Post a Comment

The End of Apoteket (well, almost)

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Aug
24
2009

If all goes well, very soon you’ll be able to buy over the counter and prescription medications at your local ICA supermarket! Yay! I’d say it’s about time! You see, until July 1st of this year, Sweden was one of the very few countries left in the world with a state-controlled pharmacy monopoly. That has (finally) come to an end, and now other firms (both Swedish and foreign) can also apply to open and run drugstores.

Personally, I’ve always thought that the Apoteket monopoly was a very dumb thing, especially for simple over the counter meds, like paracetamol or spray for runny nose.

There were times when I found myself with no Otrivin (nose spray) on a freezing wintry Sunday morning and was forced to trek to the local hospital where the only pharmacy open for longer than 4 hours was. It was inconvenient and wasted both time and gasoline. Those trips frequently made my cold even worse, and by the time I actually got to the hospital, I also needed headache medicine and sore throat treatment.

After a while, I learned to be prepared. I kept a stock of Alvedon (paracetamol) and some assorted prescription-free allergy pills, cold meds, contact lens solution, yeast infection treatment, and who knows what else at home. Just in case. Because you just never knew when you might need something, right? And our local pharmacy was open strictly during weekdays strictly during business hours.

But now, it just may come to pass that our friendly ICA will carry an assortment of pharmaceutical essentials! It will be such a relief to be able to buy a bottle of contact lens cleaner at the same when shopping for milk and bananas.

So how will it work exactly? It seems that ICA will open their own in-store pharmacies. The plan is to begin doing it during the first quarter of 2010. But even sooner than that, in November of this year, some grocery stores (and not just ICA, but other retailers as well) will be able to sell certain over the counter drugs (and I do hope that contact lens solution, as well!). But only to customers over the age of 18. So how is it going to work, really? Are they going to ask for IDs, just like when buying beer, if someone wants a pack of Mucoangin for their sore throat? Isn’t that a bit of overkill? Well, maybe it is, but still, I am very happy that these pharmaceutically deregulated days are finally almost here.

So Sweden, what is next? I’d say let’s get rid of Systembolaget!

 
Posted under Culture
Tagged with , , , , , 		2 Comments | Post a Comment

Fun Places in Sweden - Öland

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Aug
21
2009

If you read with some regularity what I write here on this blog, you might have gotten the impression my most favorite places in Sweden are all in the north. True, many of them are, but not all. Take Öland, for example. Definitely not in the north. In fact, as far as Sweden goes, it’s positively down south. Very south.

What? You’re surprised that I like Öland? And what’s there not to like? The place has everything – history, culture, nature, beaches (yes, beaches, and as far as Sweden goes, they’re quite OK), it’s sweet and charming and it’s definitely worth a visit. Or two. Or three. And the best part? It’s totally on the way from Kalmar, which just happens to be one of my favorite Swedish towns NOT located in the north.

I’ll never forget the first time I was traveling to Öland. I was a kid and had a massive panic attack while crossing the bridge (Ölandsbron) linking the island with the Swedish mainland. The bridge is six kilometers long, and while it might not be all that impressive by today’s standards, it was a feat of engineering back in 1972 when it was opened.

Oh, didn’t I tell you? Öland is an island. It’s pretty much self-explanatory when you look carefully at the name:

  • Ö + land = Ölan
  • ö (def.: ön, pl.: öar, def.pl.: öarna) landområde med vatten på alla sidor – in other words – an island.

And by the way, don’t you just love those one-letter words? I know I do.

But where were we? Ah yes, visiting Öland. Personally, I think that the Öland Tourism website does not do the place justice.

It fails to stress that while most of its info is indeed very summer oriented (and in Sweden, for all intents and purposes the summer season ended on August 16th this year), Öland is a very nice year-round destination, especially if you’re not a beach person (but then again, if you were, you’d go to Greece or Spain, not to Öland) and prefer history and nature.

Yeah history… can you believe that people settled on Öland back in 6000 BC? Isn’t it when the dudes in Egypt were busy carving sphinxes and building pyramids? It just boggles my mind when I realize that during that time things were also going on in other parts of the world. Namely – in Sweden.

But the ruins you can see on Öland these days are positively modern when compared to those very ancient times – they come from the Viking era. So if you’re into Viking stuff, then Öland should definitely be on your itinerary.

And if you like harvest festivals and pumpkins, then Ölands Skördefest will be right up your alley. This year it’s scheduled to take place on September 24 through the 27th. And even though I don’t like pumpkins, this event sounds like a lot of fun.

So, if you’ve been to Öland before, please tell us what you thought of the place. Would you recommend it as an interesting destination for a visit? (I’m asking, because I know that my opinion might not necessarily be for everybody).

 
Posted under Culture, Geography
Tagged with , , , 		6 Comments | Post a Comment

What’s the deal with själv?

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Aug
16
2009

I was talking to an American gal who teaches Swedish (in the US) the other day and there was one thing she said that just stopped me dead in my tracks. And that was “själv is a reflexive pronoun.” What? Please don’t tell me this is what teachers of Swedish in the US tell their students!

While “själv” may indeed look like a reflexive pronoun, especially when it’s translated into English, it most definitely is not. It’s just a word used for emphasis that someone performed a certain action all by him/herself. Unfortunately, because of this “himself, herself, myself, etc” bit, it frequently gets mistaken for a reflexive pronoun.

So how does this “själv” work in Swedish? Like this:

  • Jag kan göra det själv. - I can do it myself.

And now for a real reflexive pronoun:

  • Jag har skurit mig. – I have cut myself.

The first one simply emphasizes that I can do whatever it is that I’m supposed to do all by myself, just like a big girl should.

This example is a little bit different, but it also shows you what this “själv” is all about:

  • Han älskar bara sig själv. – He only loves himself.

There you have both “sig” and “själv” and yes, I know it can be confusing, but it’s really very logical, especially when you see “själv” as part of compound words.

Actually, I think it’s the easiest way to figure out what “själv” is all about - by seeing how it’s translated when used in compound words, like these:

  • självbetjäning – self-service
  • självdisciplin – self-discipline
  • självkritik – self-criticism

and

  • självförtroende – self-confidence

Can you see the difference now between “själv” and a real reflexive pronoun?

And oh yeah, I almost forgot. When talking about plural, then “själv” becomes “själva”, like this:

  • Studenterna själva ordnade festen. – The students themselves arranged the party.
 
Posted under Grammar
Tagged with , 		12 Comments | Post a Comment