Posts under "Geography"

The Swedish R

Posted by Steve 7 Comments
Nov 7 2011

One thing you’ll notice while traveling around Sweden (and Swedish-speaking parts of Finland) is its myriad of different dialects. Each of these dialects has its own name, for example stockholmska (Stockholm dialect), norrländska (Norrland dialect), and finlandssvenska (Finland Swedish), to name a few. These dialects vary in many aspects, but one particular sound that distinguishes different dialects is the r-sound. You will notice that from south to north, the letter R will be articulated more and more.

In most of Sweden, it is pronounced as an alveolar flap [ɾ], similar to the Spanish R, however not trilled. (Though in general the Spanish R is only trilled when it’s doubled. If you’re interested in Spanish, feel free to browse to the Transparent Spanish Blog!) This is the r-sound that they use in Stockholm, Uppsala, and Gothenburg, for example.

The southernmost dialects in Sweden pronounce their R’s nearer the throat, with a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ]. This sound is similar to the German or French R. Places such as Malmö, Lund, and Karlskrona use this type or r-sound.

Finally, in the north of the north, you’ll find that the r-sound is often pronounced as an alveolar trill [r]. This is the same as the Spanish trilled R. You are likely to find people who use this pronunciation in cities such as Kiruna, Luleå, and Haparanda.

All the dialects in between these areas vary quite a bit, but typically the pronunciation of the letter R moves further forward in the mouth as you go from Skåne up to Norrland.

Hope our linguist readers found this interesting! ;)

Catastrophe in Japan

Posted by Katja 4 Comments
Mar 14 2011

I am a Swede living 2 hours by train south of the catastrophes in Japan. That means that we felt the earth quakes, had no electricity for a long time and people rushed to the gas stations, convenience stores and shops to fill up all supplies they could. Most telephone traffic stopped for several hours after the earth quakes and a lot of phones are still out.

After the initial  earth quakes the power blacked out in a lot of areas near tokyo and north of tokyo. That made it hard to contact people in Sweden saying that we were ok. When the electricity came back on, on Facebook, over Skype, mail and basically by any other means possible people in Sweden were trying to confirm if the people they knew in Japan were alright or even still alive.

You can only imagine the feelings of the people in Sweden when they thought of their loved ones, friends, old classmates or work colleagues in Japan, when they heard about the earth quake. “What if they were living in the part of Japan that got hit??” Was probably one of the first things people thought.

A lot of foreigners in Japan are having a hard time getting a full understanding of what is going on from the news in japanese. You can understand from the pictures what is going on to an extent but the scientific explanations about the nuclear power plants is a bit harder to understand. A lot of people are getting news from other sources than japanese media. Family and friends in Sweden, over Facebook, Skype and any other way possible.

The medias in Sweden compared to the ones in Japan are taking a much more frightening look on especially the nuclear power plants in Fukushima.  But a lot of people are hoping that it isn’t as dangerous as friends and family in Sweden are saying.

Even so hundreds of Swedes living in Japan have gone back home to Sweden incase of radiation problems. Though the japanese government and media still haven’t said that it is dangerous yet.

During catastrophes like this people come together, maybe from having more in common then they usually do. A lot of japanese people have been very considerate asking at least me if I’m ok since there aren’t really any earth quakes in Sweden.

In the land of roofs covered in meters of snow

Posted by Katja 1 Comment
Jan 25 2011

Right now in the north of Sweden houses, sports centers, schools and every other thinkable building are covered in meters and meters of snow. This makes everything look like a winter wonderland, though what you might not think about too closely is when the temperature rises all that wonderful snow  turns wet…

That causes innumerable problems, roofs falling in for example. In Sweden there is a law that says that if you don’t remove the snow from your roof then you cannot claim insurance from any insurance company for the damage of your roof collapsing. That means that when people realize they have snow accumulated on their roofs they rush up on to the roofs to remove it.

Especially at the weekends you will see people up on their roofs madly trying to get rid of the snow that is rapidly getting heavier. The difference between powder snow and wet snow is that powder snow becomes extremely heavy on a warm sunny days.

When shoveling snow from the roof tops some people use lifelines, some people don’t. You can also see a lot of children up there since they are light and probably also want to earn a little bit of pocket money. Older people can’t really get up there as well as they once could so they hire companies to do the job for them, turning warm winter days into a profitable business.

In the cities, companies are employed to remove snow from public buildings (no kids are used then!). Streets are blocked off while the snow gets shovelled off the roof tops and hits the sidewalk in heavy thuds, similar to an avalanche, which is actually quite dangerous, and which is why it is a very serious procedure blocking off the areas that are being worked on. Removing the snow also holds a preemptive function for peoples safety.

Copyright: Jennifer Gosser-Duncan

Rain coat or umbrella?

Posted by Katja 14 Comments
Oct 4 2010

In a lot of countries, students’ paths to school might be filled with danger. You might get off school for heavy rain, taiphuns, earthquakes etc. etc. In Sweden it is major news (like huge flooding) if students get off school because of weather. It is rarely even in the winter when it is closer to -35C (in the northern parts) and a lot of snow,  that school is cancelled.

If you compare Sweden to Japan for example, not all age groups in Sweden use umbrellas. In Japan all age groups can be seen walking with them on their way to work or school. In Sweden it is just as common to see students running or even just walking getting soaked in the rain. Rain coats are almost highly common in Sweden, why carry an umbrella if you can wear a rain coat?

Lets see what is more used, rain coat or umbrella? Which one do you use?

The Right to Public Access – Allemansrätten

Posted by Marcus Cederström 5 Comments
Sep 27 2010

The natural wonders of Sweden seem to be never ending.  There are the gorgeous forests of southern Sweden, the archipelago of Stockholm, the mountains of northern Sweden.  Countless rivers and lakes and islands dot the landscape.  It’s beautiful.  And it’s open to everyone.

Allemansrätten is the right to public access.  It essentially gives people the right to camp just about anywhere in Sweden for a night or two as long as nature is not disturbed (or the land owner for that matter).  It’s the classic leave no trace philosophy extended and thus opening up an entire country to whoever wants to take advantage.  And it’s amazing.  If you’ve got yourself a tent, a sleeping bag, and enough provisions to last a night or two, there is no better get away.  It’s how I found myself waking up to the sun rise on a lake formed by a meteor millions of years ago.  One of those moments I will never forget.

I have never been to northern Sweden. I lived in Stockholm for three years and the farthest north I made it was Östersund.  Kind of north, but not Arctic Circle north.  I’ve explored islands, I’ve sailed the archipelago, I’ve camped on a lake in Dalarna, but I never made it to the Arctic Circle.  The Arctic summer is calling for me though.  One day, someday, but it will have to wait.  Luckily, I know that I will have Allemansrätten there waiting for me.

Where in Sweden do you want to visit?

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