Posts under Vocabulary

What Time Is It?

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Aug
7
2009

About an hour ago I was struggling to explain to someone how to say what time it is. In Swedish naturally.

You see, again, it’s one of those things that is deceptively easy on the surface and so similar to English that we tend to forget that there are a couple of bits that are different. Very different in fact.

First of all, what started this whole discussion was when my husband asked me what “Hur dags?” meant. He thought it had something to do with how the day was going. (Yes, shame on me, the guy speaks only two words of Swedish and relies on me for the rest).

But no, “hur dags?” simply means – “at what time?” And then the guy got all stressed out that the word “time” –“tid” wasn’t even in this phrase. To placate him, I said there is another expression, which starts with “vilken tid” and means something like “when”.

And then, very surprisingly, the guy announced that he decided to master telling the time. In Swedish naturally. So we sat down and I very patiently started to explain:

To ask what time it is, you say this:

  • Hur mycket är klockan?

or

  • Vad är klockan?

And here are some possible answers:

  • klockan 9 (kl. 9:00) – 9 o’clock.
  • halv nio – half past eight – 8:30 (yeah, it gets goofy here)
  • tio över nio – ten past nine – 9:10
  • tio i nio – ten till/to nine – 8:50

and here it gets really fun:

  • fem över halv nio – twenty five till/to nine – 8:35, but in Swedish it’s more like “five past half to nine”
  • fem i halv nio – twenty five past eight – 8:25, but again, Swedish it’s literally “five till half to nine”

Fun, isn’t it?
Personally, I hate this way of saying what time it is and normally stick with the military style of 9:10, 8:50, 8:30 and so on. It works just as well and people understand you just fine.

Here are some other handy time-related phrases:

  • Klockan går fem minuter före. – the clock/watch is five minutes fast.
  • Klockan går fem minuter efter. – the clock/watch is five minutes slow.
  • Min klocka går fel. – my watch is wrong (shows wrong time)
  • Klockan slår tolv. – the clock strikes twelve (noon/midnight)

And now that you know how to tell the time in Swedish, you have no more excuses to be late. And that I suspect is the secret reason why my guy will give up on learning these useful phrases in about 3 minutes. :)

 
Posted under Swedish Language, Vocabulary
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Ticks and Lyme Disease

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jul
31
2009

It’s summer in Sweden. And that means, among many other, much more pleasant things, also this – ticks. Yes, ticks. Fästingar, as they’re called in Swedish.

Those nasty little creatures and the diseases they cause are no laughing matter. And if you are spending your summers in Sweden, sooner or later you, or your pets will be faced with a tick issue. And trust me, it’s not a small issue.

Every summer you will see people coming to their vårdcentraler with a bullseye rash pattern asking for treatment. And you’d be surprised that many of these people have no clue that this rash is a result of a tick bite. People know that tick bites are dangerous, and that Lyme disease (borrelia in Swedish), and Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE or fästingburen encefalit) are serious problems, yet at the same time, many people don’t take tick protection seriously.

A friend of mine just contracted Lyme disease. She went for a walk with her dog and came back with a tick. She was always very concerned with protecting her dog from ticks and when a day later she found a tick on her body, she simply asked her sambo to remove it and didn’t think anything of it. A few days later when she saw the rash, she still didn’t think anything of it. When her sambo finally dragged her to the clinic, the diagnosis took less than 1 second – Borrelia. Yep. Lyme disease.

She was prescribed antibiotics and told not to be so stupid next time. When you suspect a tick bite, you should seek help as soon as possible. The consequences of delaying it can be very serious.

Here is a webpage, written in very simple Swedish, about Borrelia, its symptoms and treatment.

And as it says on that page:

Om man har fått en större hudförändring på platsen efter ett tidigare fästingbett, eller misstänker att man har fått borrelia, ska man kontakta en vårdcentral.

So please, when you are out and about in the beautiful Swedish countryside, enjoying the beautiful Swedish nature, be sure to protect yourself and your pets from tick bites!

 
Posted under Culture, Vocabulary
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How to Read Apartment Rental Ads

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jul
7
2009

I haven’t forgotten about the book contest! Don’t worry. I am just waiting for the weekend – I think it will be more festive to announce the winner then.

In the meantime, I want to talk about something that seemed very puzzling to one of my friends. And because it also happens to be a very practical bit of information, I thought it would be a good idea to go over it in a special blog entry.

You see, my friend is not in Sweden right now, but that is not stopping her from looking for an apartment in the town she is going to live (I don’t remember where exactly she’s moving to, all I know is that she’s looking for a place somewhere down south). Long-distance apartment hunting is never easy. Heck, it’s not easy when you are doing it right there and then in person! Now imagine trying to do it in a language that you have just started to learn very recently. Not fun at all.

So, let’s go over some points that might make this process a bit less confusing.

One thing that my friend wanted to know was: “Anna, what’s a second-hand apartment? Does that mean that the apartment is not new? That it has been lived in before?”

Hmmm… I can see how someone might have gotten this idea, because the literal translation of “andra hand lägenhet” is indeed a “second hand apartment”. But when talking about apartments, “andra hand” simply means “a sublet”. So, someone owns an apartment and wants to sublet it. This is called “hyra ut i andra hand”, or “andra hand” for short.

So, are there “första hand” apartments? Sure there are! This type of apartment is when you rent (or buy) directly from a housing company.

Another thing that you may notice when reading Swedish rental ads is something like this “1 rok” or “2 rok”.
“Rok” simply means “rum och kök” – room and kitchen.

So, if you see an ad listing “2 rok”, you know the apartment will have 2 rooms and a kitchen. This would most likely be what in the US we call a “1 bdr”. A one bedroom apartment that has a living room and a kitchen. In Sweden, we just count the total number of rooms, regardless of whether they are living rooms, dining rooms or bedrooms. This is something worth remembering, because there is nothing worse than finding out later on that what you thought was a two-bedroom apartment is actually a one bedroom plus living room type of place. I actually know of at least one foreign expat who made that mistake. That lady also had two kids, so you can imagine how unhappy she was when she saw what “2 rok” actually meant.

Frequently, you will also see it abbreviated to “2:an” – that also means that the place has two rooms plus a kitchen.

And finally the most important word of them all (just so you’ll know what you’re renting):

  • lägenhet (def. lägenheten, pl. lägenheter, pl. def. lägenheterna) – apartment (or flat as they call it in some parts of the world).

I am no expert when it comes to renting apartments, but if you remember these basics you should manage to get by just fine. And I hope this short explanation will be useful to those of you, who like my friend, are trying to sort out a place to live in Sweden BEFORE actually moving to the country. Good luck! I know it’s not easy. Especially in Stockholm.

 
Posted under Swedish Language, Vocabulary
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Swedish Easter Traditions

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Apr
7
2009

So, as most of you probably know, this is the week of Easter, known in the Christian tradition as Holy Week. In Swedish, it’s Stilla veckan or Passionsveckan.

And this is how the days of the Holy Week are known in Swedish:

  • Monday - blåmåndag or svarta måndag
  • Tuesday - vita tisdag
  • Wednesday – dymmelonsdag
  • Thursday – skärtorsdag
  • Friday - långfredag
  • Saturday – påskafton

And of course Sunday is known as Påskdagen.
The Swedish word for Easter is Påsk, which comes from the Hebrew word “pesach”, which of course doesn’t mean “Easter” in the Jewish tradition, but Passover.

I have to admit, this is my favorite time of the year. Partly this is due to my wonderful neighbor who bakes up a storm during this week and brings over all sorts of yummy sweets and cakes that are traditionally served during Easter in her native country.

But, how does the Swedish Påsk traditions differ from what is common in other European lands? One difference is the kids who dress up as Easter witches and go door-to-door (at least they do in some neighborhoods) in a manner similar to trick-or-treating and get candy in exchange for Easter greetings. This custom is known as “påskkärring” and I think it’s particularly sweet. In some areas in my part of Sweden, in Västerbotten, the tradition got reversed and it’s the kids who bring candy to the homes they visit.

What else? There are of course Easter eggs – påskägg, which are decorated, as in other countries. But sometimes people refer to those big cardboard eggs filled with candy as “påskägg” as well. Personally, my favorite påskägg are those made of chocolate. Yum!

One tradition that I am not so fond of is “påskris”, simply because I am horribly allergic to most things with branches that sprout leaves or buds. Påskris are simply branches (mostly birch) decorated in a festive manner. It’s an Easter equivalent of Christmas tree.

This year, I’m missing all this wonderful stuff, because I’m abroad.

If you want to know more about Swedish Easter traditions, take a look at this article on the Nordiska museet website. It’s in Swedish, but well worth the effort to read it.

Glad Påsk everybody!!!

PS. The blog is still having some technical issues and I can’t post any photos. Bummer!!!

 
Posted under Culture, Vocabulary
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Immigration to Sweden - A Few Thoughts

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Mar
28
2009

Last time we talked about Swedish emigration to the US, but what about foreign immigration to Sweden? This is a subject that everybody has an opinion about and when discussing those opinions, tempers can run high, even among normally very reserved Swedes.

I don’t know if as an immigrant myself, I should be even discussing this subject at all. After all, my take on the issue will be vastly different from what a true Svensson might say.

And some people won’t even consider me a “real” immigrant, because as much as I love this country, I do not plan on staying in Sweden for the rest of my life, or becoming en svensk medborgare (a Swedish citizen). Personally, I believe that acquiring foreign citizenship is one issue that should not be taken lightly. Because along with the privileges of a new citizenship also come serious responsibilities, and you can’t have one without the other.

So, what is it like to be an immigrant in Sweden? Impossible to describe it in just one word, so let’s use two: not bad. It’s not entirely good either, because it’s never easy to uproot oneself and settle in a different country.

But compared to many other developed nations, Sweden takes care of its immigrants. It’s a progressive, tolerant country with a live and let-live attitude. It provides services and support to new arrivals that are hard to find in other lands. The ubiquitous SFI (svenska för invandrare) program is but one example (and one that deserves a blog post of its own).

As much as the country has to offer, it is not the land of milk and honey, or cradle to grave welfare, that many misguided new (or potential) arrivals think it to be. You have to work for that welfare, and sometimes finding work can be problematic.

Here’s an interesting article on the subject from The Local. (Yes, I know, I know… but until a new English-speaking media outlet emerges in Sweden, we are stuck with The Local. At least that way I can be sure that even those of you who are not yet fluent in Swedish can understand what is being said.)

And here are a few useful words when talking about immigration:

  • medborgare (def. medborgaren, pl. medborgare, def.pl. medborgarna) - person som hör till ett land och har vissa rättigheter och skyldigheter där (en svensk medborgare) – citizen
  • medborgarskap (def. medborgarskapet, pl. medborgarskap, def.pl. medborgarskapen) - det att vara medborgare i ett land. (De har ansökt om svenskt medborgarskap.) – citizenship

Obs! Be careful! “Medborgare” is an “en” noun, but “medborgarskap” is an “ett” noun.

  • invandrare (def. invandraren, pl. invandrare, def.pl. invandrarna) – person som bor i ett annat land än det där hon/ han är född – immigrant
  • flykting (def. flyktingen, pl. flyktingar, def.pl. flyktingarna) - person som har flytt från t.ex. ett krig (till ett annat land) – refugee
 
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