Posts under Vocabulary

Vernal Equinox (vårdagjämning) and Seasons in Swedish

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Mar
21
2009

I’m really happy today. Springtime is here. Well, at least officially, because you wouldn’t know it from looking out the window. And while I’m not a fan of vår (spring) – too much rain and mud for my liking, I am a huge fan of vårdagjämning.

  • vårdagjämning (def. vårdagjämningen) - den tidpunkt under våren då dagen och natten är lika långa - omkring den 21 mars.

Well, this year it was on March 20th, because every few years the sun likes to hurry up.
Personally, I prefer vårdagjämning (vernal equinox) to midsommar, because while midsommar might be the longest day of the year, it’s rather depressing when you think about it carefully – after midsommar the days are getting shorter - what’s there to celebrate?

And vårdagjämning is nothing but TRUE joy and happiness, as every SAD (vinterdepression, seasonal affective disorder) sufferer can tell you – the days are getting longer!

Soon the night will be banished altogether (at least up here in the North) and we can enjoy glorious daylight around the clock.
But ancient Vikings apparently did not share my sentiment, instead of vårdagjämning, they saved the really big bash for midsommar. For them, it was simply a matter of common sense.

When compared to other European countries, where spring comes earlier, or at the very least – on time, in Sweden vårdagjämning can still be bitterly cold. There’s still snow covering most of the country and, especially the further North you go, the length of the day is the only indication that the season has indeed changed.

But let’s talk about the word “season” for a second. While in English, “season” can signify the time of the year when it snows, or the time when guys in tight pants and helmets start throwing a ball around, or the time when the birds and the bees get together and make more birds and bees, it doesn’t work quite the same in Swedish. Here, you have a “season” and a “season” and even a “season.”

  • årstid (def. årstiden, pl. årstider, def.pl. årstiderna) - de fyra årstiderna är vår, sommar, höst och vinter - these are the four seasons
  • säsong (def. säsongen, pl. säsonger, def.pl. säsongerna) - tid på året som passar bäst för något eller då något speciellt händer - badsäsong, turistsäsong, skidsäsong – this would be the word to use when you want to talk about “skiing season” or “football season” or “tourist season.”

Let’s say, you are in the tropics, and it’s rainy season - you’d simply say “regntiden,” or when it’s dry – “torrtiden.”

Similar with the mating season – in Swedish it’s simply “tid” – “parningstid,” or “brunsttid” - useful words when you like to watch nature programs or have cats that are not spayed.

And that pretty much covers all the seasons in Swedish. Now, what can we do to make this alleged spring appear faster, hmmm?

 
Posted under Swedish Language, Vocabulary
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Swenglish eller svengelska?

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Mar
14
2009

One of the commenters mentioned my funny English recently and that actually was a very good thing. As any expat who’s been living for a long time in a non-English speaking country can tell you, this is bound to happen. Sooner or later, your English will start deteriorating. And the funniest thing is, you might not even realize when instead of English you begin to switch to Swenglish (or svengelska).

Suddenly, you find yourself talking about “red days.” You begin to “eat pills” and to “follow” people to the movies. And when you hear yourself saying that your husband worked “in the commune under five years” you know it’s been a long time since you visited an English speaking country.

So, let’s take a look at some of the most common direct translation mistakes that both Swedes and long-time expats in Sweden tend to make, OK?

  • Vill du följa med? – literally: Do you want to follow with? Correctly: Do you want to/ would you like to come (along)?

My former chef (who was not a chef) was a super-kind woman, who would always invite me to different activities. First time when I heard her say in English to me: “Do you want to follow us?” it took me a moment to figure out what she meant.

  • chef (def. chefen, plural: chefer, def. plural: cheferna) – correctly in English: boss.

I don’t even remember when it first happened that I started to replace “boss” with “chef” (of course when meaning “boss”) while speaking English. This has to be hands down the most common false-friends mix-up in Swenglish. And it’s an equal opportunity mistake, too - both native Swedes and expats make it.

  • röd dag – literally: red day, correctly: bank/public holiday.

You know you’re listening to two expats talking when you overhear this sort of conversation:

“Are we off tomorrow?”

“Sure, it’s a red day. What are your plans?”

“Dunno, go to the stuga maybe. Do you want to follow?”

  • äta tabletter – literally: eat pills, correctly: take pills.

This always confuses my husband when he goes to the pharmacy. He automatically asks to clarify: “You want me to eat while taking the pills?” Because my husband doesn’t speak Swedish, he and the unlucky pharmacist must communicate in English, and so further confusion ensues. Listening to them can be quite entertaining, actually.

  • under (when talking about time periods) – correctly in English: during

This is also a very common mistake. In December on of my friends who’s been living in Sweden for over 20 years asked me this: “Are you going to be home under Christmas?”

  • den röda tråden – literally: the red thread, correctly: the main thread, common theme

We went to a lecture once where the speaker kept talking (in English) about the red threads in Bergman’s movies. My companion whispered to me quietly: “I didn’t know that Bergman was into the Kabbalah.”

There are of course many more of such words and phrases and this is just a small sample to give you an idea of how easy it is to fall into the svengelska trap.

And now, if you excuse me, I have pills to eat. I got sick under winter break.

 
Posted under Vocabulary
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Sportlov Season Is Upon Us

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Feb
21
2009

And that’s “lov,” NOT “love,” not to be confused, and the meaning is totally different as well.
Sportlov, aka vinterlov, or skidlov is simply Swedish for “winter school break.”

But lov is a tricky word – it has several meanings, and depending on the meaning, it can be either an “ett” or “en” word, or exist without any other form.

So, let’s take a closer look at this mysterious “lov,” shall we?

  • 1. lov (def. lovet, indef.pl: lov, def.pl: loven) – tid då man har ledigt från skolan – sommarlov eller vinterlov – time off from school – summer break or winter break. School holidays, in other words.
  • 2. lov (def. loven, indef.pl: lovar, def.pl: lovarna) – vändning, sväng – a turn (of a boat) – it’s a sailing term
  • 3. lov (without any other forms – such a weird noun in Swedish is called “oböjligt substantiv”) – svar eller förklaring som säger att man får göra något, tillåtelse – permission to do something.
  • 4. lov (def. lovet, no plural forms) – beröm – praise (used as a noun).

So, there’s plenty of reasons to be careful with this noun. It also pops up in many expressions and compound words. Of course “sportlov” is one of such compounds.

Why is a winter school break called literally “a sports holiday” that I don’t know. I’m a very non-sporty person. But I’m sure it has something to do with going outside and playing in the snow. One of the synonyms for “sportlov” is simply “skidlov” – skiing holiday.

And sure it is. Last night I was at Cityterminalen in Stockholm waiting for my bus, and while I sat there doing nothing I watched groups upon groups of school age kids with all sorts of skis and snowboards piling into buses to such exciting destinations as Hemavan and Åre (popular skiing areas).

Kids in Stockholm get their sporlov during week 9. In fact, the whole sportlov schedule is staggered, so the break comes at different weeks in different regions of the country. Below is the usual outline.

Följande delar av Sverige har sportlov följande veckor:

* Vecka 7: Göteborg, Kungsbacka, Jönköpings län, Ydre
* Vecka 8: Uppsala län, Skåne län, Södermanlands län (utom Gnesta), Östergötlands län (utom Ydre), Örebro län, Hallands län, Blekinge län, Kalmar län, Kronobergs län
* Vecka 9: Stockholms län, Dalarnas län, Gästrikland, södra Hälsingland, Västmanlands län, Värmlands län, Gnesta, Älvkarleby, Gotland
* Vecka 10: Västerbotten, Norrbotten, norra Hälsingland, Västernorrlands län, Jämtlands län, Idre
* Vecka 11: Jokkmokk

So, what will your kids do during sportlov?

PS. Back in the olden days sportlov was called kokslov and it was a school break designed to reduce school heating costs during cold winter months.

 
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How To Read a Car Ad

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Feb
7
2009

It looks like we’ll have to sell our car. Why? To buy a better car. Ours is not bad, but it’s time to upgrade. And besides, I’d rather have a kombi (wagon) than a 2-door coupé.

So, my guy delegated me to prepare a sale ad. Since I’ve never done it before, in any language, I thought I should take a look at how other people do it.

The first site I visited is the largest car site in Sweden (Sveriges största motorsajt) – bytbil.se. I clicked on “personbilar” (passenger cars) and started to read.

First I was asked to select “märke” (make, such as Audi, BMW, etc…). The next box asked me to select “modell” (model). So first, you click on make, and then choose the appropriate model. Easy enough.

Next came “fordonstyp” (kind of vehicle). The choices were many: sedan, kombi, halvkombi, SUV, etc… I determined that my car is a sportkupé.
Drivmedel (fuel) was next. Again, there was a plethora of choices, but the two most popular ones are of course bensin (petrol) and diesel. My sportkupé runs on bensin.

Ok, what’s next? “År” (year) was self-explanatory. So was “mil” (mileage). But, one thing to remember about mileage in Sweden – it’s normally shown in Swedish miles, and 1 Swedish mile = 10 kilometers. So, for my car, the mileage is 11800 Swedish miles. Yes, that’s a lot, but it’s an old car, too.

And finally, we get to the mysterious and oh-so-important “växellåda” – transmission/gear box.
Here the choices are: “automatisk” (automatic transmission), “manuell” (stick shift) and “sekventiell.” And I had to look this one up on the internet - it’s a sequential manual transmission, which I just learned is used mostly in race cars and high-performance vehicles.

My car has automatisk växellåda.

So, now I think I am ready to write my car ad! Now let’s hope it sells quickly!

 
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Proper Swedish Pronunciation?

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jan
31
2009

A couple of weeks ago, I think it was Daniel, who mentioned that he would like to know how Swedish should be pronounced. I have not responded right away, simply because I was thinking about what the proper answer should be.

You see, there are as many ways to properly pronounce Swedish as there are regions in Sweden. People in Skåne say things their way, people in Jämtland say things their way and people on the border with Finland say things in a way that… oh well, I’m not even going there :)

My hairdresser is from Jämtland and her accent is so thick you could slice bread with it. I have seen and heard her switching between Swedish and English when other Swedish customers can’t understand her.

There is such an animal as rikssvenska (rikssvenska eller standardsvenska är det svenska standardspråket som talas i Sverige), and people do learn it in school, but what they learn and how they actually speak in daily life are two different things.
You see it even on TV. There is no one standard accent – different presenters and newscasters say things their way.

But compared to other languages (like English, for example) Swedish is pronounced pretty much the way it’s written.

There are certain rules and if you follow them, chances are people will understand you.
A good start to becoming familiar with how Swedish is pronounced is right to the right of this post. See that BYKI box with Swedish word lists? Give it a try, most of them have audio files so you can both read and hear the word or phrase listed.

Normally, the letter combinations that give Swedish learners the most trouble are:

  • sj – pronounced in as many ways as there are regions in Sweden (good examples are: sju, or sjuk, or the superhard - sjuksköterska)
  • kj, ke, ki, kö – these combinations can be tricky as well.
  • rs – this one can be confusing, because it not only applies when there is “rs” in the middle of a word, but also when one word ends in “r” and the next one begins with “s”

Try to find words with these letter combinations in the BYKI word lists to the right and listen carefully to how they should be pronounced in rikssvenska.

 
Posted under Geography, Vocabulary
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