Posts tagged with "IKEA"

IKEA gets sued by 5-year old girl’s family for discrimination?

Posted by Katja 3 Comments
Feb 2 2012

In Sweden it isn’t very common that people go round suing each other. But Monday this week the incident about the girl with a chromosome disorder who wasn’t let into the ball room due to “safety reasons” according to (Malmö’s) IKEA manager, was brought up again. The 5-year old girl was not allowed into the ball room which only had 2 other children playing in it, even though the mother offered to come inside too, as the adult responsible for the child. The staff at IKEA say they do not make judgements on the children’s communicative ability, even though in this case the seem to have done so.

This incident has been on the news, discussed in school classes all round Sweden and has in general upset a lot of people I think. To me, this gives a picture of what Sweden is like. What Swedes (or at least some of them) get worked up about. The fact that this story got a lot of attention on the news indicates something too I think.

Even though IKEA offered the family 20 000 Swedish crowns, the family have declined the offer and are proceeding to sue IKEA because they feel that the girls rights were totally violated and the way they were treated was completely unacceptable.

 

 

“This” and “these”

Posted by Katja 6 Comments
Jan 19 2012

In Sweden there are lots of different dialects, and of course people use different words for the same thing. Something as simple as “this” you’ll find lots of variations of and for someone learning Swedish that can be a bit confusing. Especially if the word everybody is using in some areas is grammatically incorrect, and never before mentioned in a textbook.

Swedish English equivalent
 

detta

denna

det här

 this  
Swedish English equivalent
 

dessa

domma

de här

dom här

  these 

Domma is said especially around Jönköping and maybe Stockholm a little bit(?) but is found in other parts of Sweden as well.  This is not grammatically correct, but you will still hear many people say it.

So you know the en and ett rules by now right? Well, just to check. Table which is in Swedish bord. Ett bord, we do not say en bord. Detta and denna follow the same priciple, you would say “detta bord” and not “denna bord”. You could also say “det här bordet”.

Then to point out to somebody which tables you were meaning, you would say “dessa bord” meaning these tables (bord is a exception, we do not say bordar for several tables, we just say ett bord, flera bord. One table, several tables). The noun you use after “dessa” is in in-definitive plural form, like dessa stolar (these chairs) dessa dörrar (these doors) etc.

Domma is used when you are actually supposed to be using dessa.

De här is strictly speaking only supposed to be used in written language but when people talk they still pronounce it as de här. This is maybe illogical but we don’t say de här bord, instead we say de här borden. So we specify by using bord-en or for one table,  or det här bordet. Det här works for all nouns, regardless if it is a en or ett.

Dom här is used the same way as de här, so no worries there :)

Short dialog 

Ett par går runt i IKEA och tittar på bord.

A couple are walking round in IKEA looking at tables.

Person A) Dom där borden är fina.

Person B) Dom här? (pekar)

Person A) Nej, dessa. (pekar på ett annat bord)

Person B) Jaha. Ja, jag tycker om dom också.

Swedish English equivalent
 

bord

peka

fin (plu. fina)

annat

tycka (progressiv form; tycker)

också

jaha

  

table

to point

nice

other, different

to think, like

as well, too

oh

Next time you hear some Swedish see if you can hear the differences.

Swedes Abroad Mourn…

Posted by Marcus Cederström 4 Comments
Oct 18 2011

It’s been rumored for months now. Hushed whispers in the Swedish-American community. Disgust. Fear. Sadness. It’s been a time of uncertainty.  Swedes around the world have been stocking up on the essentials. And by Swedes everywhere I mean my dad. And by essentials I mean Kalles Kaviar.  IKEA has decided to discontinue their sale of name-brand Swedish products like Kalles Kaviar.  Instead, they will only be selling IKEA brand Swedish staples. That means no more Abba sil. No more Daim. No more Bilar. And worst of all, no more Kalles.

I love IKEA. Unashamedly. There are few pieces of furniture in my apartment that are not from IKEA. It’s perfect really. I can buy them cheap. Live a student’s lifestyle on them, and replace them in two years’ time. Just like IKEA intended.  But this latest move stings a little bit.

We’ve written about Swedishness Abroad and how IKEA helps to maintain some semblance of connection with Sweden.  Jennie even wrote about what kind of food items you need to buy for that Swedish nostalgia, all the while noting the slow descent into solely IKEA brand Swedish foods in How to Buy Swedish Food Abroad. But now it is official. No more.

From a business standpoint, this makes sense. IKEA wants to have more control over the products they sell. Plus, chances are they’ll be able to pull in a few extra kronor with this move.  That doesn’t mean that the products won’t be missed.  There is a sense of nostalgia that comes with opening a bag of Bilar and hoping that they are just the right level of stale.  Or of flipping the cap over on a tube of Kalles and popping it open.  Or of chewing your way around the chocolate-y center of a Ballerina cookie.

Of course, Swedish brands do not define Swedish identity. Swedish identity is constantly evolving. It is not a static idea that is dependent on some sort of Nordic ideal; instead ideas are constantly being imported from and exported to different countries. Just as Swedes pepper their language with English loan words, Americans pepper their homes with Swedish design. It’s a cultural exchange that gives excitement to living in an international setting.  As Swedes living abroad know, Swedishness is not defined by a border on a map. Or words on a page. Or even the brands at IKEA.

How to buy Swedish food abroad

Posted by jennie 7 Comments
Sep 1 2011

As a Swede living abroad, the monthly trip to IKEA is big treat. Not so much for the flat packs and the tea candles, but more so for the mouth watering food department. Lingonberry jam, pickled herring, knäckebröd, Daim cake… Well, you probably all know what it’s like. Or, what it WAS like, I should say. Because over the past years, IKEA have slowly but steadily changed the stock from familiar Swedish meatballs-sausages-cookies-herring-bread-coffee-brands to IKEA’s own brand IKEA Food. Pretty much all food you buy in IKEA nowadays are IKEA Food labelled or will be in the near future, and this makes the expat in me quite sad. A bit pathetic, I know. But there was something quite fulfilling about seeing the familiar brands of meatballs-sausagge-cookies-herring-bread-coffee on our kitchen shelves. Not to mention, the quality of it the ‘proper’ stuff.  It’s of course rather obvious why IKEA is doing this and understandable as well, I suppose. But it doesn’t change the fact that I still want my Leksand’s Knäckebröd and my Pågen’s Hönökaka.

One good thing being a Swede living in the UK is Totally Swedish. It’s a Swedish shop based in London which has become so popular it is now a chain (read more here!). The deliver all over the UK for a reasonable price and it’s like Christmas Eve all over when the delivery guys knock on the door. I have a few friends in USA who use Sweden’s Best  for their Swedish food fix and someone once recommended Sverige Online for deliveries worldwide.

Where do you people turn when you need a dose of Sweden? And what are your absolute favourites that you would happily pay loads for in your local supermarket?

My top 5 Swedish foods are the following tasty five:

*Almond Cake made from the chocolate brand Daim. Cake heaven.
*Falukorv, my favourite a sausage that you must and should eat with…
*…Snabbmakaroner, the pasta of all pastas – and they are ready in only three minutes!
*Hönökaka, a sweet bread from the west coast of Sweden.
*Leksands knäckebröd, read Katjas post about this deliscios type of bread here!

Top 15 Swedish things

Posted by Katja 15 Comments
Nov 2 2010

Hey there all of you, In this post I will post all of the things you thought were Swedish. Hopefully our Swedish blog team can write posts about some of the different things as well. Then I have extracted 15 of all the things and hopefully they will be the most representative of them all.

1. Abba

2. IKEA

3. Pippi longstocking

4. Beautiful Blond Women

5. Volvo

6. Vikings

7. Nobel prize

8. Absolute Vodka

9. Gamla Stan (The old city in Stockholm)

10. Socialism

11. Annas pepparkakor

12. Kanelbullar

13. Swedish Chef (from Sesame Street)

14. Snow

15. Lucia

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