The Swedish Language

You might think that the title of this blog is odd. Not because it’s in Swedish but because it is not in Finnish, as we’re on our way to Finland. The reason for this is, well, the Finnish language is very close to nearly impossible to learn. So we opted for Finland’s second official language, Swedish. The Swedish speaking Finns migrated years ago from Sweden (Sverige) during the occupation of Finland by the Swedes. Hence, the speaking of Finnish-Swedish (Finsvenska) formed. We completed a six week course of one hour Swedish lessons per day. Here’s an example of how to count from one to ten in Swedish:
1:   ett  (pronounced as “et”)
2:   två  (pronounced as “twoh”)
3:   tre  (pronounced as “treh”)
4:   fyra  (pronounced as “fura”)
5:   fem  (pronounced as “fem”)
6:   sex   (pronounced as “sex”)
7:   sju  (pronounced as “shuh”)
8:   åtta  (pronounced as “ottah”)
9:   nio  (pronounced as “nieh”)
10:  tio  (pronounced as “tieh”)

Not too bad, né? Now take a look at counting from one to ten in Finnish:
1:   yksi
2:   kaksi
3:   kolme
4:   neljä
5:   kiisi
6:   kuusi
7:   seitsemän
8:   kahdeksan
9:   yhdeksän
10: kymmenen

Not so lekker this one, né. Or how about the number, say, 27 which is kaksikymmentäseitsemän in Finnish. The Eskimo language is not for us. Needless to say, we chickened out and studied Swedish which is a beautiful language and full of surprises!

Swedish is called a lyrical and rhythmical language which is spoken with feeling and intonation. This makes the language very expressive and has almost a singing tone to it. It is also a very descriptive language. Here are a few examples:
1) Eraser = suddgummi, which translates to rubber-gum
2) Vacuum cleaner = dammsuger, which translates to dust-sucker
3) Garlic = vitlök, which translates to white-onion
4) Bra = brösthållare, which translates to breast-holder
5) Gums = tandkött, which translates to teeth-meat

Other beautiful words are the following:
1) pojke, which means boy
2) flicka, which means girl
3) gubbe and gumma, which means old man and old woman respectively
4) älskling, which means sweety or “my skattebol” in Afrikaans.

When you are eavesdropping while two people are having a private conversation you are tjuvlyssna which translates to steal-listening.
A funny one is farthinder. No, the word has no smell to it, it simply means speed bump.
The word bra is another funny one. It has no connection to woman’s underwear. It simply translates to good.

The most adorable word is thanks in Swedish. The word is tack. The Swedish speaking people love this word. They will often say tack tack or tacker tacker. Then the other person will say the same. It almost sounds like chickens having a conversation.

Finally, here is a Swedish folk tune translated into English. It is very melancholic and so beautiful:

Love comes along, love drifts away
No one can tell us the reasons.
But here by your side, love, I know I shall stay
through all the passing seasons.

My heart, it is yours; your heart, it is mine
and mine shall remain till I die.
My happiness, yours; your happiness, mine
- your tears, they are mine when you cry.

Love is so strong, so wondrously strong
- nothing in the world makes it yield.
Roses spring up from the hardest of ground
as sunshine spreads over dark fields.

My heart, it is yours; your heart, it is mine
and mine shall remain till I die.
My happiness, yours; your happiness, mine
- your tears, they are mine when you cry."

Mooi né!

Do yourself a favour and watch the Swedish movie “As it is in Heaven” (Så som i himmelen). It has English subtitles. It is breath taking. The DVD cover is shown below.

Listen for the “tack tack”. Here is a link to a youtube video of a song that is sung during the movie. It is devine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxmgkxRrpZE

Adjö!!