Learning Swedish

[Carolyn]

Did you know that in a book I have that listed the 1,000 most commonly used Swedish words, 50 are EXACTLY the same in English as Swedish, spelling and meaning? And another 129 of those words are spelled a little differently, akut instead of acute, but mean exactly the same thing? So that means that by virtue of speaking English, just arriving here in Sweden, on the day you first put foot in this country, you already KNOW a little under one-fifth of the most commonly used words? And that isn't counting the ones that you could guess at, just based on appearance, like hungrig, which would add onto that list.

Okay, admittedly there are words that are spelled the same but DON'T mean the same thing, like our perennial favorites, "fart" and "slut", but I think we DO learn what they mean pretty quickly, even if most of us aren't mature enough to stop a mental giggle when we use them.

[Sabeine]

I do think that having English as ones mother tongue does make it a bit easier to learn Swedish. Many grammar rules are the same in both languages. In my Swedish classes there are many that come from Arabic speaking countries. They not only have a completely different alphabet, they also have no past perfect tense, and they read and write from right to left, as does the Hebrew language as well. We as native English speakers have it easier for sure, even though it may feel as if we are having a hard time.

[lizardek]

What a cool thing to read, Carolyn. Can I quote that?

[Carolyn]

No problem. I was just browing this old learning supplement the other day and found the list and started counting. And actually stay tuned for more, because I'm going to count how many words in that list we could even make a guess at, because they're so similar. What do you want to bet it's at least another 100?

[lizardek]

I would love to know. Keep me posted!

[Carolyn]

Okay, I promised to continue this. Just flipping through my Norstedt's Swedish-English dictionary, the letter A (god, that sounds like Sesame Street suddenly), I found the following:

Abrupt, abrasion, abdomen, absolut, absurd, abstrakt, accent, akne, addition, agenda, aggression, aggressiv, akademi, alarm, album, alert, alfabet, alkohol, allergi, aluminium, amatör, ambassadör, ambition, amputation, antibiotisk, antik, antihistamin, apologi, argument, arkitektur, asfalt, assistans, astma, attack, attityd, audition, auktion, automatisk, absorbera, acceleration, acceptera, ackommodation, adoptera, adress, aerobisk, agent, agrikultur, aktivist, akustik, alibi, alligator, alternativ, anatomi, april, aritmetik, arm, artificiell, ambitiös, ambulans, ankel, attraktiv

Just skimming the surface, that's 61 words there, folks, 61 "freebies" so to speak and just with the letter A. 61 whole words you get the minute you get off the plane here, no books to purchase, no classes, no nothing. And there's another 28 letters of the alphabet (Swedish style) to go, although admittedly, you're not going to get 61 from Q, X or Z, say.

Yeah, yeah, I know there are words you may THINK you know, but the Swedes have slipped in ringers there, so you can't just say, "Hey, I know these words, I got it made". I mean, think about bra, slut and fart, just for starters. But really, we got a pretty damned good start on the whole process and if you look at it that way, rather than how many you DON'T know, life in class could be a LITTLE better. ;D

[Vember]

Woo, that's a great list, thanks

*sets to her cleaning chores chanting "I know 61 Swedish wooooords"*

[Carolyn]

Yes, but the tricky part is saying them! They may look the same, but those Swedes pull little tricks on you.

For instance, allergi. You may think, hey, easy, ALLER-JEE, no strong emphasis anywhere. Nope, sorry. Okay, get ready. Think of yourself as a cat with a hairball right in the back of your throat. Then say: aller-GE and sort of hawk up that hairball on the last syllable. And STOP laughing while you do it. ;D

Nevertheless, if you are in a position here where you do need to say allergi and you don't remember the hairball trick, most people will understand what you're saying, especially putting a little extra emphasis on the last syllable as I said before, and you can read it and write it if you need to (which I hope you don't). Same pronunciation thing goes with apologi.

And I did a quick count and got another 50 under the letter B, so now you know 111 Swedish words without even trying.

[lizardek]

It certainly explains why most english-speakers are able to get a great deal of the gist when attempting to READ Swedish before they know any

thanks!!

[Debbie]

If I had a krona for the times I asked my husband, "Vad heter ___ på svenska?" and it turned out to be the same word I wouldn't be typing this while at school now.
(I would be retired in a warm place.....not working!)

[lizardek]

LOL! Ain't that the truth, Debbie!!