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Archive for February, 2013

Expressing the “same” in Swedish Posted by on Feb 28, 2013

You walk into your office one morning and one of your colleagues says, “Hey, look! We are wearing the same shirt at the same time!”. Daily office life is just remarkable, isn’t it? In English, wearing the “same” shirt and wearing it at the “same” time as someone else are both expressed by the same…

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Sport i Sverige Posted by on Feb 21, 2013

Sport is something that is the same all over the world. People from all different countries can meet across boarders and compete against each other. Whatever politics different countries have when the players get on the pitch, pist, field or pool most of that, if not all is left behind them. There are of course…

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Why is the Swedish language so melodic? Posted by on Feb 14, 2013

Many people who have heard the Swedish language being spoken have commented that it sounds very song-like, very melodic, with high tones and low tones, giving a “singing” effect. The people who noted this have often contrasted the prosody (intonation and language rhythm) of Swedish to that of English, which they say is much more…

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The big immigration Posted by on Feb 8, 2013

Depending on the level of interest in history, most Swedes know a little bit about the big immigration of Swedes to the United States of America during the late eighteen hundreds. Sweden was said to be a dark and cold place befallen by several years of crop failure in a row. During the eighteen and…

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Swedish Nursery Rhyme – Rida Rida Ranka Posted by on Feb 6, 2013

As I’ve written before, I sometimes do fieldwork in the United States, interviewing and talking with Scandinavian Americans. It’s a great experience and I get a chance to meet a lot of wonderful people and hear some amazing stories. One thing that has popped up a couple of times is an old nursery rhyme that…

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Offensive bathroom sign in Luleå school is taken down Posted by on Feb 1, 2013

Sweden is renowned for its equal rights and anti-discrimination activism. There are always new arrangements being made to ensure the equal well-being of all of Sweden’s 9 million citizens, some which, for much of the rest of the world, appear extreme and receive much criticism. For example, there is a preschool in Stockholm that refrains…

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