Swedish Language Blog

Swedes have a wonderful verb, ‘att fika’, meaning to have a cup of coffee (or tea) with something sweet or with a sandwich and preferably in the company of colleagues or friends.

There is no really good translation for this verb and many people think that the word should be imported into the English language.  Both the verb, as well as the custom of taking a well-earned break from a hectic lifestyle would be welcome additions to other cultures’ way of living.

 The Swedish café branch is growing like never before.  During the period 2007-2010, sales at cafés rose by 20% and if this trend continues, sales will surpass 4 billion Swedish Crowns this year.  Why is this so?  Earlier Swedes ‘fikade’ at home or at work, but now it has become more popular to ‘fika’ out on the town.  Cafés have become the new living rooms and Swedes have changed where they meet up with friends.  Going out for a ‘fika’ is cheaper and less time-consuming than meeting out for dinner, which could be another explanation.

 Good old-fashioned ‘kaffe’ (coffee) is still the choice of brew when ‘fika-ing’, though there are of course espressos, capachinos, lattes and teas.

Are you familiar with the most common Swedish desserts (sötsaker)?

Hallongrottor

Originally these cookies only had raspberry jam in the middle. But as creative baking goes, now you can find multiple flavors.

Picture Copyright: Magnus Skog

Princess’tårta

Literally translated as princess cake and commonly eaten on occasions like mothers day, this cake is found in a lot of books about Sweden for foreigners. With its colorful marzipan and pink rose on top.

Kanelbullar

Cinnamon buns must be the most famous Swedish baked goods ever. Ikea places buns on their kitchen tables for the catalogs that are distributed all over the world. In the summertime “bullar” are very popular, often eaten accompanied by “hallon saft” (raspberry juice). In a lot of older traditional children’s literature like Astrid Lindgrens children’s books there is almost always a grandmother serving “Bullar och Saft” (Buns and juice). There is even a special day dedicated to buns called “Kanel bullens dag” The day of the cinnamon bun, on the 4th of October, and has been celebrated since 1999.

A lot of people think that buns are a big part of Swedish culture, and that opinion might be strengthened by the fact that in Home economic classes in school buns are made every school year. Meaning that almost all junior high school students can make basic Swedish cinnamon buns.

Picture Copyright: Pal Allan

Semlor

I would explain that the history behind ‘Semlor’ is that they are also called Lenten Buns, eaten at the time of Lent, the same way other countries eat pancakes.  The starting day for eating ‘semlor’ is ‘fettisdag’.

These Semlor are eaten in February. A slightly sweetened bread bun cut in half, with some of the contents scraped out. The bread is filled with whipped cream (Vispgrädde)and almond icing.

Picture Copyright:  Marie Louise Johansson

Ordlista – Wordlist

Desserts – Efterrätt, Sötsaker

Whipped cream – Vispgrädde

Cinnamon Buns – Kanelbullar

Cookies – Kakor

Afternoon sweet snack – Fika

Let us finish off 2009 with some great websites for anyone with a heart that pounds a little bit extra for Sweden.

The local
A great news site about Sweden, the Swedes and anything Swedish – all written in English. Excellent articles, fun facts and packed with information about everything from Stockholm’s exclusive nightlife to job classifieds and discussion forums for hot – yet Swedish – topics.

Very Swedish
If you never have tried a traditional Swedish Fat Tuesday Bun, this is definitely the click for you. This bun – traditionally eaten in February, is a must and this recipe will give you 16 heavenly buns. But you had better start practicing straight away…

Steig Larsson
Swedish author Stieg Larsson died tragically before his nail-biting triology about the journalist Mikael Blomqvist and the troubled hacker Lisbeth Sallander was published. Today, his books have sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and he was the second best selling author of 2008. If you by any chance haven’t read “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl Who Played With Fire” or “The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest” – start today! You’re in for a real treat and three pieces of Swedish modern classics. Of course, there’s movies as well, great ones. But we all know who wins book vs. film almost everytime, don’t we?

Let the right one in
I might have to take back what I wrote above straight away. “Let the Right One In” is an amazing Swedish vampire-horror-love story (sounds strange, I know) based on a best selling novel by the author Johan Ajvide Lindqvist. And this time the movie might be the winner. Vampires are trendier than ever, and the trendiest of the bunch is Eli, a 200 year old vampire, trapped in the body of an 12 year old girl and stuck in the suburbs of Stockholm. “Let the Right One In” has been a huge success all over the world and it very much represents the Swedish movie scene of today: amazing photography, realistic scenery and brilliant acting. And of course, a hype that no-one ever could predict (Swedes are, as you know, very modest and humble).There is definitely a life after Ingmar Bergman, be sure about that.

Fika
When I wrote my post about Swedish words that I miss in English, I completely forgot the best one of them all. Fika. Fika is a word that Swedes use all the time and fika simply describes what you do when you have a coffee and perhaps a bun togehter with your mates in a coffeeshop. You fikar. London-based Fika is a café/restaurant/bar that serves great traditional Swedish food – breakfast, lunch, lightbites, dinner – or just simply coffee and buns. Just make sure to bring your mates. Even if you are nowhere near London, Fika is fun website for food inspiration. And – a very useful Swedish word to know!

The Swedish World Heritage
Interesting reading and great pictures of the amazing Swedish places that are inscribed on UNESCO world heritage list. You’ll find a radiostation (!), a cemetery and a whole town. Amongst many others.