Archive for August, 2012
How to small talk in Swedish Posted by Katja on Aug 14, 2012
Small talking is a very important thing in many cultures, maybe not so much in Sweden as in other places but still not to be underestimated. In Sweden you often try to start up a conversation by finding something in the surrounding area that you both have in common or can see etc. For example…
2012 Svenska OS Medaljer Posted by Marcus Cederström on Aug 13, 2012
The Olympics are over. It was a couple of weeks of some very incredible performances from athletes from around the world. But how’d it go in Sweden? There were 134 athletes competing in 20 different sports. Sweden managed to win eight medals total. They came home with one gold medal, four silver medals, and three…
Swedish Strong Verbs Posted by Marcus Cederström on Aug 10, 2012
Strong verbs are those verbs that don’t follow the rules. They’re the ones that are just a little bit different. Strong verbs are tricky in all kinds of languages. They feel like just rote memorization. Especially after having mastered the rules and patterns that guide so many of our verb forms. It’s no different in…
The Swedish midnight sun Posted by Katja on Aug 7, 2012
One of Sweden’s most wonderful aspects of nature is the midnight sun up in the north, close to and beyond the polar circle. Some people are fine with going to bed when it is still light, others become true night time people and don’t go to bed until 6 or 7 am. A lot of…
Ten Popular Swedish Novels Posted by Marcus Cederström on Aug 6, 2012
Pocketbok. Or just pocket. It’s exactly what you think it is. A book that will essentially fit in your pocket with soft covers. It’s a paperback really. In Sweden, you can find them in their own little section in everything from bookstores to convenience stores to grocery stores. Tibor introduced a list of ten of…
Saying “hello” in Swedish Posted by Katja on Aug 4, 2012
There are tons of ways of saying “hi” in Swedish. Some are for more formal situations but in general most of them are used just for friends or acquaintances. This blog post will gather as many ways of saying hello to somebody as possible into one place for you and try to give you an…
Swedish acronyms and abbreviations Posted by Stephen Maconi on Aug 1, 2012
Just like in English, acronyms (initials for a phrase, such as in English ROM, “read-only memory”) and abbreviations are commonly used in written Swedish. They can be written in all caps, lowercase, or even title form (for example, Rom instead of ROM). Here is a list of some of the more common ones to make your interpreting of Swedish…