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Sound Swedish with speech tones! Posted by Stephen Maconi on May 10, 2017
The Swedish language is known by many to be a melodic one, and many say that Swedes sound like they’re singing when they speak. Is this true? Well, in truth, it depends largely on who’s speaking! Less individually, more regionally. In many parts of Sweden, people speak with a rather “flat” tone – compare Gothenburg…
Swedish Spotify founder named in Time’s 100 Most Influential People Posted by Stephen Maconi on Apr 26, 2017
Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, is now on Time Magazine’s 2017 list of Top 100 Most Influential People as the only Swede on the list, Swedish public SVT Nyheter reports. He was chosen by British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, who calls him a “tech pioneer”.¹ “Spotify was launched just as I was starting my own…
Talking about money in Swedish, part 2 Posted by Stephen Maconi on Mar 29, 2017
Money is a standard topic of conversation in any language. After all, wherever you are, you have to be able to buy groceries, fika, and that bottle of wine from Systembolaget for dinner at your friends’. (If you don’t know, Systembolaget is the (only) liquor store in Sweden.) Review. In the last post, Talking about…
Talking about money in Swedish, Part 1 Posted by Stephen Maconi on Mar 15, 2017
Money is a standard topic of conversation in any language. After all, wherever you are, you have to be able to buy groceries, fika, and that bottle of wine from Systembolaget for dinner at your friends’. (If you don’t know, Systembolaget is the (only) liquor store in Sweden.) The basic Swedish word for money is…
Southern Swedish vocabulary Posted by Stephen Maconi on Mar 1, 2017
Sweden has lots of dialekter, dialects, that all have their own unique pronunciation. Many even have their own share of particular vocabulary. There are various reasons for the existence of dialects in Sweden; for example, a spread-out and originally highly agriculture-based society, as well as external influence from other languages. When we talk about svenska…
Talking about movies in Swedish Posted by Stephen Maconi on Feb 24, 2017
While Sweden does have a fantastic film industry, most of the popular films are blockbusters from Hollywood or equivalent. Since most Swedes speak more-or-less perfect English, it is relatively easy for them to understand films in English. As a result, almost no films are dubbed in Swedish. Instead, Swedes prefer subtitles and often mock the…
Celebrate the New Year in Swedish Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jan 3, 2017
Hej, kära läsare! It’s that time of year again – the New Year! Some people will have New Year’s resolutions, which to them mean a lot and are a great way to get motivated to try something new or get back to something old, whereas other people prefer to carry on as usual without any…