Archive for 'Swedish Language'
Swedish Madlibs Posted by Marcus Cederström on Feb 7, 2012
We’re going to try something new here. A Swedish Madlib. I’ve used Swedish Madlibs before, at the behest of a good friend actually, and loved them. They tend to get you thinking about various grammatical forms, how to use them, and of course what words you actually know. It’s a great way to practice the…
The great Swedish vowel shift Posted by Stephen Maconi on Feb 6, 2012
Last week, I continued my series on the three special Swedish letters, å, ä and ö. Now I’m here to explain how the letter å even came to be at all. As I explained last time, the letter å in writing came to be like so: first as a double-a (aa), then as an a…
The letter å Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jan 31, 2012
Last week I clarified where the Swedish letters ä and ö come from, but to you the origin of the letter å is still a mystery. And here I am to clear it up! In 1526, a new time period known in Swedish linguistics as Nysvenska perioden began with the first ever Swedish translation of…
Swedish swear words Posted by Katja on Jan 27, 2012
The first words many foreigners learn in a new language are usually swear words. I don’t think this is uncommon for anybody, no matter where you come from or what language you want to learn. The point of this post is not to encourage swearing but to explain the degree of different swear words in…
Svenska Samtalsbordet Posted by Marcus Cederström on Jan 25, 2012
We’re always looking for learning language tips here at Transparent. It’s why everyone who works so hard on the various language learning software is so proud of what they do (if you haven’t already, check out what Transparent has to offer). But sometimes, some of the best things in life are free. Or, at least…
Why does ‘hand’ become ‘händer’ in plural? Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jan 24, 2012
This is one question that boggles the minds of many learners of the Swedish language (as well as the other Nordic languages). Why doesn’t ‘hand’ just become ‘hander’ or ‘handar’ in plural? The answer to this lies in a major change that occurred throughout Germanic Europe in the Early Middle Ages (which in Scandinavia was…
“This” and “these” Posted by Katja on Jan 19, 2012
In Sweden there are lots of different dialects, and of course people use different words for the same thing. Something as simple as “this” you’ll find lots of variations of and for someone learning Swedish that can be a bit confusing. Especially if the word everybody is using in some areas is grammatically incorrect, and…