Archive for 'Vocabulary'
Chimneys and pillowcases in Swedish: Weird Swedish compounds Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jul 13, 2016
Swedish, like a lot of languages, has many words in its vocabulary which make sense as a whole but not as parts. In many cases, this is because the original meaning has been wiped out over time. In English, we have the word “highlight”. When we use this word, we aren’t referring to a…
24 European Country Names in Swedish Posted by Marcus Cederström on Jun 22, 2016
The 2016 UEFA European Championship in soccer is going on right now. In fact, Sweden plays in just a couple of hours against Belgium. By the time you read this, you’ll probably know who won. It’s been a while since Sweden did much on the international soccer stage. In fact, you have to go back…
14 (More) Swedish Abbreviations You Need to Know Posted by Marcus Cederström on May 23, 2016
A long time ago in a blog post far, far away, we wrote 14 Swedish Abbreviations You Need to Know. We had several comments with additional, and important, abbreviations that you need to know. With that in mind, we thought it was time to put together another list of fourteen abbreviations that will help you…
Body parts in Swedish: The Head and Face Posted by Stephen Maconi on Apr 8, 2016
Maybe you have a doctor’s appointment. Maybe you have a headache. Maybe you just have a pretty face. Life is full of reasons to talk about your body, and when in Sweden, do as the Swedes do – speak Swedish! There are lots of body parts, so let’s start you off with vocabulary words describing…
Swedish Vocabulary List for the Refugee Crisis Posted by Marcus Cederström on Feb 26, 2016
If you’ve been paying attention to the news in Europe and in Sweden anytime over the last couple of years, and especially recently, you’ve probably heard about the refugee crisis. There’s been a lot going on in Sweden with regards to migration policies. Borders are being tightened, residence permits are tough to come by, and…
Swedish Lego Soldiers Posted by Marcus Cederström on Jan 25, 2016
Lego was founded in 1932 in Billund, Denmark. The name of the company is a portmanteau combining the Danish words leg (play) and godt (well). Play well. Lego. Cute, right? But the word lego has existed in Swedish for quite some time, albeit in a much more sinister context. Legosoldat is the Swedish word for…
5 English words borrowed from Swedish Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jan 18, 2016
Borrowing vocabulary is no unusual linguistic phenomenon. Just look at English – there are French words all over the place! Most people know that a very large portion of English vocabulary is from other languages. Well, some of these thousands of words are, in fact, from Swedish! Here are 5 of them. Some, you…