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False friends between Swedish and Norwegian Posted by on Apr 25, 2012 in Uncategorized

As you may or may not know, the Swedish and Norwegian languages are very closely related. They have only been separate languages since around 800 AD, when Swedish is considered by historians to have become its own language. Therefore, a large majority of words are nearly the same, or at least interpretable. There are also many words that look or sound the same in both languages, but have different meanings, and these are the words to watch out for. Here are some examples:

Norwegian word Looks/sounds like, in Swedish Actually means
anledning anledning (reason) tillfälle ([good] time/opportunity [e.g. this is no time to call])
bløt blöt (wet) mjuk (soft)
enkelthet enkelhet (simplicity) detalj (detail)
forstørre förstöra (destroy) förstora (to make larger)
le le (smile) skratta (laugh)
prov prov (test, exam) bevis (proof)
rolig rolig (fun, funny) lugn (calm)
rommet rummet (the room) rymden ([outer] space)
snor snor (snot) snöre (string, lace)
straks strax (soon) omedelbart (immediately)
utsette utsätta (expose [to], subject [to]) uppskjuta / skjuta upp (procrastinate on, put off)
uvillkorlig ovillkorlig (unconditional) ofrivillig (involuntary)
vaske väska (bag) tvätta (wash)

These are some of the most common examples of false friends in Norwegian for the Swedish speaker. Most Norwegian, though, is perfectly understandable, so for you who likes challenges, go look up a Norwegian news website and test your budding Norwegian skills!

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About the Author: Stephen Maconi

Stephen Maconi has been writing for the Transparent Swedish Blog since 2010. Wielding a Bachelor's Degree in Swedish and Nordic Linguistics from Uppsala University in Sweden, Stephen is an expert on Swedish language and culture.


Comments:

  1. Moris Rubeksson:

    Eh, some of those are…
    Not accurate…
    With regards a norwegian speaker…