12 Variations of Thanks in Swedish Posted by Chelsea B on Nov 25, 2020
I know that discussing 12 different usages of “tack” for Thanksgiving week is not a very original idea. But when I started compiling this list, I was quite impressed by the variety. Below, I’ll review a tiny bit of Thanksgiving history, and then get into our list of thanks! Thanksgiving is the American Holiday meant…
Swedish Literary Bad Boy, August Strindberg Posted by Chelsea B on Nov 20, 2020
Renowned Swedish dramatist and literary bad boy August Strindberg is one of the greatest contributors to modern Swedish literature. This week, we’ll learn a little bit about the Strindberg legacy, what’s behind his tormented artist persona, and read one of his poems, “Högsommar i vinter.” August Strindberg (1849-1912) was a författare (writer), dramatiker (dramatist), and…
The Swedish Kitchen Series: Cozy Friday Posted by Chelsea B on Nov 12, 2020
Fredagsmys literally means “Friday cozy.” This Swedish concept is about treating yourself after a long week. Oddly enough, it was made famous by a marketing campaign for chips. This week on the blog, we’ll pull from a resource called Det svenska köket and dig into the fredagsmys concept. Svenska institutet’s Det Svenska köket från fika…
Music meets Reality TV with Så mycket bättre 2020! Posted by Chelsea B on Nov 6, 2020
Så mycket bättre / So much better a popular music meets reality television show by Swedish network TV4. The 11th season is currently airing and it’s all the gossip in the music and entertainment world. If you like the diversity that Swedish music has to offer and enjoy a good cover song, this is the…
Swedish Idioms Round Two, Go to Hekla and Fox Sleep Posted by Chelsea B on Oct 29, 2020
Last week, I wrote about some common idioms that you’re bound to hear in every day Swedish. In doing research for that post, I discovered some rather obscure ones too. I’ll share some of those in this post as well as share the origin stories behind a couple of classic idioms. Nu kör vi! Let’s…
10 Common Swedish Idioms – “Shrimp Sandwiches” and “Cows on the Ice” Posted by Chelsea B on Oct 22, 2020
Idioms are the best. They are playful phrases we use to describe a situation by metaphor or figure of speech. The literal translations don’t make sense and often leave non-native speakers scratching their heads – “Huh, what do they mean by saying it’s raining cats and dogs?” There are several of these sayings that sound…
Let’s Vote! Election Vocabulary på svenska Posted by Chelsea B on Oct 16, 2020
‘Tis the Season…for holiday Cheer? No, not quite. Why it’s the season for the American Election of course. Whether you’re “celebrating” or not, we are inundated with the latest polling numbers, debates, headlines, etc. The American Election, especially with a presidential race on the ballot, is covered in world news quite closely, especially in Sweden…