The Wash Post Posted by Transparent Language on Oct 25, 2008
I am still away and still receiving calls for help from my dearly beloved. Last night it was the wash that required five urgent phone calls to get my urgent attention. We don’t own a washing machine. Actually, our apartment is not even set up for one. Instead, there is something in our building called…
The Diary of Dairy Posted by Transparent Language on Oct 23, 2008
I am out of town for a while, actually I’m out of Sweden for a week, and I’ve been gone for only one day and my dearly beloved already managed to call me four times. “I need milk,” he says, “I’m at the store and I don’t know what kind of milk to buy.” Errr……
Hej Kära Peter! Posted by Transparent Language on Oct 19, 2008
Peter’s comment on the post below made me think. I don’t write that many letters in Swedish. In fact, I don’t write that many letters in whatever language – I’m probably the world’s worst correspondent, as my friends no doubt can tell you. So, in order to properly answer Peter’s question I had to dig…
Varor Du Brukar Köpa? Posted by Transparent Language on Oct 16, 2008
I’ve been down with flu for quite some time now, and needless to say, I got bored. So bored in fact, that I actually started to read the stuff that the Ica supermarket chain sends us in the mail. Yeah, I was THAT bored. But I’m glad I read it, because now I’m thinking whether…
Åka or Gå? Posted by Transparent Language on Oct 12, 2008
Today’s topic is one that confuses many Swedish learners – those pesky verbs that are deceptively similar, have pretty much the same meaning in English, yet in Swedish are used in a completely different context. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Actually, Swedish has quite a few such verb combinations. But today we’ll start with the…
The 2008 Nobel Prizes Posted by Transparent Language on Oct 8, 2008
As you’ve probably noticed, it’s the 2008 Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset) time right now. Today the prize in chemistry was announced. Yesterday it was physics, and the day before – medicine. Too bad these days each prize has to be split among three people – 10 million kronor per prize is not that much to begin…
Jante Something or the Other Posted by Transparent Language on Oct 4, 2008
Sooner or later when you write about Sweden you will have to address the topics of “lagom” and “Jantelagen” and I’ve been mulling over how long I can practice avoidance and not talk about them. Why? Because I don’t know what the big deal is all about. Really. Two goofy phrases that supposedly “define” the…