Swedish Power Verbs: att vilja Posted by Stephen Maconi on Nov 30, 2017
Some verbs are just more useful than others. Att vilja, Swedish for “to want (to)”, is no exception! Att vilja is the full infinitive form – in other words, it includes the basic infinitive form vilja, “want (to do something)”, and att, “to” as used before a verb. (More on this in a later post.) The verb is…
Halloween’s viking past Posted by Stephen Maconi on Nov 1, 2017
Halloween is no traditional holiday in Swedish culture, but that is not to say it doesn’t have its share of Nordic roots. Halloween is said to have come to be when the vikings invading the British Isles came in contact with the Celts around the turn of the 9th century (800’s AD). The vikings brought…
A Nordic Union Posted by Tibor on Oct 18, 2017
Not so long ago there was a poll made by Nordisk Forum about a possible Nordic Federal state. (Nordisk Förbundsstat). Well, the poll was about which Nordic city should be the capital, to be exact. FNF is a group for everyone who is interested in the Nordics. The Nordic Forum is founded by the collaboration of…
Being polite in Swedish, please Posted by Stephen Maconi on Oct 11, 2017
Being polite in your target language is often a huge challenge for learners. Swedish is definitely no exception! But is it the language itself or is it the culture that decides how we express politeness? The truth is that language is strongly colored by culture, but culture can even be seen as a product of…
Swedish Mushroom Picking part I Posted by Tibor on Oct 6, 2017
This has been the greatest mushroom year for many years. The circumstances were extremely good this year to pick mushroom. The mushroom season begins in the middle of August every year and lasts approximately one or one and a half month if the weather is both rainy and warm before the frost arrives. One of…
Language exams in Swedish Posted by Tibor on Sep 22, 2017
TISUS (For higher education no Swedish personal number is needed) Tisus is recognised by all the universities in Sweden as a statement of eligibility regarding Swedish language proficiency. It is an examination at the advanced level just like the English proficiency test. The exam consists of three parts: Reading 75 minutes, Writing 150 minutes and…
The Viking museum of Reykjavik Posted by Tibor on Sep 11, 2017
I posted not so long ago about the Viking museum of York aka Jorvik. I happened to travel not that long time ago to Iceland where I wanted to seize the opportunity to visit the viking museum even there. The museum is very tiny and it is situated in quite new area of downtown Reykjavik…