The Weather Outside is Frightful. And Swedish. Posted by Marcus Cederström on Dec 26, 2013
One of the many stereotypes about Swedes is that they aren’t always the most talkative. But one subject they’re more than willing to talk about is the weather In fact, Katja did a great job of putting together a couple of posts about starting conversations in Sweden, one is titled How to small talk in…
Make Your Own Glögg Posted by Marcus Cederström on Dec 25, 2013
With Christmas Eve behind us and Christmas coming to an end, it’s time to relax. And what better way to relax than with some glögg? Glögg is a Swedish mulled wine that people traditionally drink in December. It goes great with delicious baked goods. Luckily, Katja posted a couple of recipes for some of those…
Irritation in the common laundry room Posted by Katja on Dec 22, 2013
I have no idea if it is only in Sweden that people who live in apartment building share a laundry room with the other or not. A couple of days ago I read an article in the newspaper about how the laundry room is a big source of conflict amongst Swedes. I thought it was…
Particle Verbs Posted by Marcus Cederström on Nov 28, 2013
Particle verbs (or phrasal verbs) aren’t always easy. In fact, tacking on that particle, usually a preposition or adverb, at the end of a verb can really change the meaning of a word. We have them in English too: pick on, look after, make out. So how do you tell the difference? When speaking (and…
New Swedish grade system might prevent studies in the US Posted by Katja on Nov 18, 2013
Sweden has recently, since fall of 2011 to be exact, introduced a new grade system to solve the problem of high grade inflation. In the old grade system grades in junior and senior high school consisted of a failing grade (Icke godkänt, IG), acceptable/OK (Godkänt, G), very good (Väl godkänt, VG) and the highest grade…
Abeba Aregawi – Swedish-Ethiopian track-and-field athlete Posted by Katja on Nov 14, 2013
Here is some semi-old news from the Swedish athlete world about one of Sweden’s hottest athletes at the moment. Since the world championships in Moscow a lot has been said about 23-year old Abeba Aregawi. Not too long ago she received Swedish citizenship, on the 28th of June 2012 to be precise. She is married…
15 Scary Swedish Adjectives Posted by Marcus Cederström on Oct 31, 2013
Happy Halloween! As we learned in 15 Scary Swedish Creatures, Swedes don’t really celebrate Halloween. They’ve got Alla helgons dag instead. Of course, scary creatures can come out at any time of the year and that means you need some scary adjectives to describe them. Steve has covered some of the grammatical details of adjectives…