IKEA gets sued by 5-year old girl’s family for discrimination? Posted by Katja on Feb 2, 2012
In Sweden it isn’t very common that people go round suing each other. But Monday this week the incident about the girl with a chromosome disorder who wasn’t let into the ball room due to “safety reasons” according to (Malmö’s) IKEA manager, was brought up again. The 5-year old girl was not allowed into the…
The cheese slicer – Osthyvel Posted by Katja on Feb 1, 2012
Do you know what this is? In Swedish it is called an Osthyvel. It’s called a cheese slicer. This is in fact a Norwegian invention by Thor Bjørklund, who in 1925 is said to have been given cheese on a slice of bread for lunch. The had cheese melted before he had had a chance…
The letter å Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jan 31, 2012
Last week I clarified where the Swedish letters ä and ö come from, but to you the origin of the letter å is still a mystery. And here I am to clear it up! In 1526, a new time period known in Swedish linguistics as Nysvenska perioden began with the first ever Swedish translation of…
Swedish swear words Posted by Katja on Jan 27, 2012
The first words many foreigners learn in a new language are usually swear words. I don’t think this is uncommon for anybody, no matter where you come from or what language you want to learn. The point of this post is not to encourage swearing but to explain the degree of different swear words in…
Svenska Samtalsbordet Posted by Marcus Cederström on Jan 25, 2012
We’re always looking for learning language tips here at Transparent. It’s why everyone who works so hard on the various language learning software is so proud of what they do (if you haven’t already, check out what Transparent has to offer). But sometimes, some of the best things in life are free. Or, at least…
Why does ‘hand’ become ‘händer’ in plural? Posted by Stephen Maconi on Jan 24, 2012
This is one question that boggles the minds of many learners of the Swedish language (as well as the other Nordic languages). Why doesn’t ‘hand’ just become ‘hander’ or ‘handar’ in plural? The answer to this lies in a major change that occurred throughout Germanic Europe in the Early Middle Ages (which in Scandinavia was…
“This” and “these” Posted by Katja on Jan 19, 2012
In Sweden there are lots of different dialects, and of course people use different words for the same thing. Something as simple as “this” you’ll find lots of variations of and for someone learning Swedish that can be a bit confusing. Especially if the word everybody is using in some areas is grammatically incorrect, and…