{"id":9297,"date":"2021-06-18T03:28:37","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T03:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=9297"},"modified":"2021-06-18T03:28:37","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T03:28:37","slug":"celebrate-pride-with-swedish-queer-vocabulary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/celebrate-pride-with-swedish-queer-vocabulary\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate Pride with Swedish Queer Vocabulary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Photo: V\u00e4xj\u00f6 Pride 2019, C. Bowen<\/p><\/div>\n

June is recognized as Pride Month all around the world. With Sweden\u2019s long progressive stance on gay rights, it\u2019s no surprise that Swedes host more Pride celebrations per capita than any country in the world. From rainbow-painted park benches and crosswalks in cities like Malm\u00f6 and G\u00f6teborg to the Stockholm Pride<\/a> parade drawing half a million spectators, Swedes, for the most part, totally embrace Pride. Therefore, this week\u2019s blog is going to cover some queer vocabulary around sexual orientation, gender identity, and pronouns!<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, before we get started, this blog is by no means a comprehensive list of queer Swedish vocabulary. The idea here is simply to cover some basics that can help us be more mindful Swedish speakers.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Gay Nouns and Adjectives<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

Homosexuell \u2192 homosexuellt \u2192 homosexuella<\/em><\/span><\/i> is used in Swedish to describe someone who is attracted to someone of the same gender. But, just as in English, this term can feel a bit stuffy in day-to-day use so most folks use <\/span>gay<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>queer<\/span><\/i>. Remember my blog post about Darin and Princess Victoria winning HBTQ of the year at Gaygalan<\/a><\/em>?<\/span><\/p>\n

The terms gay and queer mean the same thing in English as they do in Swedish. A gay<\/em> person is attracted to someone of the same gender. Queer<\/em> is more of an umbrella term that means you’re breaking norms in either sexual orientation, or gender identity, or both! You can get pretty far with using both as adjectives in Swedish. For example:
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>-Vet du om han \u00e4r gay?<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0-Do you know if he is gay?
\n-Jag vet inte men han \u00e4r nog queer<\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0-I don’t know but he’s probably queer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Queera<\/em> works well as a plural, too. If you’re a gay woman, you are lesbisk. <\/em>This adjective can be used as ett-form: lesbiskt<\/em>\u00a0and plural form lesbiska.<\/em> In noun form en flata \u2192 flator <\/em>are synonyms for lesbian \u2192<\/em> lesbians. On the other hand, en b\u00f6g \u2192 b\u00f6gar\u00a0<\/em>is used for gay men. Although these terms are totally fine for all people to use colloquially, gay<\/em> is a less-loaded term that can be used in any situation.<\/p>\n

HBTIQA+<\/span><\/h2>\n

This is the Swedish equivalent to LGBTQIA+. All of these words are cognates to their English equivalents so if you need to brush up on these terms in English, too, here\u2019s your chance! (Again, VERY basic definitions here.)<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nThese first two terms refer to sexuell l\u00e4ggning<\/em> or (sexual orientation = who you are attracted to!).<\/span><\/p>\n

homosexuella<\/em><\/strong> – homosexual, we’ve got this one covered already, right?\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>bisexuella<\/em><\/strong> – bisexual folks are attracted to both genders (in a binary sense)<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The next two terms refer to k\u00f6nsidentitet<\/em> (gender identity= the gender that a person most relates to).<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>transpersoner<\/em><\/strong> – transgender people, often folks whose gender identity differs from the one they were assigned at birth
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>intersexpersoner<\/em><\/strong> – intersex folks were born with gender traits that don’t match the typical male\/female distinction<\/span><\/p>\n

The “i” in HBTIQA+ can also stand for ickebin\u00e4ra<\/em>,<\/strong> folks who don’t identify with any gender
\n
\n<\/span>asexuella<\/em><\/strong> – asexual folks have typically little or no sexual attraction to others<\/span><\/p>\n

…and the plus? The plus is there to always include others who don’t feel they identify with the categories above.<\/p>\n

What about pronouns?
\n<\/span><\/h2>\n

It’s tough to identify a person’s gender just by looking at them, so learning their preferred gender pronoun is a way to recognize them accordingly. We know the Swedish binary pronouns han<\/em> (he) and hon<\/em> (she), but what about gender-neutral pronouns? In English, the pronoun “they” is used as a neutral pronoun to describe a singular person. In Swedish, the equivalent is hen,\u00a0<\/em>or den<\/em>. These pronouns can be used to refer to trans or genderqueer people, but it’s also pretty handy if you’ve never met the person before or are unsure of their gender. For example:<\/p>\n

-Jag tr\u00e4ffade en ny kompis p\u00e5 skolan.\u00a0<\/em> \u00a0 \u00a0 -I met a new friend at school.
\n-Kul! Ska hen<\/span> ocks\u00e5 komma p\u00e5 s\u00f6ndag?<\/em>\u00a0 -Fun! Are they also coming on Sunday?<\/p>\n

It’s becoming more common to ask someone for which pronouns they use or prefer. In Swedish, you can say:<\/p>\n

-Vilket pronomen\u00a0vill du att jag ska\u00a0anv\u00e4nda?<\/em>
\n-Which pronoun do you want me to use?<\/p>\n

In researching Swedish discussions pronouns, I stumbled upon Svenska kyrkans<\/em> (the Swedish Church’s) Tips f\u00f6r att inkludera unga ickebin\u00e4ra personer,<\/a><\/em>\u00a0give it a read!<\/p>\n

That’s all for now, folks! Feeling refreshed on your queer terms? Want to expand your knowledge? See below!<\/p>\n

Watch: <\/b>Tack gud jag \u00e4r homo<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Read:<\/strong>
\nUMO – Sexuell l\u00e4ggning<\/a>
\n<\/b>RFSL’s Begreppsorlista<\/a>
\nRegnb\u00e5gsordlistan<\/a> flashcards on Quizlet
\nRegnb\u00e5gsankan ordlista<\/a>
\nStockholms Pride<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

June is recognized as Pride Month all around the world. With Sweden\u2019s long progressive stance on gay rights, it\u2019s no surprise that Swedes host more Pride celebrations per capita than any country in the world. From rainbow-painted park benches and crosswalks in cities like Malm\u00f6 and G\u00f6teborg to the Stockholm Pride parade drawing half a…<\/p>\n

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