L.O! This, contrary to what my Drama Society associates will tell you, is not how the Swedish say “Hello”. In fact, there are seven different ways of saying “Hello” in Swedish, the most common being “hallå!”, “hej!” and “god dag”. So there you are.
I am a firm believer in the idea that if you are going to stay in a country, the least you can do is learn the language. In my case the need to do this is obvious: I may be doing an English-speaking course, but I do need to learn at least some key phrases in order to get by in Sweden: for example, knowing that “Vilken tid är det?” means “What time is it?” in Swedish is extremely useful. In fact, simply knowing “tid” means “time” is a start. Another plus about learning a foreign language is learning silly phrases, such as “Stopp! Hammer Tid!” – And if you can’t work out what that means in Swedish, then you clearly “can’t touch this”.
Still, that’s not to say that learning Swedish is a doddle, because it blatantly isn’t: if it was, I wouldn’t be doing an English-speaking course. A good example of how tricky Swedish, and indeed any foreign language can be, is the problem of shopping – to go shopping in Swedish is “shoppa” by the way – because it’s not just a case of having to ask “Hur mycket är det?” (How much is that?): it’s also a case of knowing what the Swedish for pasta, bread, milk, cereal, fruit and meat is (pasta, bröd, mjölk, spannmål, frukt och kött). There’s also the problem of how big the dairy section is in Sweden: previous Exeter students have apparently found it nigh-on impossible to find semi-skimmed milk, horror of horrors. Still, once you do know those sorts of phrases and words (and you’ve found the milk), making a trip to a Swedish shop for food is as easy as falling off the proverbial log, so learning the lingo is well worth the effort.
Phrases such as “Var vänlig och tack” – which means “Please and Thank You” – can be very useful as well: being able to speak a language is good, but being able to speak politely is even better. With this in mind, “Roligt att träffas!” which means “Pleased to meet you!” is a phrase I’m endeavouring to use in earnest. In any case, it’s not generally a good idea to be rude to some random Swedish person you’ve only just met, especially if they happen to live in your flat, or if they have some other means of making your life a personal hell. In short, displaying rudeness abroad is as the Swedish say, “dum”. Or possibly “tokig”, which means crazy.
Mind you, learning a few insults here and there can also be useful: quite a lot of people I know would spend hours poring over French and German dictionaries just to find new swearwords so they could use them on unsuspecting classmates. I’ve not been quite that crude, but a couple of insults/exclamations will undoubtedly come in handy, such as “Tusan också!” (Damn it!), or “Du olidlig svin!” (“You insufferable swine!”) In my opinion, these will be eternally useful: after all, knowing that someone’s insulting you is always a handy piece of info.In order to ensure that my Swedish doesn’t get rusty, I’m going to be using a few Swedish words, and possibly phrases, in the Blog from now on. They are:
hallå allesammans! = hello everyone!
lämplig = good
förnämlig = excellent
dålig = bad
Bra nyheter och dåliga nyheter = the good news and the bad news
lycklig & olycklig = lucky/unlucky
otrolig = unbelievable
farväl = farewell
Tills nästa gång = until next time
Uppdrag Omöjligt = Mission Impossible
So there you are: you learn something new every day. Next week we move on to Swedish culture. I’m off to practise my Swedish, so “Tills nästa gång, farväl!”, and stay tuned for next week’s instalment of...
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sweden (But Were Afraid to Ask)Chris Stanley
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