Buy some blueberries, Sweden!

Week 9, Episode 17

"Bra", "fart", "slut"! No, I'm not practicing the usage of some inappropriate words, I'm just learning... Swedish! If it sounds like a far-fetched excuse to you, check me by looking it up in a dictionary and you will learn that these words mean "good", "speed" and "end" respectively.

Here watch a short 3-minute video where a sweet Swede backs me up and shares more Swedish words that sound... ehm... odd(?):

And just like that my first steps in Swedish made it clear: Langventuring into this language is going to feel weird, strange but, let's admit it, amusing.

Moreover, it is not only words that sound strange, there are phrases the Swedish people say that sound quite rum. Let's take a look at this funny video (2 minutes) with two Swede girls to have a taste of the world the Swedish people deal with every now and then:

Now we're getting some unerstanding of what it is like to speak Swedish and be a Swede. I will just add to this one last piece—one more video with one more Swedish girl who in 4 minutes tells you all about the weird and special Swedish soul:

There are two words Johanna says in Swedish that you might not know: "fika" and "lagom".

Fika comes from old Swedish word "kaffi" (coffee) by reversing syllables and represents a concept in Swedish culture to have some coffee (or tea, or even juice) maybe even with some pastries or sandwiches and consume it while chatting about this and that and socializing with other people. In Russia we do it too, and that is the reason why a coffee break at your workplace in Russia is never quick (but might take up to one hour sometimes) :P What can I say, we have things to discuss :)

Lagom means "just right", "just enough". It is not much, it is not little, it is just the right amount. This word is considered to be the one that describes the Swedish people the best, to the extent that in some books Sweden is called "Lagomlandet" (the lagom country). The accent here is not on the deficit or abundance of something, but on the expediency of the amount. It is reasonableness, rationality, rightness.

And this is just the beginning! Swedish has so much to offer to language-lovers! Bra!
 

Let's dig in!