Ever been to Sweden?

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Jan 24, 09, 07:22 #61

The Danes are considered throughout Scandinavia to be more easygoing than either the Swedes, the Norwegians and the Finns. Having spent some time in both Denmark and Sweden at least, I can agree. Probably in terms of pronounciation and even grammar, the Swedes speak better English on the whole than any of the other Scandinavians. This is not to say however, that it's terribly good. We in the States tend to form impressions of foreign countries according to the "face" their political leaders put on. Believe me, not all Swedes speak English as fluently and delightfully as former chief weapons' inspector for the United Nations Hans Blix, anymore than do most Israelis speak English like Abba Eban or Bibi Netanyahu.--:)

LeeHughesThreads: 9 Posts: 17 Joined: Dec 3, 09 ♂	Mar 23, 10, 19:10 #62
I live in sweden, i am swedish and also i live in poland

Lyzko	Nov 23, 10, 18:05 #63
A mówisz po polsku, LeeHughes?? Jag talar flyttande svenska och jag kan ocksaa polska, men inte paa samma nivaat. I've spent time in Goteborg and Boraas. The last time I was in Sweden was years ago, but I still speak, read and write the language fluently, almost as well as German and English-:)

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Nov 23, 10, 18:22 #64

PolskaDoll:

of great interest to donkeys of course

Osiol have branded himself marvelously ... I can still see the picture of the Donkey he used to have as his avatar ... =) ... nice work Osiol, by the way its very intelligent of you.

I would like to say here that Donkey's have been the ride of Great people, not horses. Including Jesus Christ and many other prophets. Donkeys still play a vital role in many economies, they are still the primary means of transportation and carriers of good in tough regions like Afghanistan.

Chicago PollockThreads: 10 Posts: 638 Joined: Apr 10, 10 ♂	Nov 24, 10, 05:59 #65
Lyzko: I've spent time in Goteborg and Boraas. The last time I was in Sweden was years ago, but I still speak, read and write the language fluently, almost as well as German and English-:) For a native English speaker what's the easiest Scandinavian language to learn? Is English word order the same in the Scandinavian languages? I mean Polish is all convoluted.

OlafThreads: 8 Posts: 1,369 Joined: Oct 29, 09 ♂	Nov 24, 10, 09:15 #66
Lyzko: Goteborg and Boraas Yees, Göteborg is a great place, Borås not so much though. I'd choose Jönköping over Borås - it's a bit bigger and has this academic atmosphere and the lake.

Lyzko

Nov 24, 10, 14:09 #67

For a native English speaker, each of the three major Nordic tongues pose far fewer problems than Polish (with the exception of Icelandic, by far, the hardest of the extant Germanic languages, including modern German!!).

Polish "convoluted"?? I suppose it depends on whom you ask. To the Poles, English is convoluted. It's all relative anyhow. There are no absolute universal standards on ease or complication of a language.

TeffleThreads: 28 Posts: 2,105 Joined: Aug 26, 10 ♂	Nov 24, 10, 14:58 #68
Swedish/Norwegian/Danish are all fairly similar. Finnish is crazy - looks like phonetic Japanese to me - it's all ikkiantuu & tunniranni. Something about Finland fascinates me though - more so than other Scandinavian countries. (Although I've nothing against them I should add)

zetigrekThreads: 59 Posts: 2,709 Joined: May 20, 10 ♂	Nov 24, 10, 16:17 #69
Teffle: Finnish is crazy - looks like phonetic Japanese to me For me Welsh is crazy. It sounds like mix of Danish and Arabic and the spelling is like no other language (having 3xd, w, 4xf and 2xll you will win all scrabble games in Welsh) ddwlllwlddlff... have I written something? ;D Is Irish similar? Do you actually use that language?

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Nov 24, 10, 16:35 #70

zetigrek:

Is Irish similar?

Visually, not at all.

Dia duit agus conas atá tú ?

(Hello and how are you?)

Phonetically: jeea-ditch ogus cunnas ataw too.

Sound wise, a bit. A lot of it is at the back of the throat - which I assume was the Arabic reference. LOL

Do you actually use that language?

Not me anyway. Compulsory to learn at school but only about 10% use it daily - vast majority along the west and south west coast.

Lyzko

Nov 24, 10, 17:14 #71

Celtic languages are typically unphonetic to the untrained ear. "Slante!" ("Na zdrowie!" in Polish, "Cheers!" in English), for instance, becomes "Slaanchyeh" or some such thing, "Siobbhan" (woman's first name) is pronounced approximately "Shuhvawn", rather than "Seeyoban" and the like, etc....

Swedish by comparison has zero extant case endings or inflections like Icelandic, German or the Slavic languages, making it a far more transparent for Anglo-Saxon native-speaker learners. Its word order too is just like English 'place before time' cf. with Polish and other languages. It's pronunciation though is not exactly 'phonetic', i.e. possessing letters whose equivalent pronunciation can be gleaned from their spelling without hearing the word spoken first. The letter 'k' for example is pronounced in almost three different ways-:))

skysoulmateThreads: 41 Posts: 3,039 Joined: Jan 10, 10 ♂	Nov 24, 10, 17:36 #72
Greetings from a very hyped South Korea (artillery shelling by North Korea) Raised in Sweden, nice country to visit, what would you like to know?

TeffleThreads: 28 Posts: 2,105 Joined: Aug 26, 10 ♂	Edited by: Teffle Nov 25, 10, 11:27 #73
Lyzko: "Slante!" That would be sláinte. Lyzko: "Slaanchyeh" Slawncheh more like. I think it's merely lack of familiarity on the part of the average anglophone that causes this sense of strangeness re pronunciation. Polish can be just as odd though - who would have thought that Łódź would be pronounced wooch for example? French too with it's multitude of silent letters for example.

skysoulmateThreads: 41 Posts: 3,039 Joined: Jan 10, 10 ♂	Nov 26, 10, 04:25 #74
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/11/19/snapshots.sweden/index.html?h pt=Sbin

Lyzko	Nov 26, 10, 20:20 #75
True enough, Teffle!

warszawskiThreads: 60 Posts: 2,388 Joined: May 21, 10 ♂	Nov 26, 10, 20:28 #76
Marek: The Danes are considered throughout Scandinavia to be more easygoing than either the Swedes, the Norwegians and the Finns. The Danes are considered the "Arabs" of northern Europe. Do not talk nonsense, there are a significant number of Swedish and Norwegian international negotiators, because of the good nature of both these nations.

Lyzko

Nov 26, 10, 20:44 #77

Warszawski, I lived in Denmark for a while! I also spent time in Sweden simultaneously and found my assertion about the Danes to be so. "Arabs" of Europe?? Certainly not the Danes! In fact, I found the Norwegians to be on the whole much less even-tempered in comparison with the Danes, even the Swedes. I litmus test for personality is the human being drunk. Danes drunk don't behave as I've experienced other Scandinavians, both Nordic and non-Nordic, such as the Finns. The Danes even have an expression: "Vi har et ordentligt skilt paa!", meaning, "We're slightly tipsy." Really, this means that even when plastered to the wall, the drunken Dane, on average, remains a sort of Victor Borgeesque "gentleman drunk".

Poles are far more slovenly drunken by comparison, with whom little such standards apply.

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Edited by: POLENGGGs Nov 26, 10, 21:01 #78

Lyzko:

as I've experienced other Scandinavians, both Nordic and non-Nordic, such as the Finns.

What on earth is Nordic & non-Nordic ?

Yes I spent roughly age 1 to 6 in Uppsala, and then Gothenburg.
I remember the trams, and uhhh lake in the summer.

Efver been to Basel, Switzerland ?

PS: Norway is a country of devil-worshippers. they burn down churches there and sing lullaby songs to comemorate Hitlers b'day ! !
Norway .... thank you but .no

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Edited by: warszawski Nov 26, 10, 22:57 #79

Lyzko:

Warszawski, I lived in Denmark for a while! I also spent time in Sweden simultaneously and found my assertion about the Danes to be so. "Arabs" of Europe?? Certainly not the Danes!

Every Dane knows this ask your Danish friends.

The Danes also have a special law amongst themselves " not legal" called " jenga law" ( maybe the spelling is incorrect) It transpires to being jealous of anyone that has had success.

The Danes in my opinion are like the Dutch, small country big ego and shout about nothing. This information is not something I have made up, it was told to me by Danes and I have had a lot of contact with them over the years.

Lyzko

Nov 27, 10, 21:01 #80

Danes don't always reveal the absolute or even partial truth about their country to non-natives, Warszawski. In this, they are just the same as everyone else-:))

Polenegg!

Nordic = germanisch
Non-Nordic = nicht germanisch, ganz einfach (...auch im EnglischenLOL)-:)))

Ever been to Basel, Switzerland?

Ab'r sicher! Und zwar zu Baasl'r Drummlerfaschti!

As far as Norway is concerned, they originally voted a big, resounding "NEE, TAK!" to membership in the EU under Gro Brundland back in the late 80's and they were a panty-waiste economy until oil was discovered off their coast in the early 60's!

Apart from that, while there was herr Quisling during WWII, there was also a sizable resistance movement in that country and somehow that's all been subsumed by the Danish Resistance. Then there's the whole myth about King Christian and the Jewish star business etc...

Chicago PollockThreads: 10 Posts: 638 Joined: Apr 10, 10 ♂	Nov 29, 10, 04:50 #81
POLENGGGs: PS: Norway is a country of devil-worshippers. they burn down churches there and sing lullaby songs to comemorate Hitlers b'day ! ! The Norge are the ones in Scandinavia who resisted the German occupation, more so than the Danes or Swedes.

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Edited by: Mr Grunwald Nov 29, 10, 05:02 #82

Chicago Pollock:

The Norge are the ones in Scandinavia who resisted the German occupation, more so than the Danes or Swedes.

The Danes don't even have the territory to do so, Sweden didn't have to "resist" Germans...
We Norwegians didn't fully resist as we would be capable of since the government in England said: "NO! Otherwise civilians will be shot!"
So most actions were covered up as British saboutur jobs or "accidents".

There was "resistance" in Norway but still remember that the Germans had the longest leash on Norway when compared to other Occupied countries! (300,000 German soldiers may have had an impact on that tho)

I have been to Sweden MANY times! Mostly to get to Karlskrona to get by ship to Poland. Otherwise it's shopping near the border! :)
Swedish meatballs! yammy!

Lyzko	Nov 30, 10, 23:18 #83
Du mener 'The Heroes of Telemark', Hr. Grunvald. Ickje sant? The was a famous Hollywood film about this subject 'The Moon is Down' (1943) and indeed there was as much anti-Nazi resistance as there was complicity in Hitler-Era Norway-:)))

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