True Blood - Simple Swedish 3

One of my best friends lives in Denmark, and the other lives outside of Stockholm - about an hour south. Can't think of the name of the place at the moment although there's a havn in it - Nynäshamn!

There's a musicality to all the Scandinavian spoken language that is quite lovely - and I'm not biassed because my 2 best friends live in that area either... not at all.

My friend disagrees with what he calls Sookie though.

This is what she says: stark, självständig kvinnlig karraktär med lite udda smak när det gäller män

(She loves the books)

For the non-swedish, that is: Strong, independent, female character with an odd taste when it comes to men

Funny thing is, I don't know that language, except that I recognize it as some scandinavian tongue. But with my understanding of Dutch, English and German, I can mostly understand it, anyway

@Kiri, I wish I knew what Swedish sounds like to foreign ears. I've heard many people say the Scandinavian languages sound musical, but since I understand them (if you understand one Scandinavian language, you can understand the other two as well. Finnish is something else entirely, though), I just hear the words and not the rhythm of them.


@BO, it's like with me and Dutch; even though I don't actually know the language, I can get the gist of written Dutch. I'm not so good with spoken Dutch, though.

Dutch is actually a language I'd like to learn, just for the fun of it. I like languages.

Here's what Swedish sounds like to foreign ears:

Seriously though, I wouldn't exactly call it musical, but there's a lot more inflection than in English. English must sound very monotone to Scandinavian ears.

I love the Swedish Chef! But when I was a kid and watched the Muppets, I found him very confusing. "Why do they think he's Swedish? That isn't Swedish!"

I wouldn't say English sounds monotone, exactly, but you're right, it does have less inflection. The English major in me always cringe when I hear Swedes speak English and they use exactly the same inflection as they would in Swedish; it just sounds so... wrong. (Which isn't to say I speak perfectly English myself - you'd definitely be able to tell I'm from Scandinavia.)

To be honest, it depends on what region of the world you speak English from. As an Australian, where we have very broad pronunciation, the intonation of some of the UK regional languages are pretty musical as well - say English from an Irish or Welsh speaker? But certainly Australian and I think American doesn't have much inflection in it.

That's true, Kiri. English can sound very different in different regional accents, to the point where some English speakers can't even understand other English speakers because of the different accents. None of these accents are wrong, they're just different. So in Swedish - is the inflection just an accent, or is it actually part of the language? If someone were to speak Swedish without all that inflection, would it sound completely ridiculous and incorrect?

As an English speaker and English I can vouch for Fansee's comment on understanding other English speakers. I have great problems, at times, understanding broad Scot and some northern English accents, mind you I do have a hearing problem. Sometimes they put sub-titles on for us southeners, lol. To me Swedish, English speakers have a 'sing-song' way of speaking too My favourite British accent is the welsh.

@Kiri, yeah, I was thinking primarily of AmEng. It's not what I speak myself (I have an English timbre to my Scandinavian accent), but we're inundated with US tv shows and films so that's what we hear the most here.

@Fansee, it's part of the language, even though it can differ a little between accents. It seems to be the part of Swedish that's the most challenging if you're a foreign learner (together with "en" and "ett", a.k.a. the Indefinite Articles from Hell) - and for us native speakers, it can almost be hard to understand somebody who gets the inflection all wrong, even if he/she is fluent otherwise. Inflection is a Big Deal in Swedish.

@Karen, hearing that makes foreign learner me feel a little better about not always understanding Scots. Me, my favourite British accent is the Northern Irish one, but if we include the rest of the Commonwealth I'm also partial to the Canadian accent. Northerners FTW!

In Swedish, I have problems understanding people who speak with a broad Gotland accent. Their accent is beautiful, but compared to King's Swedish, it's almost a different language.

As someone from the Midwest in the US, I can tell you all that I have no accent. Everyone else has the accents.

Nah. I have an accent and I know this to be true because it's something I've heard many times. "Ya'll must be a Yankee" - this in Kansas, lol @ the ya'll seeing as there was only one of me. "You're not from around here, are you?" - this in Florida, not looking all touristy. I was dressed just like everyone else around me (no fanny pack or anything!) and was just asking a store clerk where the BBQ sauce would be. When I got what must've been a quizzical look on my face (surely Floridians ask where the BBQ sauce is!), I got "I can tell by your accent". Going as far as 2 states over gets comments on my accent. Shucks, even 1 state- people in Iowa think people from my state have an accent. Never mind the fact that 2 of the cities in my state make up half of the Quad Cities and they're all thisclose to each other. (The other 2 being cities in Iowa.) Even people who have my favoritest American accent - Southern! - think I talk funny.. as evidenced by a friend's repeated requests for me to say certain words (aluminum being one) followed by howls of laughter. That one's alright- I ask for "bug" in return. Only someone from the south can make the word bug sound... sexy. (There, I said it!)

Yeah, a man with a southern accent makes me melt like butter.

Ohhhh. Funny true fact: I'm part Irish. By looking at me, you'd never guess that. Get me mad? You'll know it. For some odd reason I get an Irish accent when I get really riled up. I don't even realize it until someone points it out, so I'm pretty sure it's not a conscious thing.