New Swedish words 2014

New Swedish words 2014; collected by Språktidningen and Språkrådet. These words are not (at least not yet) officially adopted but are highly interesting since they mirror recent events, pop culture and the current way of living.

I do not know why the word “en” is on the list though, even if the reason is that is has been used more. It is not a new word or meaning to it.

Do you have a favorite word?

Take me to the list!

ett språk = a language

en tidning = a magazine, a (news) paper

ett råd = a council; an advice

Music in the Swedish language – the perfect video to practice Swedish

My pick of music in the Swedish language this month! To learn pop culture, or for you to practice pronunciation, intonation and to acquire new vocabulary. Best of all – the artist himself provides the text in writing! A must see video – I love it!

Vocabulary list at the bottom of this post.

If you want to listen via Spotify:

Josef Johansson – Tysta leken

tysta leken = the quiet game (the one who makes a noise is eliminated)

åka ut = to be eliminated (in a game), to be sent out of a room

att bry sig om = to care about/for

nån’ting – slang for “någonting” = something, anything

en Håkan sång = a song by Håkan Hellström (link to one of Håkan’s songs)

Gott nytt år!

Happy new year dear all – gott nytt år! A big thank you to all my customers and supporters 2014.

The last Swedish lesson this year I gave this morning, via Skype – yes, on New years eve – and on Friday the 2nd I will have my first meeting 2015; with an expat family.

Looking forward to meet you all in 2015!

Gott nytt år!

Charlotta

Christmas craft – instructions in Swedish

In my previous post I promised to provide links to  instructions for Christmas craft in Swedish.  Why? Because it is fun, and because it is a way for you to activate both brain hemispheres when learning the Swedish language, which is beneficial for your acquisition hereof.

I practiced this method myself yesterday when I tried to fold a small star from an instruction in German. I did not succeed in making the star but I did learn a new German word – which I now have a visual of in my head; working on different sections of paper ribbons across one another. I tried to fold it anew this morning from a Swedish video but have to say I did not manage that one either on the first go :).

en smällkaramell
en smällkaramell

 

So, which Christmas craft will you do first? Below you find three suggestions. How about sending me a pic of your master piece when you are done? I will happily put it in my FB timeline.

If you go here you will learn how to make a “smällkaramell” (see photo above)  in Swedish.  Sveriges Radio is providing the written instruction, with illustrations.

Below is a link to Barnens bokklubb, who provides a pdf for the task of folding a traditional paper heart. Yes I would like to make a heart – show me the instruction in Swedish! Pdf.

Here is a link to Arla’s video on how to make a paper star. Video; for you to practice your listening skills.

Good luck! Lycka till!

“Koppången”

Koppången. The name of a nature preserve in the Swedish region of Dalarna. You will learn the name today however because it is also the name of an amazingly beautiful Swedish song. It was released in 1998 by Per-Erik Moraeus; lyrics by Py Bäckman.

The song gains in popularity every Christmas time.

Koppången has been recorded by numerous artists; this version is sung by Sanna Nielsen and is also supported by musiXmatch for you to follow the lyrics visually. You can find musiXmatch as an app in Spotify.

Instrumental – oh so wonderful, but you are missing out on practicing the Swedish vocabulary – unless you have learned some of the lyrics already and want to sing along on your own!

 

Swedish comedy “Inte OK!”

Do you get Swedish humor? It might not merely be about understanding the Swedish language …

Watch a video clip from the new Swedish comedy show “Inte OK!” (“Not OK”) on TV3. This particular clip portraits different social media types. It is in Swedish but there is probably no need to understand the language – I think the video speaks for itself. 🙂  Watch it here.

Do you think Swedish social media types, or their frequency, differ from other cultures’? Leave a comment.

 

Wordlist

arbetsnarkomanen – the workaholic

sociala medier-junkien – the social media junkie

faktagranskaren – the fact checker

traditionalist –  the traditionalist

 

Make sentences in Swedish – game

Let’s build some sentences in Swedish today! Use this game – Bella Bävers ordlek – to make sentences; silly ones or perfectly normal ones – you decide! Click “spela upp meningen” to hear the result. It’s a children’s game and kids most definitely have a lot of fun playing this. I am sure it can amuse an adult or two too, and you will most likely pick up some new vocabulary while reinforcing how to make simple sentences in Swedish. 🙂

The word game can be found on the Swedish Radio’s website.

Summer hosts radio P1

Every year Swedish radio channel P1 lets Swedish celebrities from every walks of life (artists, athletes, politicians, business gurus, ministers etc.) host a daily show.  These programs are very popular, and topics and music vary a lot. Last week the summer hosts of 2014 were revealed. Listening to the show is a good way to keep up your Swedish as well as to keep up to date with what’s the talk of the town in Sweden.

Click here to read about it / listen in easy Swedish (Klartext P1)

Find the complete list of hosts here Sommarvärdarna 2014

 

 

 

Text to speech – listen to Swedish pronunciation

Do you want to know how a word in a foreign language is pronounced? Or do you want to fine tune your Swedish pronunciation? One way to do it is to take a look at the website  of Acapela.  This site provides native speaking voices for 30 different languages; often also different local dialects as well as several voices to chose from. I tried Swedish and I think it works well.  You just type in/paste the word or text you want to hear. So go ahead and listen to the  pronunciation in Swedish of that special word you are wondering about or need to practice a bit more.

Svensk flagga

 

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