Swedish for the crazy American.

The new roomies at the entrance to our new place! WOOHOO!

I found myself being stared at as I sat on the bus today, which was a new experience here. Generally, people have greeted me in Swedish or ignored me in general, while some other students in the program warrant more curiosity as being clearly non-Swedish. But today, in my effort to better my ability to pronounce Swedish words I see (still have no idea what they mean, but hey, at least I sound good saying it) I decided to repeat everything the automatic bus voice said, which mostly included different stop names. Needless to say, most people at least stole a quizzical glance as I muttered several attempts at each name.





It started yesterday at the cell phone store, when I saw a picture of a Koenigsegg, a Swedish supercar manufacturer, and the new parent company of Saab. Recognizing it in the picture on the cell phone salesman’s counter, I mentioned what incredible cars they are, but he just looked at me puzzled. Realizing my feeble attempt at pronunciation of the company name didn’t ring enough bells for him to understand what I was talking about. This brought about only more jumbled and creative attempts at pronunciation by me until I finally decided to just explain they made fast cars and recently purchased Saab. At which point he responded “OH! Keyoenyigshsyegg.” Or at least that’s what it sounded like, naturally. Hooked on Phonics doesn’t work for Swedish evidently. So I vowed to figure out how to pronounce words in Swedish, thinking it would be helpful at least for street names and the like.





Here are a few rules for Swedish language my roommates and I have come up with:





K is always followed a “yuh” sound so if you think of the English name Kent, it would be pronounce Kyent.





R at the beginning of words, as well as RR are rolled as in Spanish. That doesn’t mean all things should be pronounced with a Spanish accent, which several of us find ourselves starting to do.





O nearly always sounds like OU.





The letter E always sounds quite a bit like a long A sound.





A makes pretty much any vowel sound you want it to, with the exception of I and Y.





According to Matt, and I’m not sure he’s far off on this one, anything with dots over it makes the barfing sound.





Beyond its clear potential as a classroom for Swedish pronunciation, the bus offered me a glimpse of a bit more of Karlskrona and I’d like to think Swedish culture in general.





Police cars are pretty much any color under the sun. While all Saab and Volvo wagons (at least the ones I’ve seen), I’ve yet to see to with the same paint scheme or even closely related colors.


Blue and red checkered designs adorned one, while another sported orange and neon yellow. Another just had a navy blue stripe down the side. Have to keep the criminals guessing somehow I suppose.





Ambulances look like a cross between a neon yellow hearse and an ice cream truck.





Thug life! I just have to make a note of this one. I saw a 1 year old kid on the bus wearing a baggy sweat suit with “New York” emblazoned across his chest, a sideways baseball cap, stunna shades and . . . a binky! Now that’s the epitome of stylin.

We’ll divide up the largest room to use as 2 bedrooms and are planning on using the entry (which is plenty big for a couple couches and a table) and kitchen area for the communal space.
On a funny note, as I was sitting in the hostel common room writing up this entry, the host came by and asked if I was a student, and if the local paper could interview me. I agreed, and they are putting in a story about how foreign students come to town, where they stay, and how they find housing. My housemates and I will be the main group featured!

And some updates as of the morning of 27 August. Here's the link to the Swedish newspaper article: http://sydostran.se/index.77749---1.html, and here's one translated into English using Google translator: http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsydostran.se%2Findex.77749---1.html&sl=sv&tl=en&history_state0=

Here's a video I posted of the walkthrough of our new place! Sorry about the noise and the shaky camera hand, but it gives you an idea of where we're living. I'll post another one when we have advanced beyond sleeping on the ballroom floor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OgQBRqR1MU

Anyways, that’s all for now, I enjoyed your responses, and hopefully you can keep enjoying the posts.

Ciao for now,
Wyeth