Speaking Swedish!
 

God dag everybody!

I am headed to Sweden in a couple months and have been studying Swedish like crazy. I found a couple sites and some CDs but does anybody know of any really good language books or websites? (Help from you Swedes would be especially helpful!)

Tack sa mycket,
Daniel

Oh, so this why BettyNbillyJones said "tack you", and I thought it was misspelled thank you! ((I))

Tack in Sweden and Tak in Denmark. If you are traveling out in the countryside, you may find your Swedish useful. In Stockholm, almost everyone speaks better English than you do. I don't know how it is in Sweden, but my neice has been in school in Copenhagen this last year and one of the coditions of her program was that she take Danish for the year. She has had a problem because the Danes won't speak to her in Danish. They learn English all through their time in school, beginning in third grade and consequently speak perfect English and they just could not be bothered with my neices attempts at conversing with them in Danish. And, again, I make no claims for areas of the countryside, I was only in the city. So, good luck with your Swedish and hope you have opportunities for speaking, you have obviously made a real effort to learn.

I think it's absolutely great that you're taking the time to learn the language of the country. I'm American, but spent my summers,solo, in Danmark every summer for over 20 years...from the early 70s-90s. I took the time to go to school...for about the first 7 summers...to learn Danish although I could have gotten by on English. I studied very hard every summer.It really paid off as I was able to converse with folks of all ages...a lot of younger kids and elderly people don't speak English, and it's really great talking with elderly people especially....they are full of history and they love to talk to people. You'll get a lot of practice talking to them. Plus, I got invited to lots of friends' summer houses and family events because they knew I could speak and understand Danish so they wouldn't have to strain in English the whole time. I could sit around the dinner table and join in in the discussions. Happy Travels!

Dandalee
Here's a web site which has something for Swedish learning.

http://www.si.se/templates/CCS_CommonPage.aspx?id=1695

Here's a web log from some Swedish girl. You might a bit of typical Swedish speach, now as young people speak. Teenagers can twist a language but you can learn from this too.

Varsogood

Blackduff

Jeeeezz
I forgot to mark the site for the blog. Even worse, I can't find it again.

Sorry! If I find it I'll repost.

Blackduff

Blackduff----what does "varsogood" mean? I kept hearing something similar in Norway (phonetically it sounds like "vash-go") and I never understood what it meant. It would be said at the end of a transaction in a store, after I said "Tak".

<God dag everybody>

I don't think I could say that without feeling like I've taken the Lord's name in vain. :-(

I like Rosetta Stone for Italian a lot. They also have Swedish. You can "rent" it online for about $50 a month.

Enzian
Varsogood is one of the most used word in Swedish. It means very things. I'll try some ways it's uses.

-The waiter in a restuarant will bring you to your table. When he leads you to the table, he'll (or she'll)say "Varsogood".

-When the waiter brings your food and he'll say "Varsogood" when the plates are put on the table.

-It can mean "you're welcome" in a response to Tack.

It's very difficult to say exactly when it should be used but you'll hear this many ways and it's very useful.
Varsogood!

Blackduff

Thank you---that is helpful. In Norway, it is used in the same circumstances. It sounds a bit like "There you go", when a waiter puts the plate down. Even Norwegians couldn't explain to me exactly what it means.

Takk!

Varsogood (be-so-good):
Swedish; Var så goda
Norwegian: Vær så god
Var/vær: Be
så: so
god: good/kind
goda: swedish plural form for good/kind

In Norwegian the varsogood always is expressed in singular form, in Swedish in plural. Norwegians would have added an e in plural, i.e gode.
In many ways Swedish is more "solemn" than Norwegian. I guess that's why they use the plural form.

Any way, the expression is used almost whenever you are being served or receive something from another person When you get back your change money or tickets you will hear it. When you are served in a restaurant you will hear it. If you ask someone to reach you pencils, newspapers, whatever, you will hear it.

And the basic meaning of the word is: Kindly accept ....

Bjorn, Oslo

Ah, so varsogood means, essentially, prego.