Swedish-English Internet dictionary. Issued by the Swedish National Agency for Education. Searchable in both languages. Also links to a pictorial dictionary (in Swedish, by categories such as family, clothing, birds, and sports), a Swedish-Finnish dictionary , an English-Estonian dictionary, and a Swedish-Danish-Norwegian dictionary.

Date: Thu, 02 Apr 98 
From: John_Eastlund@odp.tamu.edu

Found an interesting site for all you writers and translators. It has links to lots of dictionaries on the web in many different languages including Swedish. It's at www.public.iastate.edu/~pedro/dictionaries.html [no longer active as of Jan. 26, 2004 kb]

Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 
From: Karrie A. Anderson (karriea@cyberportal.net )
Subject: International Slang Links

This may be inappropriate for some--be forewarned that some of the slang is disgusting and adult in nature.
Others just make fun of, say, Göran Persson ;) http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlang/ht/Swedish.html

Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 
From: Bruce Brolsma brolsma@pronouncement.com

EJONES@DHVX20.CSUDH.EDU wrote:

> Somewhat posted the typing sentence that uses all 26 English characters:
> The quick brown fox..... Well, then someone posted the Swedish
> counterpart. Could somewhat please post it again and put the English
> translation? I sent it to my brother-in-law who is learning to type and
> he couldn't make sense of it.
>
> Thanks, from Evelyn 

Alexander Backlund supplied this equivalent to "The quick brown fox...":

"Flygande bäckasiner söka hwila på mjuka tuvor." I can help you with all but "bäckasiner": "Flying .... try to rest on soft tufts" [of grass].

"Hwila" is an older spelling for the modern word "vila" [to rest]. Bäckasiner eludes all my Swedish dictionaries and the Svenska Akadamiens ordlista. I could guess, but I'd probably be wrong. Alexander, do you know??

Date: 01 Aug 1998 
From: Juergen Stuber juergen@mpi-sb.mpg.de

> I can help you with all but "b_ckasiner":

The word comes from french 'bekassine'. It's a bird, some kind of snipe or stilt (german Schnepfe)
that lives in swamps (so my german encyclopedia says). Very nice sentence indeed.

Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 
From: "Alexander Backlund" <alexander.backlund@mailbox.hogia.net>

>I can help you with all but "bäckasiner":
>
There is an explanation. "Bäckasiner" is an old spelling, too. According to my wordlist, "beckasin" means "snipe". "Söka" is the plural form of "söka". (Nowadays, you would normally write "söker".)

Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 
From: "Alexander Backlund" <alexander.backlund@mailbox.hogia.net>

>Where is the 'q'? It is on swedish keyboards, isn't it?

And there is no "x" and no "z". None of these letters are very common. A modified sentence would perhaps sound something like: "Flygande bäckasiner söka hwila på mjuka tuvor, men Xantippa, som aldrig red på en zebra, hette icke Qvist". Doens't that sound reasonable?:)

Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 
From: Karrie A. Anderson (karriea@cyberportal.net )

For anyone who is just needing to know this information:

qwertyuiopå
asdfghjklöä
zxcvbnm

(what my swedish Mac letter arrangement is;)

Introduction to Swedish© By Urban Sikeborg (Stockholm School of Economics, 1997). Origins of Swedish; introductory conversational lessons with pronouciation guides; interactive dictionary.

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 
From: Bruce Brolsma <brolsma@pronouncement.com

Hej Karin! 
Perhaps a Swede-L-related link to add would be "Where to Learn Swedish. A comprehensive listing of sources around the world, both public and private, where you can learn the Swedish language other than in Scandinavia itself" which is at http://www.pronouncement.com/WhereTo/index.htm [The list is sorted geographically. kb]

Mvh, Bruce

Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 
From: Lynn Steele <lsteele@mit.edu>

At 17:43 1998-07-30 -0600, Don Erickson wrote:
>I think you will find that nothing is going to work as well as taking a course, and even then it won't be quick.

Can I put in my two monetary units here? I taught myself Swedish with the help of books and tapes and -- especially -- of generous native-speaking friends who answered my questions and gave me conversation practice. My only classroom experience consisted of a two-week summer course in Lund, which I found frustrating.

There were simply too many of us in the class, which means too many levels of background and styles of learning. I can imagine things might go better with a smaller, more uniform group, but the organizers of the Lund program did not have the luxury of sorting us into more than two categories: some previous knowledge of Swedish/no previous knowlege of Swedish, and then the
instructor had to try to keep us all satisfied. Mission Impossible.

Incidentally, the text we used was [Nybo:rjarsvenska] with their excellent set of tapes (which I believe I got to listen to all of twice). Highly recommended.

Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 
From: SONIA JOHANSON WALL <swall1@osf1.gmu.edu>

Just pulled out my copy: Nybo:rjarsvenska by Go:ransson and Lindholm. Sonia

Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 
From: John Sheridan (SheridanJS@aol.com)

You might try "Colloquial Swedish" by Philip Holmes and Gunilla Serin published by Rouledge. Costs about $30 but includes two cassette tapes so you can listen to the exercises. I found a copy at Borders. 

As you get up to speed and want to try your luck at reading, you can get to several Swedish newspapers online, e.g. Dagens Nyheter (www.dn.se) or Aftonbladet (www.aftonbladet.se) or Svenska Dagbladet (www.svd.se). If your computer has a sound card you can also listen to Radio Sweden at www.sr.se (you'll have to download Read Audio if you don't have it already).

I'm a musicologist; I first learned Swedish reading scholarly articles in Swedish about music. Sounds like it would be hard, but it's MUCH easier than reading the newspaper, because musical jargon is pretty much the same in all languages and the articles were talking about a subject I know well. If there's a subject you know really well and you can get your hands on stuff in Swedish about your topic, you might find that helpful, too. Or if you can find a Swedish translation of a book you know and love in English, that's also a good way to go.

Lycka till!

Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 
From: Karrie A. Anderson (karriea@cyberportal.net)

Since we are all online, why not try joining swedish newsgroups & chats to complement your books/tapes? I actually have visited and stayed with online friends in Sweden and keep in touch via email, chat & when I can find a good rate, prepaid calling cards. (one company sells one where you can talk for 30 minutes for $10 usd) Then, there is always netphone & radio sverige.

I found that I personally learn much quicker trying to express thoughts & share ideas with people then I have from listening to "Sounds of the Swedish Alphabet". ;) (My sentence structure is weak compared to my vocabulary ,though.)

Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 
From: Gudrun Rawoens <Gudrun.Rawoens@rug.ac.be>

I have been using a number of multimedia-programs within our Swedish lessons, going from cd-roms and diskettes to exercises on the internet (beginner's level to more advanced). You can read about them on our site (URL below, choose Swedish and then multimedia ; unfortunately the site is not finished yet). I am still trying to elaborate the teaching with multimedia materials and would therefore appreciate it if anyone could give me some advice or tips on programs they know or have used themselves.

Vakgroep Scandinavistiek homepage Scandinavistiek : http://www.flwi.ugent.be/scandinavistiek/

Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 
From: Dan Meyer (Halfdan@aol.com)

We seem to have these discussions about learning Swedish language about every 6-8 months...

I started with the Berlitz tape (very basic!), and then tried the Hugo "Swedish in 3 Months" series (outdated), and then finally the "Language 30" tapes (EXCELLENT! - They use basic sentences, but repeat them TWICE so you have time to say the phrase and then hear it correctly AGAIN while it is still fresh! Language 30 gets my recommendation!) Then I got a few Swedish CD's and learned a GOOD CHUNK of my vocabulary from them...

> Another idea to practice would be to get some swedish music. 
> One of my favorites is Cornelis Vreeswijk, a singer/songwriter
> from the sixties and seventies, a little like a swedish George
> Brassens. Some sound samples of his songs are at
> http://www.boxman.com/product.asp?id=43740  [no longer active as of Jan. 26, 2004. Here is the Cornelis Vreeswijk site: http://www.cornelis.nu/index2.html kb]
> (these were the only swedish sound samples I found there, though).

I had some Cornelis Vreeswijk CD's, but my favorites by FAR were Marie Fredriksson's "Efter Stormen" and any of Tomas Ledin's from the past few years - They were easy to listen to, contained common sentences, and were fun to sing along with. I would take the lyrics, write them down in Swedish, and then take out my dictionary and try to translate them all literally into English. Gave me a good workout and was as much fun as decoding some kind of puzzle. Then I memorized the songs (I especially LOVE all of Marie Fredriksson's songs on "Efter Stormen" and "Den Sjunde Vågen") I would recommend these or any others that fit your tastes.

> There are also some swedish books read aloud produced by the
> record company Gammafon (http://www.gammafon.se/). Most are for
> children, e.g. Astrid Lindgren reading her own stories.

I just got the Gospel of Mark in Swedish on cassette - is easy to listen to especially if you are already fairly familiar with the text - but it is a little outdated and I wouldn't want to walk around Stockholm saying "Verily, verily I say unto you..." :)

Our own Swede-L member Bruce Brolsma has some software and a web site that you might want to visit at http://www.pronouncement.com

Date: 01 Aug 1998 
From: Juergen Stuber <juergen@mpi-sb.mpg.de>

Yes, Cornelis could be a little hard on beginners, but his lyrics are very good, humorous and politically incorrect (at least they were incorrect in the sixties), some are deep and meaningful. I once gave a talk on him in our swedish course, so I'm kind of an expert :-).

So while we're at it, I'll do a quick walk through my swedish records:

Cornelis Vreeswijk, "Live" and "Ballader och of_rsk_mdheter" Ok we already had that.
Lena Willemark \& Ale M÷ller "Nordan", "Agram", "H_sten och Tranan", "frifot" These are mostly medievial songs and ballads. Needs to get used to, because the sound is rather dry and somewhat harsh. "Nordan" is my favorite.
Garmarna "Guds Spelem_n" and "Vittrad" The same basic material, medievial ballades, but not so dry and played with more vigour. I'd go for "Guds Spelem_n" first.
Carl Michael Bellman. I have a 2 CD sampler from Musica Svecia. Don't say you don't
know who Bellman is :-)
Eva Dahlgren "Jag vill se min _lskade komma fr_n det vilda" Pop singer backed by a symphony orchestra, quite nice.
Lisa Ekdahl (the first one without title from 1994) Female singer songwriter with rather simple lyrics.
Marie Fredriksson "Den st_ndiga resan" I found this one rather depressing (the lyrics), but if I don't listen too closely it's ok.
filarfolket "1980-1990" This is a sampler of mostly instrumental folk music, but there are some very nicely done childrens songs on it. The original record these childrens songs were taken from ("H÷nsaf÷tter & Guler÷tter") is ordered (very hard to get) and eagerly awaited.
Den Fule "Skalv" & "Lugumleik" "Skalv" is a very strange (and IMHO very good) mixture of folk, jazz and rock music. The topics of the songs circle around the devil. ("den fule", the ugly one, is a synonym for the devil.) "Sk_gget" is perfekt for training your ear on the 'ske'-sound :-). "Lugumleik" is almost completely instrumental.
V_sen "Levande V_sen" Their music is instrumental folk music (nyckelharpa), but on this live recording every song is introduced by a story.
Hoven Droven "hia hia" & "grov" Very nice instrumental mixture of folk and rock music. There are some snippets of old 'spelm_n' introducing some songs, which even I can't understand, and a longer story about a 'spelman' in the north of sweden"P_ spelmansf_rd med Lapp-Nils". "Grov" is instrumental.

Ok, so that's about it. I won't mention Hedningarna, because their swedish lyrics are so bad (the finnish ones seem to be better), and "Svart Kaffe", which are purely instrumental. For learners probably Lisa Ekdahl and Marie Fredriksson are best, then Vreeswijk and Dahlgren. The other ones could be too difficult or too far from todays swedish. On the other hand, you have to
get the music you like, because you want to listen to it often.

> I would take the lyrics, write them down in Swedish, and then 
> take out my dictionary and try to translate them all literally
> into English. Gave me a good workout and was as much fun as
> decoding some kind of puzzle. Then I memorized the songs (I
> especially LOVE all of Marie Fredriksson's songs on "Efter
> Stormen" and "Den Sjunde V_gen") I would recommend these or any
> others that fit your tastes.

Yes, that's a very nice exercise. I used to do that a lot for english to german when I was younger. Lately I also did it for some swedish ones where I couldn't find the lyrics on the net, and for that "Lapp-Nils" story.

Date: Tue, 19 Aug 
From: Karrie A. Anderson <karriea@cyberportal.net >

Ok, so it is not exactly Swedish. ;)

I am interested in studying one of the Sami dialects, preferably one spoken in Sweden. This may be possible to do through my employer (an intl.educational institution) but self-instruction requires that I find a practice partner.

If this was NYC, well, maybe I would feel more lucky....here goes: Any of you know of any person in Southern Vermont area with a background in Sami? Or even a good place to look for other resources?

Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 
From: Spidra Webster <spidra@jps.net>

I don't remember their webpage address ( I think it was under construction), but while at a Norwegian event I saw a table for the Saami Baiki Foundation They publish the North American Sami Journal and provide information about Sami culture. They might be able to steer you in the right direction.

Phone 510-452-0930
Fax 510-834-4264

1714 Franklin St. #311, Oakland, CA 94612

[Here's the link to the journal: http://members.tripod.com/Baiki/index.htm.  kb July 1, 2001]

SameNet: Links "We, Saami are one people, united in our own culture, language and history, living in areas which, since time immemorial and up to historical times, we alone inhabited and utilized" Saami political program 1986 / Saami Council statements. Includes a "introduktionskurs" (introductory course) about all things Saami - though not in English.

Links: the Sami Siida of North America. Many Saami links, even if not all are up to date.

The Saami Parliament (Sametinget) maintains a Web site of Saami information, some of it in English. Additional links in the Länksamling section. 

Sami Parliament Library. Provides lists of Sami literature.