How hard is it to learn Swedish for an English speaker? What are the recommended ways to go about this...

How hard is it to learn Swedish for an English speaker? What are the recommended ways to go about this? Is there an Sup Forums lang chart for Swedish?

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vocaroo.com/i/s1vhHgxZSEln
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-rules
youtube.com/watch?v=KjosGL5YwPw
youtu.be/KxSCrsgTa4c
youtube.com/watch?v=d4BLuuSU2KE
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

Pretty much impossible since the minute the Swede sees you are struggling to speak his language he'll switch to Englush for you.

Fun fact: there are more English speakers (in %) in Sweden than in Canada.

Yeah I know they all speak English, most northern Euros do, to be knowledge. But I want to learn it out of just plain interest. Trying to decide between Swedish and Dutch actually

From the point of non native germanic language speaker, they are practically the same language. Just learn the vocabulary and a few syntax issues that differ from english and consider it done.

this
t. bättre folk

It's extremely easy.

i'm learning norwegian currently and it's pretty easy. in a few months ive gotten to an intermediate level
thats not to say that you won't have to put in effort though - as much as the scandinavian langs are considered "easy languages", they require time and work.
but if youre like me and love the language, it won't even seem like work or study :)

I’m a swedish learner and it’s VERY easy. Probably the easiest language you can choose to learn. Swedes are comfy and gay too which is a plus

Tfw speak both of those languages

Which do you think would be easiest for an English speaker?

what's wrong with you?

Why would something be wrong with me? Swedish is an interesting language

Hvor er mormors pistol?

why not choose Icelandic instead

Its not hard when you learn through rivstart or when you are in Sweden. Swedes are more than happy to help you as they are but I doubt you will use Swedish at all. Unless you participate in their sverigetråden threads.

Use Duolingo they have Swedish and Dutch available. I use it to learn Portuguese, it's okay kinda into it.

Pronunciation is a bit difficult I think, but in terms of grammar you can pretty much just replace the English words with Swedish ones and it will make sense.

The biggest difference is probably compound words and plurals, and most Swedes are already pretty shit at using compound words.

Norwegian is a lot prettier than Swedish.
Swedish is prettier than Dutch, though.

are the coumpound words used in Swedish as often as in German

I think so.

Basically, as I understand it, any word(s) that are part of a thing is compounded. Like: Swedishcompundwordexplainer would be compounded because a Swedish compound word explainer is a singular thing. Or a sexdoll, or Christmasmiracles and so on.

It's easy for me to pronounce. Any Swede user think my pronunciation is shit?
will link voiceroo

Also, to make things a bit complicated, if I wanted say a Swedish person who explains compound words and not a person who explain Swedish compound words it would be:
Swedish compundwordexplainer. Because being Swedish is not part of the compound word explaining title, it's a description of the person.

Where's that link boyo?

I stand correct boys. I got rusty and I can tell.
vocaroo.com/i/s1vhHgxZSEln

Kek. I legit thought you were speaking Spanish at first.

Fact: swedish is the prettiest germanic language.
Fact: danish is the french of germanic languages and sounds very disturbing

please senpai! I'm not always shit. give me a chance!

Nice try

No need to be hurtful there, mate.
I know Denmark isn't pretty, which is why I didn't suggest Danish.
Swedish is prettier than Danish, definitely, but Norwegian is a lot prettier than Swedish.

>I know Denmark isn't pretty
I meant Danish, of course.

>Pekkas coming in to help with swedish learning
#1 emotional moment of 2018 so far.

I like speaking Danish so much I sometimes find myself just talking with a heavy fake-Danish accent out loud in the shower because the guttural sounds are kinda pleasant to speak.

I think for a lot of us Swedes Norwegian kinda just comes off as a really sort of hillbilly sounding accent. Kinda lovely but not really one you can take seriously.

I can't speak neither Swedish nor Norwegian properly, as I just can lock down that rhythmic/melodic way of speaking.

Thank you. I've been working on it,
Nice fin.

Is this some sort of slavic language?
I have no clue what's being said.

Out of curiosity, why do you want to learn it?

In Finnish you can technically make compoundwords from anything but only officially accpeted compound words are written as compound words and if you try to invent new ones you have write the words separate from each other because it isn't an official compound word

example: tietokone (computer)
there is word tieto (knowledge) and kone (machine/non living entity)

if it wasnt yet a official word in Finnish, you would write it as tieto kone

It hurts to admit you're right. My family has received many exchange students and they mostly learn very little swedish because they just speak english at home, and my mom is too kind to try to proposition them to speak swedish. So they basically only learn swedish if their english is too weak to depend on, or if they have a lot of drive to learn. So far only two of them learned swedish to a decent degree, one french guy and one italian girl. The french guy learned because he was an awesome dude in general and had a lot of drive to learn and do stuff. Bless him. The italian girl was forced to learn because her english was godawful and couldn't be relied upon.

Isn't that sort of how English and a lot of languages does it?

Like you write it as keyboard and not key board and so on but if you were to starting inventing your own you would look like a psychopath.

yes I suppose so but do even other languages actually use compound words, except for German, Swedish and its dialects (Norwegian/Danish) and English?

Finnish does this because of influence from Swedish and German I suppose

you don't need to learn swedish to fuck svensk girls, they are easier to pick up than danish girls and i was impressed. you just need to know english.

I think the Russians do it.

>Swedish is prettier than Dutch, though.
Dutch is a butt-ugly language, but my god does its emphasis on vowels (especially in certain city dialects) make it a lovely language for profanity

you also need to look like someone from Middle-East or Caucasus so it was simple for you

Occasionally - yes, but it's much more common to derive new words using suffixes and prefixes.

>vowels
i meant consonants
ffs i need some coffee

Honestly don't have a strong "reason" besides wanting to learn a language and having an interest in Swedish for whatever reason. I like the sound of it. I also like Dutch a lot and like the way it looks written too, kind of looks like gibberish english.
I don't know which to learn but figure I will learn whichever is easiest, I guess

Finnish use of compound words is swedish influence. Doesn't really make learning swedish any more difficult, the words are easy to spot and especially modern compound words are constructed very similarly to finnish ie. containing the same words in usually in same order.

Literally the only sound in Dutch I don't like (and which I think sounds ugly) is the gutteral "g" sound like in "goed". To an english speaker it sounds phlegm-y and gross

>Literally the only sound in Dutch I don't like (and which I think sounds ugly) is the gutteral "g" sound like in "goed". To an english speaker it sounds phlegm-y and gross
that is actually one of my favourites, along with the R and T(especially in a Rotterdam Dialect)
but if you dont like it, just learn dutch with a 40 year old dictionary, teach yourself a soft G and pretend you're flemish

Do Flemish people not pronounce the "g" as harshly?

this is correct, I have been in Belgium

generally speaking, anyone south of the rivers (Flanders and Noord-Brabant/Limburg) have a softer G, which is a real easy way to distinguish
i'd compare it to the way the germans pronounce their 'ch' but there's probably a more capable linguist around to explain it

Swedish isn't any more diffuclt than Danish or Norwegian.
German is waaaaaay more difficult grammar wise, it would take you 6 months TOPS to fully understand the language if you are a native english speaker.

But I prefer German vocabulary over Swedish one

Swedish grammar is easy though

German is also a pretty ugly language desu. I don't just mean the stereotype of it sounding harsh but also in it's written form. Dutch looks "soft" when written and German looks harsh, if that makes any sense at all.

" Am Anfang schuf Gott Himmel und Erde. 2 Und die Erde war wüst und leer, und es war finster auf der Tiefe; und der Geist Gottes schwebte auf dem Wasser. 3 Und Gott sprach: Es werde Licht! und es ward Licht."

VS

"1 In den beginne schiep God den hemel en de aarde. 2 De aarde nu was woest en ledig, en duisternis was op den afgrond; en de Geest Gods zweefde op de wateren. 3 En God zeide: Daar zij licht! en daar werd licht. "

I think it's the way they use their vowels or something that gives it a softer appearance. Idk

>Dutch looks "soft" when written and German looks harsh, if that makes any sense at all.
i see what you're getting at, but imo spoken German by ordinary people is actually 'softer' than the way most Dutch people speak
in those 3 verses you posted, the dutch version has 9 of those guttural 'g's you dislike
German tends to look harsher because of the capitalisation of its nouns and the frequent use of the umlaut, but dutch is harsher in its pronunciation of certain letters, most notably the G(and CH), T and R

This might seem like a weird question but is the Statenvertaling (SVV) written in "modern Dutch"? Is it useful at all for learning the language?

"1. I begynnelsen skapade Gud himmel och jord.
2. Och jorden var öde och tom, och mörker var över djupet, och Guds
Ande svävade över vattnet.
3. Och Gud sade: Varde ljus; och det vart ljus."

if you want to compare with the swedish version

The reason I ask this is because one of the things I've been doing is going through and trying to translate Genesis from Dutch to English and looking up the words I don't know. It's been useful vocab wise but the grammar, idk. The verse "En God noemde het licht dag, en de duisternis noemde Hij nacht" would be in English something like "And God named the light day and the darkness named he night" but Idk if that's old fashioned grammar or if "and the darkness named he night" would be proper in modern Dutch too

It amazes me how similar the Germanic languages really are in a lot of respects.
Also, is it true that the Church of Sweden enforces gender neutral pronouns to refer to God?

Study modern texts instead. Some of the bible editions are really old and parts can be tricky to understand even for natives. At least that's the case with finnish.

i'm not a 100% up to scratch with dutch bible translations, but the Statenvertaling, even if it has been modernized over the 4 centuries that its old, is superceded by at least two major translations(that is to say, translated from the source languages like greek and hebrew)
if you are gonna use the bible to learn a language, id suggest the NBV(2004) or the BGT(2014), the latter being 'de bijbel in gewone taal' (the bible in the common language), which is a far less static and more everyday translation
i personally dislike it because i actually like the slightly archaic language of the older translations

Comparison:
SSV:
>In den beginne schiep God den hemel en de aarde. De aarde nu was woest en ledig, en duisternis was op den afgrond; en de Geest Gods zweefde op de wateren. En God zeide: Daar zij licht! en daar werd licht.

NBG 51:
>In den beginne schiep God de hemel en de aarde. De aarde nu was woest en ledig, en duisternis lag op de vloed, en de Geest Gods zweefde over de wateren.
En God zeide: Er zij licht; en er was licht.

NBV(2004):
>In het begin schiep God de hemel en de aarde. De aarde was nog woest en doods, en duisternis lag over de oervloed, maar Gods geest zweefde over het water. God zei: ‘Er moet licht komen,’ en er was licht.

BGT(2014):
>In het begin maakte God de hemel en de aarde. De aarde was leeg en verlaten. Overal was water, en alles was donker. En er waaide een hevige wind over het water. Toen zei God: ‘Er moet licht komen.’ En er kwam licht.

>It amazes me how similar the Germanic languages really are in a lot of respects.
i can read some swedish labels etc without having any knowledge of the language, just because i recognize certain words in their contexts
German is actually kinda tricky in this case, as some German words can be found written exactly the same in Dutch, but mean different things

One of the reasons I'm enjoying starting to learn Dutch is because for the first time ever I'm finding myself actually making progress with learning a language. In the past when I tried to learn a language I'd get disheartened with how slow the progress is. I know it probably makes me sound lazy but Dutch being somewhat easy to learn for an English speaker is giving me the drive to actually continue with it. There's whole sentences I can basically figure out without needing to look up words and when I do find myself looking up words I find it fun and informative instead of frustrating

>oioioi
Där spårade det ur

To learn swedish you need to lörn the way of the bork!

>The verse "En God noemde het licht dag, en de duisternis noemde Hij nacht" would be in English something like "And God named the light day and the darkness named he night" but Idk if that's old fashioned grammar or if "and the darkness named he night" would be proper in modern Dutch too
Dutch differs in the way we order our words, there is apparently a set structure but i wouldnt be able to tell you.
>En God noemde het licht dag, en de duisternis noemde Hij nacht.
this is actually a proper dutch sentence, but if you would want to ´anglicise´ it id suggest:
>En God noemde het licht dag, en Hij noemde de duisternis nacht.
nothing in the meaning of the sentence has changed, and it;s still a proper dutch sentence but made easier to translate into english.

i'm not aware of older(dropped) dutch grammar rules that would change the word order in sentences

pretty neat, but i wouldnt get to excited if you want to master written dutch as well
>Dutch verbs and how to properly apply them....
but maybe im just an idiot, but this shit still gets me
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-rules

Trying to read something in Swedish out loud and I always really exaggerate the accent in such a way that I sound like the Swedish Chef from the muppets or something.

swedish is like singing in a very strange way.
norway is like singing with a pitch.
Dennish is like singing with food in you mouth

Kawaii!

Watch some Swedish shows with English subtitles and I’ll guarantee you, your pronunciation will get better.

malmö kanalen på radio Då har vi någon med oss är det gunhild?
>jaaa de ää det, jao ska helsa till otta stycken...
>kan du hjälpa miiig ååå räkna?

youtube.com/watch?v=KjosGL5YwPw

Zondag met Lubach is what I've been watching due largely to it being easy to find online with English subtitles. Seems like a Dutch version of "The Daily Show" or something.

I’m learning Danish (essentially the same language as Swedish) and it was super easy at first - all you had to do was replace English words with Danish words as the grammars are practically identical, with some anomalies here and there. But if you *always* do direct translations then you’re gonna sound as foreign as they come.

As a simple example, I wanted to know what “interaction” is in Danish. There are a couple words - “interaktion”, “samvirke”, “vekselvirkning” - but none of these are actually used. They just use the expression “at omgås med” (“to interact with”) instead.

It seems like there’s just a list of Danish expressions not covered by English to Danish dictionaries and the only way to know them is to talk to natives. This goes for language learning in general actually. However the list is finite but which means it’s possible to become proficient at it.

>Seems like a Dutch version of "The Daily Show" or something.
thats exactly what it is, albeit with a higher level of journalism and some actual news/research thrown into the mix instead the usual 'hahah Trump is so silly lmao'

youtu.be/KxSCrsgTa4c
>??

It's actually quite funny. I'm definitely on the more right side of the spectrum and like it's American cousins Zondag met Lubach seems to be a leftist show but I am really enjoying the humour and the host, who I can only assume is "Lubach"

>scanians being allowed to slaughter our language
TAKE SKÅNE BACK DENMARK

yeah Arjen Lubach is definitely your stereotypical progressive leftie, but unlike most people with similar opinions he actually has some backing facts etc
i just wish there was a similar show with a more right-wing approach(the traditional right, not the hurr hurr mudslimes hurr hurr alt-'right')
but that will probably never be as it would be easy to label such a show as elitist or whatever and thus never be show on the public network(which ZML is)

trellebork!

>disgusting foreigners wanting to learn the languages of the chosen peoples
i feel sick

Have politics become as polarized in the Netherlands as they have in North America? Like to the point that anyone left of centre is viewed as some commie who wants to take muh freedums by the right and anyone right of centre is seen as a Nazi who wants to kill all the Jews and Muslims blah blah blah?

Here it feels like the younger generation is increasingly paranoid about "the other side" politically. This sucks for me because I'm a pretty moderate centre-right conservative who just happens to also be very Christian in belief. But that puts a label on you now, it seems. Especially here in Toronto.

>Have politics become as polarized in the Netherlands as they have in North America?
definitely not.
the fact that our current government consists of 4 parties with relatively different backgrounds should be an indicator, or the fact that there are 13 different parties in the Tweede Kamer of a total of 28 that were eligible for election
there's only one real exception from this rule, being Geert Wilder's Partij voor de Vrijheid(Freedom Party) which is openly against 'the dictations of Brussels' and 'islamification' and is usually labeled as xenophobic and populist
between the 13 parties that are actually represented there is a large spectrum ranging from conservative christian to animal rights/environmentally focused parties, but the majority is more conventional, being with in the tradional ranges of left/right and conservative/progressive

GAGAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH

So Noordholländer have an G like "Bach" and Southener/Belgie like "Ich"?

kinda, easiest way to differentiate is that those in Noord-Brabant, Limburg and Belgium use it like ; ich', those in the other dutch provinces dont, with some exceptions in southern Zeeland

i'd actually say that a proper dutch G would be harder than the one in Bach, maybe not as protracted, but harsher

half a million Finnish kids are trying not to learn it in school and still do.
so it's pretty easy.

I thought I understand swedish pretty well. What the fuck, I didn't get a single word from that:D

>t. st*ckholmoid

thats barely swedish

Dude I learned it when I was 2, literally git gud

If you want some good, clear Swedish lyrics I recommend Cornelis Vreeswijk.
youtube.com/watch?v=d4BLuuSU2KE
Funny thing is he was born Dutch.