the swedish

the learning of the swedish drags on. i'm willing to accept that maybe sometimes it takes a while for a language to reveal itself but so far, swedish is taking the biscuit. i have, for example, yet to find a word that just sounds better in swedish* than anything else and that's before the bewildering number of words that have just been adopted straight from english, or german or even a bit of french. but that's the swedes for you - get a word, put att in front of it and an a on the end and hey presto a whole new verb! and that's before the you see them using their famous economy. why have two words when you can have one - just add a diacritic. then, just when you think you're getting it, welcome to the world of dialect. ost you say? no, oost. oost, no, ost? no, oost, you're in gotland now son.

or just speak english. mostly i thought all the english speaking was due to the export of all that uk daytime tv, a daily diet of midsummer murders and general swedish politeness. but perhaps not.



*i should point out that while i may not have discovered a swedish word that encompasses a thing better than any other but i do love the vowel sounds. the best bit of flying is being in the queue at the airport, hearing the sounds, right before realising i can't understand then! (hint - internet radio is your friend!)