Sunrise...Sunset
In September, there are ~ 4 1/2 minutes less sun per day
in Malmo (as opposed to changes of around 1-2 minutes /day during
June). That might not sound like any big deal, but that means that in one week,
there is ~ 30 minute difference in the amount of daylight hours than the week before! Yikes! It
never occurred to me that there would not be a consistent change. It is kind of
bazaar. But interesting...
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Ahh the difference a dot makes…
First let me tell my American friends and family that the Swedish alphabet has three additional letters. These letters are found, in the order listed below, at the end of the Swedish alphabet.
Å : sounds ~ long O with a short A sound at the end
Ä : sounds ~ short A with a slight short E at the end
Ö : sounds ~ short U followed by a slight R sound.
Or at least that is the way they sound to my ear.
On the keyboard, these letters are secretly hidden within the “{[“ key, the “:;” key and the “ ”’ ” key toward the right-hand side of the keyboard.
This afternoon I was translating sentences to try to learn Swedish words.
The sentence I meant to translate was:
“Vad är det för kött?”
According to the website I was using, this translates into:
“What is the meat in this dish?”
No problem.
But when I was translating it via Google Translate (which is my new best friend) I inadvertently replaced the “ä” with “å”.
So instead the sentence, “Vad år det för kött?” read,
“What year it is for meat?”
I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like I am suggesting that the meat I was served is years old. Not good.
Interestingly, when I translated the sentence via Google Translate, using the correct spelling of “är”, it came out to “What’s the beef?”
Two additional notes on the language, and it’s people:
* According to a quick Internet check, the Oxford English dictionary has ~ 171, 500 entries with full definitions. Swedish has more in the neighborhood of 41,000 words. One website described it as a more concise language having few words. That works for me!
* In Sweden everyone is considered equal. Not just “kinda”. It is a big deal here. Thus, in the 1960’s – 1970’s, titles of Mr., Mrs., etc. were pretty much made obsolete. Everyone is simply referred to by name. So if you meet the Prime Minister, feel free to call him Fredrik. There is an exception to this rule. Royalty. …What is it about royalty?....
First let me tell my American friends and family that the Swedish alphabet has three additional letters. These letters are found, in the order listed below, at the end of the Swedish alphabet.
Å : sounds ~ long O with a short A sound at the end
Ä : sounds ~ short A with a slight short E at the end
Ö : sounds ~ short U followed by a slight R sound.
Or at least that is the way they sound to my ear.
On the keyboard, these letters are secretly hidden within the “{[“ key, the “:;” key and the “ ”’ ” key toward the right-hand side of the keyboard.
This afternoon I was translating sentences to try to learn Swedish words.
The sentence I meant to translate was:
“Vad är det för kött?”
According to the website I was using, this translates into:
“What is the meat in this dish?”
No problem.
But when I was translating it via Google Translate (which is my new best friend) I inadvertently replaced the “ä” with “å”.
So instead the sentence, “Vad år det för kött?” read,
“What year it is for meat?”
I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like I am suggesting that the meat I was served is years old. Not good.
Interestingly, when I translated the sentence via Google Translate, using the correct spelling of “är”, it came out to “What’s the beef?”
Two additional notes on the language, and it’s people:
* According to a quick Internet check, the Oxford English dictionary has ~ 171, 500 entries with full definitions. Swedish has more in the neighborhood of 41,000 words. One website described it as a more concise language having few words. That works for me!
* In Sweden everyone is considered equal. Not just “kinda”. It is a big deal here. Thus, in the 1960’s – 1970’s, titles of Mr., Mrs., etc. were pretty much made obsolete. Everyone is simply referred to by name. So if you meet the Prime Minister, feel free to call him Fredrik. There is an exception to this rule. Royalty. …What is it about royalty?....
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Hi all - I should have written this a few weeks ago - I am on vacation in the States and am therefore not writing right now. But I promise to start up again in the next few weeks. So please check back!!! Happy (almost) Autumn!
In the meantime - I leave you the following photo. I do not think translation is necessary. : )
In the meantime - I leave you the following photo. I do not think translation is necessary. : )
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