Hej allihopa! Och välkommen tillbaka! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year, and have entered 2013 feel refreshed, revitalised and (hopefully!) with a resolution to learn some more Swedish! To ease back into January I thought it could be interesting to look at some Swedish stereotypes and phrases associated with them, as it was not until I returned home for Christmas that I realised just how well some of these stereotypes really fit reality (although not always, of course!).
So, what springs to mind when we think about our stereotypes of Swedish people? Tall, blonde, beautiful? This for the most part does actually seem to be pretty true – but then, I barely scrape a height of 5´3 (159cm in Euro-measures), so everyone seems tall to me (although I do have a couple of friends who I am pretty sure are at least twice my height). One of my flatmates taught me the phrase “en Svensson familj”, meaning a really stereotypical Swedish family, generally used to describe the family with the blonde kids, nice house, probably a summer cabin out in the countryside, and a Volvo. In fact, much the same stereotype as we seem to imagine! And the wee blonde children, sitting in their dagis (preschool), they are referred to as lintottar (lit. “flax tufts” because of the way their blonde hair resembles the fields of flax one finds around the Swedish countryside).
Another great Swedish stalwart is, of course, IKEA. And, with my best friend newly arrived in Uppsala from Scotland, where better to pay a visit to on a biogas bus through the snow! After stocking up on ljus (here, “candles”; but also “light”; the noun and adjective), and full of köttbullar, potatismos och lingonsylt (meatballs, mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam), we could return home safe in the knowledge that Sweden really is just as “Swedish” as we felt it should be; cold (it was a balmy -2 today), environmentally-friendly, with IKEA furniture for all and impossibly tall people kindly helping me to reach things on high shelves, responding to my thanks with a shy, “ingen fara” (“no worries). Until next week,hej då!
Buongiorno a tutti and welcome back to On Location Italian. After having a great Christmas and New Year at home with all the family, I am ready to jump straight back into my life as an Erasmus student in Verona. Unfortunately my first week back was consumed by exams. Once they were done and dusted, however, I had some free time to explore some more of the beautiful cities surrounding Verona. First stop, Vicenza. I was fortunate enough to have a friend from this elegant city. He pointed out the work of Andrea Palladio and his style of architecture known as Palladian, often characterised by the use of pillars, which was influenced by the formal classical styles of the temples of ancient Greece and Rome and which has had an influence on architecture in many other countries.
¡Hola a todos! It’s Iain here from Salamanca, and it gives me great pleasure to welcome you back to On Location Spanish to follow my second term here on Erasmus exchange in Spain.
Thanks Mark, und herzlich Willkommen! My name is Thomas – or in German, mein Name ist Thomas. You see, German is very easy! I come from the south of Germany, from a town in Bavaria called Kempten. As Mark already explained, in Coffee Break German we’re going to cover a range of topics, so, for example, you’ll be learning to order drinks in a café, check into a hotel, ask for directions and talk about yourself so you can make friends with native speakers. The most important thing is – am wichtigsten ist – that you should not think of Coffee Break German as simply a phrase book. Yes, you’ll be learning useful words and phrases, but we will talk about these words and phrases in each lesson and you will develop an understanding of the language and how it works. This way you’ll know what you need to say – and when you need to say it. I’m looking forward to helping you with your German in our weekly lessons together.
Hallo! Ich bin die Kirsten. My name is Kirsten and I’m the Coffee Break German Grammar Guru. I have to say, I’m a total grammar geek and I’m really looking forward to helping you get to grips with your German. Let’s imagine a language is like the human body. Grammar is like the skeleton – it’s what holds everything together, and without it, it would all just fall apart. Some people are a little bit scared of grammar: they think it’s just about learning lots of rules, but I like to think of these rules as patterns, and the more you get to know German, the more you’ll begin to recognise these patterns. You’re not going to have to spend ages going through these complicated grammar books. As Coffee Break German Grammar Guru, it’s my job to simplify everything for you and in each lesson I’ll be helping you get to grips with the particular patterns covered in that lesson. If you tune into my Grammar Guru sections, you’ll start to build up a really solid foundation for your German and all of these patterns will become second nature to you. I’m really looking forward to helping you with your German!
Hallo alle zusammen! Ich heisse Julia – my name is Julia, and it’s my job to bring you some cultural insights into the German-speaking parts of the world. In each episode I’ll spend just a couple of minutes explaining an aspect of culture: the traditions we have, the food we eat, some words we use, and some of the strange, little things that make us German speakers so lovable! I’m looking forward to joining you every week and I hope that you enjoy my Cultural Correspondent segments.
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