Simple Svenska!

I’m definitely not an expert, I might not be qualified to give lessons but hopefully I can explain the basics in a way that makes sense to English speakers.

When I first began, I was overwhelmed by how the letters looked. Here is a passage of Swedish:

“Sitter med en kaffe och kom precis in från en morgonpromenad…Det regnade snöslask på mig! Uhh! Kan nog inte beskriva hur glad jag är att jag har min resa bokad och idag är det exakt en månad kvar tills jag åker!”

I know what you you’re thinking… what the heck does that say!

The only thing that is different about that than the English alphabet is that they have 3 extra letters:

1) å       (pronounced “Ohhaa” but keep your lips rounded when you say it)

2) ä      (pronounced like “eeh” as in bed)

3) ö     (pronounced like “urr”)

Next, another main thing that is different from English is that all the J’s sound like English Y’s. And the Y sounds like Y so an English J sound doesn’t exist.

For example, the name Johan is  pronounced Yohan.

SO, FOR THE BASICS: (just skim.. I will explain more after this)

God morgon Good Morning	Hej / Goddag Hello / Good Day
God kväll  Good Evening	God natt Good Night
Hej då / Adjö (more formal) Goodbye	Snälla Please
Tack (så mycket) Thank you (very much)	Ingen orsak / Varsågod Don’t mention it / You’re welcome
Ja / Nej Yes / No	Herr / Fru / Fröken Mister / Misses / Miss
Hur är det? / Hur har du det? How are you?	Hur mår du? How are you? (How are you feeling?)
Bra Good / Fine	Inte så bra. Not so good
Vad heter du? What’s your name?	Jag heter… I am called…
Mitt namn är… My name is…	Trevligt att träffas! Pleased to meet you!
Välkommen! Welcome!	Jag förstår. I understand.
Varifrån kommer du? Where are you from?	Jag kommer från… I’m from…
Var bor du? Where do you live?	Jag bor i… I live in…
Hur gammal är du? How old are you?	Jag är ___ år (gammal). I am ____ years old.
Talar du svenska? Do you speak Swedish?	Jag talar [inte] engelska. I [don't] speak English.
Ja, lite grann. Yes, a little bit.	Nej, inte alls. No, not at all.
Jag förstår [inte.] I [don't] understand.	Jag vet [inte.] I [don't] know.
Ursäkta / Förlåt Excuse me / Pardon me	Ha det så bra! Take care!
Vi ses senare / snart See you later / soon	Hej / Hej då Hi / Bye
Jag älskar dig. I love you.	Jag saknar dig. I miss you.

 

Hello  -    Hej (sounds just like hey)
How are you  -   Hur mår du?
(*Hur means how, du means you, BUT mår doesn’t mean are, it’s just this specific context where it basically means ‘feel’ )
Good  -  Bra
Welcome  -  Valkömmen  (A step further till means to, so… “Valkömmen till Kanada”)
Thank you  -  Tack
Thanks so much – Tack så mycket ( så = so (soa) , mycket = much)
Yes  -   Ja (Yaw)
No   –   Nej  (Nay)
Help  -  Hjälp  (Hyelp)
I   –   Jag  (Yawg)
My name is  -   Jag heter ________ ( heter is like “called” which sounds strange in English but is most common in Sweden to introduce yourself as)
My name is - Mitt namn är  ________
I am good, thanks   –   Jag mår bra, tack (yawg moor bra, tack)

*the letter “i” alone means in. So if I want to say… ” I am in Canada” it is – Jag är i Canada. Or, jag är i mitt hus ( I am in my house… okay maybe a bit too much) sounds like (yawg ar ee mitt hoos)

So let’s review. If you want to say: ”Hey, how are you? I am good, thanks.”  - Hej, hur mår du? Jag mår bra, tack”

EASY. ( watch the video to reinforce what I said..ignore what she says about birthdate! She doesn’t explain it very well)

Okay now moving into you, we, she, he etc….

I – Jag
You – Du  (do)
He – Han
She – Hon   (huugh-n)
We – Vi  (Vee)
They – Dom

In English we say, ‘He IS’ or ‘I AM’ or ‘You ARE’. Those words (is, am, are) are all the same in Swedish. They just use är for present tense.

I am = Jag är
You are = Du är
He is = Han är
She is = Hon är

etc.

Now some verbs that might be useful are :

Tired –  Trött   (think trodden path or something)
Hungry – Hungrig  (Hungyary)
Happy – Glad
Thirsty – Törstig (think of when you were a kid and said I’m tursty haha, but this is  ’torsty’)
Weird – Konstig

SO…..

You are happy   = Du är glad
Are you happy?  = är du glad?
I am tired = Jag är trött

Easy? Yes. Very good. Now to end this I will put a list of words that are very similar to English, to prove that this language is not so difficult!

ägg — egg
hjärta — heart
måste – must (sounds like musta)
avokado — avocado
basketboll — basketball
stol — chair (like a stool)
bord — table
familj — family
kamera — camera
komma — come
musik — music
snö — snow
romantiskt — romantic
telefon — telephone
kan — can
kaffe — coffee
promenad — walk
precis — precisely (In English we hardly ever say this, but its very common in Swedish to say ‘ja, precis’ like ya precisely after everything haha)
absolut — absolutely
sitter — sitting
exakt — exactly

Three important words that are not similar to English but very important to know are..

MEN = but

MED = with

OCH = and 

Those never change I don’t think and are important to use if you want to structure sentences. 

men, med, och *remember those*

Finally, here is a sentence: ( see if you can guess what it means)

Hej! Kan du hjälpa mig? Jag måste gå till skolan, men jag kan inte – Jag är så trött.

(hey! Can you help me? I must go to school, but I can not – I am so tired.)

AND

if you found that easy, the next step is learning how to say “not”, which is inte

so: du är inte så bra.  ( you are not so good)
hon är inte glad.
du är inte trott.

Great job!

(Bra jobb)

PS. If you read this whole thing…. scroll back up to the top and read that first Swedish paragraph that was so confusing. The first bit “Sitter med en kaffe och..” = Sitting with a coffee and….  

Carman, Manitoba

 

Magical Thinking

Evil in World Religion, a course at the University of Manitoba was by far the most interesting course I’ve ever taken. I often think about questions it raised, and can apply what I learnt to many other aspects in my life.

Tonight, I set out to write a positive blog about my day – not a word came out, so I will write what I feel like discussing, magical thinking. Before I define it, ask yourself these questions:

• Could you wear a killer’s cardigan?
• Why are houses where violent crimes are committed destroyed?
• What makes your special collector items so special?
• How would you feel if your friend ripped up a picture of your mother?
• “I was just thinking the same thing!”
• Why do your lovers germs seem less gross than a strangers?
• Do you own something “lucky?”
• Can you tell when someone behind you is looking at you?
• Why does a drop of sewage do more to a bucket of clean water than a drop of clean water to a bucket of sewage?

Magical thinking is a human behaviour which can be detrimental in putting our minds at ease, yet is an area of study that remains to be poorly understood. Magical thinking is a rudimentary part of our existence, as it provides the justifications that help formulate beliefs and feelings. It influences many aspects of life, including: hygiene, basic differentiation between “good” and “evil”, purification rituals, and even petty day to day inclinations (such as who we choose to associate with; what we eat). We look for patterns as most people hate surprises, and need to feel in control.

Here are some interesting points taken from “Magical Thinking” by Matthew Hutson in Pyschology Today.

• A wedding ring or a childhood blanket could be replaced by identical or near-identical ones, but those impostors just wouldn’t be the same.

• Paul Rozin at the University of Pennsylvania and Nemeroff contend that magical contagion may emerge from our evolved fear of germs, which, like essences, are invisible, easily transmissible, and have far-reaching consequences. Nemeroff found that people draw the germs of their lovers as less scary-looking than those of enemies, and they say those germs would make them less ill. She also found that undergrads base condom usage on how emotionally safe they feel with a partner more than on objective risk factors for catching STDs.

• Just as thoughts and objects have power, so do names. Language’s ability to dredge up associations acts as a spell over us. After watching sugar being poured into two glasses of water and then personally affixing a “sugar” label to one and a “poison” label to the other, people much prefer to drink from the “sugar” glass and will even shy away from one they label “not poison.”

• Even if things are beyond our control, they happen for a reason. The idea of arbitrary pain and suffering is just too much for many people to bear, and the need for moral order may help explain the popularity of religion; in fact, just-worlders are more religious than others. Faith in cosmic jurisprudence starts early. Harvard psychologists showed that kids ages 5 to 7 like a child who found $5 on the sidewalk more than one whose soccer game got rained out.

Religion aside,  I decided to post this since understanding people is an important component of communication, and even the most irrational of thoughts are important to try and understand.  Could tailoring certain messages used in public relations or advertising work towards magical thought?

Magical thinking is an area of cognitive process that generally does not make sense in terms of contemporary science and stems from principles of similarity and contagion.  The law of contagion is woven into unconscious thought, and involves the implications of who and what we merge with.  It is believed that contact with negative things (e.g., disease, insects, rotting matter) is physically and morally debasing to ones self.

The key element of this law that must be understood, is the belief that everything has an essence or “mana”.  This essence can be transferred through physical contact, the most intimate form being ingestion. The law of similarity is the idea that ‘like produces like’ and rests on the premise that things which resemble another on a superficial level, may also share deeper properties.

For example the use of voodoo dolls, and having a strong preference toward holding a rubber sink stopper in your mouth opposed to a piece of fake vomit. Moreover, these principles provide people with unconscious rationale that results in non sensical behaviour.

Death pollution is described by the Cantonese as “killing airs”, an invisible cloud which they believe emanates from the corpse and contaminates everyone within the vicinity of the body. It must be noted that killing airs come primarily from the flesh of a corpse, rather than the bones. This is because the flesh contains yin essence (same found in women) and bones are comprised of the yang essence (consequently found in males). This can be explained using magical thinking, as the Cantonese feel flesh and bones contain essence that has the capacity to be transmitted through contact. 

 This notion has developed from the fear of death, and gives the funeral a goal of keeping everyone safe from its grip.  Villagers claim that they keep cloves of garlic in their mouths to disguise the smell of death that clings to them. This is contagion at work since the villagers consider the corpse handlers to be of impure mana, and fear their death contaminated souls may pollute them.

Furthermore, magical thinking is undoubtably all around us.  Although the familiar hocus-pocus association with magic is highly recognized, the human behaviours that occurs through magical comfort is what should be taken into account. It seems to work more often than not, and is not something to be afraid of, but requires understanding. It is important to be aware of these thought processes, and by aiming to consciously reduce our untraceable disdain towards something unfamiliar, having an open mind may make the world a more unified place.

Sources for content:

MacKendrick, Kenneth. “Evil in World Religions, Lecture Notes.” University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, September 15, 2011.

Nemeroff, Carol and Paul Rozin. “The Marking of the Magical Mind: The Nature and Function of Sympathetic Magical Thinking.” In Imagining the Impossible: Magical, Scientific, and Religious Thinking in Children. Edited by Karl S. Rosengren, Carl N. Johnson, and Paul L. Harris, 1-34. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Watson, James L. “Funeral Specialists in Cantonese Society: Pollution, Performance, and Social Hierarchy.” In Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China. Edited by James L. Watson and Evelyn S. Rawski, 109-134. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

Rookie Magazine

 

I was watching Jimmy Fallon the other day when the editor of Rookie Magazine was being interviewed. She is fifteen years old. I hadn’t heard of it prior to the show, and decided to take a look and see what it was all about. Verdict = very creative stuff. It has a happy, 70′s feel to it and a variety of cute, attention grabbing articles.

Website: http://www.rookiemag.com. (Photos from site)

Tips for Copywriters

http://vimeo.com/54761166

This video is from Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm, and has Mark Du Bois talking a bit about writing copy and how to create a viral video. Obviously, you can’t teach that but he makes interesting points (draws comparisons to the viral nature of the bible, Shakespeare, impacts little details can make and does an interesting exercise where viewers are asked to write as many things in the world they know that are white, and things in the fridge that are white – the number was very similar, proving people are more familiar with things they see often etc.)

Potential Google Ad Campaign?

5 Ideas for AdWords

From Audrey Neale’s mind
Film, travel, perspective
Go there today!
www.audreyneale.wordpress.com

Enter another mind…
Read Audrey’s articles
Cultured, curious & current
www.audreyneale.wordpress.com

Daydreaming through life
Get insight on film and travel
All about Audrey – NOT Hepburn
www.audreyneale.wordpress.com

Want to examine life?
A look at film, travel and fashion
Through a young girl’s eye
www.audreyneale.wordpress.com

Recommending places and faces
Quotes, pics & videos
By Audrey, that blonde girl
www.audreyneale.wordpress.com

Keywords:

1.         Narcissism and social media

2.         Film recommendations

3.         Winnipeg blog

4.         Living Abroad

5.         Canadian Girl

6.         American Pyscho lovers

7.         Movie Quotes

8.         Swedish Fashion

A Thousand Farewells

A Thousand Farewells by Nahlah Ayed is an interesting book that depicts her time spent growing up in a refugee camp, and later years as a reporter in the Middle East.

Ayed was born in Winnipeg, and moved to Amman, Jordan when she was six as her parents feared their children were losing touch with their culture.

Nahlah vividly describes the culture shock and unfamiliar social customs that she was forced into while in Jordan. I found the book to be absorbing, and with subject matter that is quite complex (don’t ask me the difference between Sunni and Shias), Ayed wrote clearly and made difficult concepts easy to understand.

I appreciated her insights, and thought her voice was honest and credible. She does not appear to have any intentions to glamourize the Middle East or make it seem “scary” or inferior to Canada. It is a unique place, and you feel as if you are in her shoes while you read the book.

I enjoyed reading about her life, and liked how she used a lot of Arabic words in italics. I’m curious about languages and thought it was a nice touch. I also was shocked at some of the hardships she endured like living in a bug infested home and being brutally beaten by a policeman while in Iraq.

As far as criticisms go, I think that Ayed could have been a bit more brief in certain chapters. Specifically when she was talking about her time in Lebanon, some parts seem to drag on and felt unnecessary.

She narrates the book, but the majority of it is just her take on everything – it would be nice to include more quotes from other people so you could get out of her head a little bit. Although, this is a personal preference.

I think Ayed is missing context about what is happening in her personal life. I would like to know how her intense career affects her personally. For example, does she have plans to marry and have kids one day? It is clear that her career is very important to her, but I would like to know specifically who she is as an individual and what she does in her life outside of work.

Journalists should admire her bravery as she put herself in a lot of difficult situations that many would not feel comfortable being in. She was not afraid to be in the midst of terror, and looked at what she did as an opportunity to bear witness and share peoples stories. As she states, “people are the story, always.” Journalists need to remember that and always remain compassionate when they are reporting.

I recently saw the film Argo, and although it is debatable how close to the truth it really is – I think it captures the often tense atmosphere of the Middle East, in this case being Iran. That movie showed how strong willed the people are, and how closely monitored everything is. It definitely has a very different vibe from the west, and although I appreciate all cultures some scenes really scared me and I don’t think I want to go there anytime soon.

I happen to be particularly curious about the Middle East, specifically Lebanon as I met a lot of nice people from there while I was in Montreal. I would go to sheesha bars with them, they taught me basic Arabic phrases and they gushed about their country – wishing they were back home. It sounded like a fairly modern place the way they described it (more free and women were treated well) the main drawback was the lack of rules and social order, in their opinion. Maybe one day I’ll go to Beirut..

Reading this book was an interesting experience, being from Winnipeg I could relate to everything she experienced before moving to Amman, and then the sudden shock of leaving was pretty devastating to read. Although they don’t live as “luxuriously” as we do, they hold family and honour dear – which in theory, is a good thing. Although honour killings take that concept to a horrendous level.

The main effect this book had on me, is to not be ignorant and remember that everyone over there is a person with a mind and life as well. That sounds silly, but it is easy for people not to take the time to relate to what they’re going through and truly think about how awful certain things they experience are.

I feel more knowledgable about the crises and lifestyle in the Middle East after reading this book, and also appreciate journalists more and what they go through.

Quotes

 

What Kind of Bird Are You?

Moonrise Kingdom is such a beautiful movie. Highly recommend it.

Serbians

Photo from: http://www.julia.blogg.se

A real life example of love at first sight? As far as I know, it’s a true story. The Serbian beauty Ana Kraš married Devendra Banhart and now live together in L.A.

The two are equally interesting. I can’t stop looking at her photography. I can’t stop listening to his music.

Her websites:

1) http://www.anakras.com/design/bonbon/

2)http://www.ikebana-albums.com/main.php

3) http://pingpongggg.tumblr.com

Photo from: http://preetandpoor.wordpress.com

Banhart is an unreal musician. He has different, catchy songs.

(He also dated Natalie Portman a few years ago who stars in his video Carmensita.)

Good Songs:

1) Feel Just Like A Child

2) Santa Maria De Feira

3) Never Seen Such Good Things

4) Bad Girl

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“To create Breathing In/Breathing Out the two artists devised a piece in which they connected their mouths and took in each other’s exhaled breaths until they had used up all of the available oxygen. Seventeen minutes after the beginning of the performance they both fell to the floor unconscious, their lungs having filled with carbon dioxide. This personal piece explored the idea of an individual’s ability to absorb the life of another person, exchanging and destroying it.”

– Wikipedia

Marina Abramović and Ulay Laysiepen are both Serbian artists who did some interesting performance art, of an experimental nature in the 70′s. Some other performaces similar to the above example can be found on YouTube. An interesting one is where they both stand naked in a doorway and see which direction strangers choose to face as they walk through.

Abramovićs most recent project is ‘The Artist is Present”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcmcEZxdlv4

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