Category Archives: Swedish

Red and ripe and Swedish lesson

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Swedish strawberries.
Svenska jordgubbar.
So sweet and longed for. We Swedes always claim Swedish strawberries are the best; special. Grown in the open, taking their time to ripen they are a must on Midsummer. As almost every day during summer. Is there a better snack really? I love having them for breakfast too. On top of the muesli and sometimes on a piece of freshly baked bread with cream cheese.

Sometimes I pick my own strawberries; living in Switzerland a Swedish friend and I hired a babysitter to take the babies on a walk along the fields so we could introduce the toddlers to strawberry picking! Not price smart, however that was not the point.

Swedish lesson:

en jordgubbe – a/one strawberry
två jordgubbar – two strawberries
den jordgubben – that strawberry
mogna jordgubbar – ripe strawberries
Jordgubbarna är söta. The strawberries are sweet.
jordgubbssylt – strawberry jam
jordgubbssaft – strawberry juice/squash/cordial
en jordgubbstårta – a strawberry cake
att rensa jordgubbar – to rinse strawberries
att snoppa jordgubbar – to hull strawberries

Are merry-go-rounds culturally different?

The other day I learnt that merry-go-rounds in Sweden, as well as in the rest of Europe, generally turn clockwise whereas they in North America run counter-clockwise! A search on Google confirms this. Reality? Even though I’ve been an expatriate in both locations I must admit I don’t know; I never thought about it. What are your experiences? Comments please – let’s solve this expat problem!

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En karusell (a carousel)

#blogg100 post 100

My 100 days of blogging are over. I’m glad I joined the challenge #blogg100 but right now I’m also relieved it’s over! I’ve tried to keep most posts on the subjects of expats, TCKs and Swedish/language learning. Sometimes I’ve posted photos of Sweden; simply sharing this beautiful country with you.

Over and out for now!

Good night!

Liseberg Garden Fair

Starting tomorrow Liseberg invites us to its annual Garden Fair, ending Sunday. Exhibitors within the garden field (;)), lots of flowers and a chance to have a nice stroll through the beautiful park. Attractions open in the afternoon.

Why not take the chance to experience a spring we haven’t quite seen here yet?

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Expatriate life in lyrics

Today I’ll provide a link to one of my favorite musical songs. It describes the life of an expat mother, but an expatriate life of past times and of much hardship. Expatriating today can be tough too, but hopefully not on all the levels Kristina experiences.

Listen to Kristina

From the musical “Kristina from Duvemåla” by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulveus (the Bs in ABBA).

Top reads this week

These are the books I’m enjoying this week! I deliberately choose the word ‘enjoy’ since actually reading a book is not always the only way to love and savor books! Looking at photos in gorgeous coffee table size volumes is an obvious way, but I also use books for art journaling; altering books by giving them a second life. 🙂

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From top left:

Journal Spilling by Diana Trout -wonderful to just let your mind flow away; colors and creativity. Love the pictures.

My project: preparing a rescued and unwanted book with gesso (whitening the pages to make it a base for art journaling)

Nina av en slump (Nina par hasard) by Michele Lesbre

Collage workbook by Randel Plowman – a library order; like a bag of candy! Collages were big as I grew up but it is still fun!

Välkommen till virkligheten by Annika Messing – I’ve done lots from this crochet pattern book and a robot has to be finished tomorrow 🙂

Cracks in my foundation by Marian Keyes – I love Marian’s short stories. What can I say. Also perfect in lenght before bedtime when there’s also twitter …

Third Culture Kids by David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken – TCK gurus. Use it in life and work; always something to come back to every now and then; hence always out on the desk.

Så gör jag. Konsten att skriva by Bodil Malmsten – This is a book I like. Phenomenal and very modern visual content; anecdotes about writing and lots of related material. Creatively done. Not just text.

Allt om trädgård by Marie & Björn Hansson et al. – one of my best books on all things garden. Colors and info!

 

Svenska barnsånger

Om du bor utomlands kan det vara roligt att ibland sjunga svenska sånger med barnen. Många föräldrar tar sina barn till svenska kyrkan eller andra svenska grupper där sång ingår. Denna möjlighet finns långt ifrån för alla expatriater. Nedan finns en länk till en av Barnplanetens listor på Spotify. Barnplaneten har spellistor i många kategorier, t ex Barnkammarboken, Klassiker, Buslistan och Favoriter.

Länk till trafiklistan – perfekt inte bara för bilintresserade utan för alla som är ute och går eller cyklar!

Living abroad and want to listen to Swedish children’s music? Klick the link above or go here to read a post in English about Swedish kid’s music.

Swedish children’s songs

Having moved to Sweden with children your family might want to listen to Swedish children’s music. Kid’s music is very much part of the cultural context, and apart from having fun a few bonuses to listening to it include

  • learning the classic Swedish tunes
  • following what they are singing at preschool (dagis) and school
  • improving your Swedish while singing along
  • acquiring intonation and pronunciation of Swedish

Barnplaneten (Children’s planet) provides lists in Spotify such as lists for classics, nap time, animals, play and dance as well as a teacher’s list.

Link to one of the song lists

 

 

Text to speech – listen to pronunciation of Swedish

Do you want to know how a word in a foreign language is pronounced? I found a website – Acapela – ; providing native speaking voices for 30 different languages; often also different local dialects. I tried Swedish and it worked well. So go ahead and listen to pronunciation of Swedish.

Interested in learning Swedish?