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Learning Swedish

A language is more than a bunch of words and rules for how to put those words together; it is another world. Speaking Swedish gives you access to the world of 9 million native speakers in Sweden and parts of Finland.

Swedish is considered one of the easiest languages for a native English speaker to understand. The grammar and sentence structure are very similar to English, but with fewer irregularities. The language is pronounced very differently from English – and includes some sounds that English doesn’t have – but mastering new sounds becomes easier with practice.

Because both languages have Germanic roots, they also share thousands of cognates – words that sound the same and have the same meanings. Consider these sentences in Swedish – made up almost entirely of Swedish-English cognates:

Kan du hjälpa mig? Var är campingplatser nära här?

Say the sentences out loud a couple times. Even if you aren’t sure how to pronounce the words yet, saying them as you would in English will unlock a few words right away. Kan sounds like can, hjälpa sounds like help, mig sounds like me, Var är could be where are, campingplatser might be camping places, and nära här sounds like near here. In context, it’s now easy to guess that du means you. So Kan du hjälpa mig? Var är campingplatser nära här? means Can you help me? Where are camping places near here?

Not only is Swedish relatively easy to start understanding early on, speaking it will give you a huge head-start to understanding other Germanic languages like Norwegian, Danish, Dutch and German.

Not a useful phrase for me as I would rather stick pins in my eyes than suffer camping!

*sigh* Churchill was elected, Rollo, that what I said and that's what happened. So your point is still utterly pointless.

Elected despite my grandmother loathing him for his stance against votes for women. She certainly didn't vote for his party until he was dead. Only 6 years between '45 and '51 so hardly enough time for controversy to disappear into the ether.

People are still banging on about Jezza 40 years after he met Sinn Fein members.

Not a fan of Jezza but I will never be able to vote Tory. *shudder*

Probably Lib Dem for me. But the Tories will win, I have no doubt. But very much depleted. Let's hope the left sort themselves a decent leader for 2022. May will be long gone by then, like Maggie before her.

Oh, how jolly nice for you :-D

It's a shame Germany is utterly baffled - so am I :-(

Is that the Royal 'we' who are going to be forced to take Denmark into account (more then we are used to do)(?), or the French Government or even the UK Government?

I get the 3 of you mixed up :-S

..but the Tories have increased the Stamp Duty (April 2016) on those who buy a second/third/fourth home :-0

"http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-tory-tax-policy-rise-income-tax-national-insurance-higher-earners-general-election-2017-a7770581.html"

Rollo you're safe voting Tories your taxes won't go up..... you are mega rich aren't you? :-D :-D

Does he have a house in Denmark too? :-D

Not at all sure that the British electorate would happily pay more Corporation Tax, more VAT and a higher rate of individual tax but since you brought Denmark into the equation, may we take it for granted that you have given up on a move to France in favour of Denmark, Rollo?

Said it before and I'll say it again....they all lie to get your vote and sometimes when elected they do some of what they promised.

I won't mention who I'll be voting for.

Whichever party it is, I now I will be 'wrong' :-D :-D :-D

I don't feel like justifying myself to patronising dogmatic opinions professing to be facts, as though I have absolutely no understanding of politics at all!!

Oh, the tedium of some people :-\

Regardless of all the uncertainty ahead I will still vote Conservative :-D

Resigned your membership, Rollo?

It stuns me that you actually joined a political party at all. I am trying to assimilate that information.n

I thought I had a fence-sitter mate who thought it was all swings and roundabouts as I do - not at all a joiner.

Oh okay that clears that up then.

Sorry I'm getting confused...so you're not voting Tory then Rollo??

The point of the thread was admitting previous friendships....for instances dear old JC until very recently would not admit he was friends with the IRA as in his mind the people he invited to the house of commons were Sinn Fein not IRA.

If he'd just admit as has been suggested already he'd messed up things happen it's called life then he could move on but he didn't.

You forgot to mention the income tax in Denmark, Rollo. :-(

It doesn't matter who gets in, she or he will often have to bite the bullet on behalf of us by keeping things cordial with a number of nations in order to sustain global trade.

Arms, oil, clothing, electrical goods etc. all need to be bought and sold from and to countries whose regimes and laws are anathema to us. If our current leader took into account all of the black marks against various nations we could find ourselves facing vastly increased cost of living rises that may not be palatable at all - and that's only one result, but I'm sure we all get the drift.

"Churchill only won one election which was in 1951 long after votes for women were no longer an issue."

I know. Not sure what your point is. He was elected, as I said.

It's been all over face book for weeks.

People change. Their views change. At least his views were real and felt and not hypocritical friendliness for the Saudis and China which is what makes me puke.

Churchill voted against giving women the vote. But he was elected PM despite that.

(Can't stand Corbyn, McDonnell and Abbott though.)

Of course they should be held to account ( but we as a country don't do we?)...

If it's an older politician ( or a retired one) they can just say "this is what seemed appropriate action or opinion AT THE TIME, it was the advice I took from my cabinet/the military etc etc " end of subject.

But, by the same token, it is not exactly balanced to criticise one politician for their well known views...and they aren't secret in Corbyn's case are they, when other politicians are too 'canny' to ever give an opinion ( assuming they have the wit to hold to one and not sway whichever way the wind blows) so they can NEVER be caught out having one the public as a whole doesn't share or that is inconvenient when the topic hits the headlines prior to an election.

May sways with the wind so many times in a day let alone over 40 years.. so one might conclude that she has only the opinions that suit the audience on a given day..."no Brexit , yes brexit, soft, hard, poached brexit, dementia tax, no dementia tax, PIP cuts, no PIP cuts, we're going to have a prosperous future for everyone, hard decisions must be made "...and on and on.

I know very few people who can admit to being wrong, even when the proof is solidly against them. i can count them on the fingers of one....finger lol

In politics you are obliged to praise a colleague to the hilt and show God-like respect when questioned about their competence. However, as soon as a damning report comes along that highlights that person's inadequacies, they are manoeuvred towards the exit.

I know most politicians have had dreadful alliances in the past but FGS admit they were wrong and give the British public the opportunity to judge them today too.

I absolutely disagree with all dealings with Saudi and therefore turning a blind eye to their atrocious human rights record (same can be said of China and many other countries).

At least admit the errors and stop trying to brush them under the carpet. The lump is getting bigger and bigger.

We ALL can say "well I made a mistake then with regard to XYZ" we usually learn by our bad decisions. Politicians should be held to higher account as they act on our behalf.