Languages: Swedish

[TerokNor]

I know we had somewhere a Language tread, but I cannot find it. So I decidet to open a new one.

I really would like to learn a third language and anyway...I even read, that every european citizin should be able to speak at least three languages..so...

Of course improving my English is one thing, but what other language to choose?
I had 7 years of French in school, but besides "Je nais sais pas, Mercy and Je taime" (not even know if these are written correct), I have forgotten everything...though I maybe could still read it a little.
However I have no good memories of the french lessons ...didn´t hate them as much as the english lessons, but it came near.
I tried learning spanish for a few months, but didn´t really like it either.

So what language is useful, but quite easy to learn?
I thought maybe swedish?
Sweden would be a country where I could imagine to do an internship or something.
I just tried to count to 10 in swedish...but the 7 already knocked me out... what the hell is that? I see the letters and hear how it is pronounced...but I cannot speak it myself. Hüje? (Sju)
Does someone here speak swedish? Is swedish a hard language to learn?
Till now I can say... Jog heter and null, sex, nio and tio..uhm forgot the rest ... well but than I only learned it for the last few minutes.

Wish I´d grew up bi- or trilingual. Would make things easier and its said, that people who grew up with more than one language have an easier time to learn more languages.
Did one of you grew up with more than one language?

TerokNor

 

[Count Zero]

I think Swedish is rather easy to learn for German native speakers. My sister and her husband both speak it quite well and said so. I actually accompanied my sister on her first trip to Sweden before she decided to learn the language and all the Swedes we met stated that we shouldn't have any problems understanding Swedish because it's so close to German. We went to see a play at a theatre an acquaintance of us had a part in and we didn't understand a thing. But there really are a lot of similarities, apparently. I only know a few words myself.

 

[Subcommander R.]

Je ne sais pas, merci.

I have the same wishes as you, I never grew up exposed to languages. In college I've had a difficult time. A semester of Arabic, a semester of French. 2 years of Spanish in high school. Ultimately I'm sticking with French though.

When looking at what's easy, you should find a related language. Eastern slavic, western slavic, romance, germanic, etc. So I'd recommend sticking with something not too dissimilar to your own language. Of course learning any language is hard, but ultimately you can learn what you put your mind to.

Good luck.

 

[TerokNor]

*blinks* Similar to German? ... That would be good news, but... I just now listend to some swedish sentences and it did not sound in the least similar to German....and most of the words also did not look familiar.

Why did you decite for French, Subcommander R.? And thanks for the corrections. Maybe I can keep at least those in mind.

TerokNor

 

[Marten]

I know we had somewhere a Language tread, but I cannot find it. So I decidet to open a new one.

I really would like to learn a third language and anyway...I even read, that every european citizin should be able to speak at least three languages..so...

Of course improving my English is one thing, but what other language to choose?
I had 7 years of French in school, but besides "Je nais sais pas, Mercy and Je taime" (not even know if these are written correct), I have forgotten everything...though I maybe could still read it a little.
However I have no good memories of the french lessons ...didn´t hate them as much as the english lessons, but it came near.
I tried learning spanish for a few months, but didn´t really like it either.

So what language is useful, but quite easy to learn?
I thought maybe swedish?
Sweden would be a country where I could imagine to do an internship or something.
I just tried to count to 10 in swedish...but the 7 already knocked me out... what the hell is that? I see the letters and hear how it is pronounced...but I cannot speak it myself. Hüje? (Sju)
Does someone here speak swedish? Is swedish a hard language to learn?
Till now I can say... Jog heter and null, sex, nio and tio..uhm forgot the rest ... well but than I only learned it for the last few minutes.

Wish I´d grew up bi- or trilingual. Would make things easier and its said, that people who grew up with more than one language have an easier time to learn more languages.
Did one of you grew up with more than one language?

TerokNor

I can speak Swedish. Since it's my first language, I can't say anything about how hard it is to learn. But it can't be that much harder than other germanic languages, so if you speak German or English or anything like it you have a head start.

About the "seven" or "sju", I can understand that's tricky. It's a sound that barely exists it English. The closest would be the same sound as in "ship" but that's a bit different. Try to blow out air and pout your lips and have your tongue at the bottom when you say it, and it might work somewhat.

Where do you live? There might be some Swedish organizations nearby, if you'd like to learn more about the culture or so.

Lastly, I have to say. If you need a useful language, Swedish is not it. Under 10 million speak it, and all Swedes learn decent English.

 

[Subcommander R.]

Well, I decided on French for two reasons.
1. Practicality. Its a very commonly spoken language around the world, so between my English and French I could probably get by just about anywhere.
2. Interest. I find the history and culture of France to be very interesting, and the best way to learn more is to learn the language.

As to the Swedish/German similarity, things get more different as you go north. German dialects in the north are further from Hochdeutsch, then Danish is more different, then Norwegian, then Swedish. But they share the same roots, like English and German.

 

[TerokNor]

*sits there with pouted lips blowing out air* .... *looks frustrated* .... I think I skip the 7. I can do the rest... noll, ett, tva, tre, fyra, fem, sex ..., atta, nio, tio. Who needs a seven? This will not let me sleep tonight. How can that be so difficult?!

Hmm, well, yes...it is maybe not as useful as...spanish...or japanese or something, but somehow the language has something.

Good reasons. What third language would you choose Subcommander R.?

TerokNor

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Did one of you grew up with more than one language?

I grew up understanding Russian, but didn't learn to speak, read or write it until I was in college. I haven't had a chance to use it in years, but for a while I was pretty good. Not fluent, unfortunately.

Studied French for six years and remember about as much as you do. Studied Spanish for a few weeks and actually remember more of that than French.

I enjoyed learning Russian the most. The culture was fascinating, it was my family heritage (well, half of my family) and it was fun learning to write a totally different alphabet.

 

[Subcommander R.]

Good reasons. What third language would you choose Subcommander R.?

TerokNor

Arabic. I've had a little experience with it, and once you've learned the sounds its easy to speak. Reading is hard, but with practice? Probably easier. Its also extremely high-demand.

Of course if high demand is a factor, Korean, Mandarin, and Russian are also high in the rankings.

 

[Marten]

*sits there with pouted lips blowing out air* .... *looks frustrated* .... I think I skip the 7. I can do the rest... noll, ett, tva, tre, fyra, fem, sex ..., atta, nio, tio. Who needs a seven? This will not let me sleep tonight. How can that be so difficult?!

Hmm, well, yes...it is maybe not as useful as...spanish...or japanese or something, but somehow the language has something.

Good reasons. What third language would you choose Subcommander R.?

TerokNor

It's a wonderful language, but then I'm hardy impartial.

 

[ares93]

Arabic. I've had a little experience with it, and once you've learned the sounds its easy to speak. Reading is hard, but with practice? Probably easier. Its also extremely high-demand.

Dont. Arabic is an incredibly complicated language and its bloody hard to learn. I'm struggling with it myself. I can understand casual conversation but i cant read or write it. Speaking is rather troublesome since my pronunciation is, lets say far from optimal.

Did one of you grew up with more than one language

Hungarian, Swedish, German and later English when I turned ten. In recent years, Arabic, Russian and Croatian.

 

[Emher]

Swedish a weird freaking language. We have all of kinds odd sounds that does make any sense that they should sound like they do. Like "kela" where the "k" sound like "sh" in the aforementioned "ship". The hell?

I honestly had some issues learning my own language for first few years of grade school. English, not so much.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I love languages myself, I always try to learn a few sentences when I travel abroad. Even a simple greetings is a good way to break the ice, and to show you are willing to learn and respect their culture.

Italian is my first language, and I've been learning English since I was in primary school, but it was only with university that I really started to use it (most of my course books were available only in the original language, and speaking it pretty well was required if you wanted to work in such an international environment...). Thanks to the similarities and a little practice, I can hold a simple conversation in Spanish, if the listener is willing to bear with my atrocious grammar. Given the common origin, I can more or less read French and Portuguese, but speaking them is out of the equation.

Now for a third, unrelated language, the smartest choice would be Arabic or Chinese, as they would open the largest number of speakers. But for personal interests, I would probably pick Japanese before them (I tried to learn it by myself, but it was too difficult and quit after a few weeks...).

 

[Subcommander R.]

Dont. Arabic is an incredibly complicated language and its bloody hard to learn. I'm struggling with it myself. I can understand casual conversation but i cant read or write it. Speaking is rather troublesome since my pronunciation is, lets say far from optimal.

True. But I managed to pick up a Levantine accent easily. Perfectly clear and intelligible to my Jordanian professor and a Lebanese guy I met at the gym once. lol

But yes, impossible to read. Difficult to write. IMO, easy to speak and moderate to comprehend.

French? Easy to read, moderate to speak, hard to comprehend.

Spanish? Easy to read, easy to speak, easy to comprehend. But I find it boring.

 

[Colonel Midnight]

Vietnamese is kicking my butt, I'll admit. *OY*

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Peak]

Svenska är jättenkelt, det måste det vara eftersom jag lyckades lära mig det när jag var jätteliten.

 

[Sky]

Svenska är jättenkelt, det måste det vara eftersom jag lyckades lära mig det när jag var jätteliten.

Att förstå svenska är enklare än att prata svenska.

 

[Peak]

Børk! Børk! Børk!

 

[TerokNor]

*stares at sentences* Hmmm.... Swedish is ..... this you must .... after some liquor....doesn´t bother me....
At first Swedish is... explain...or unclear and then .... speaking swedish.

.... What did you say? Did I got something correct..from those words? *curious*

TerokNor

 

[ares93]

*stares at sentences* Hmmm.... Swedish is ..... this you must .... after some liquor....doesn´t bother me....
At first Swedish is... explain...or unclear and then .... speaking swedish.

.... What did you say? Did I got something correct..from those words? *curious*

TerokNor

Svenska är jättenkelt, det måste det vara eftersom jag lyckades lära mig det när jag var jätteliten.

Att förstå svenska är enklare än att prata svenska.

Swedish is incredibly simple. It has to be because i managed to learn it when I was very little.

and

To understand Swedish is simpler than to speak Swedish.

Respectively.