Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
THE PANEL

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

How hard is Swedish to learn?

Learning Swedish can be a tricky business for even the most nimble-tongued of linguists. This week we get the views of our readers’ panel on how best to deal with the intimidating dots and circles.

Published: 19 November 2008 12:10 CET
How hard is Swedish to learn?

Igor Trisic

Igor Trisic

Learning any language is easy if one has the will to learn. I wanted to learn Swedish for a long time. The only problem was that I split my time between Sweden and Serbia.

I would make certain progress with Swedish while I was there, only to forget everything while in Serbia. It was around that time that The Local appeared online.

It made it possible for me to have contact with Sweden even while in Serbia. I was afraid to read newspapers in Swedish since I couldn’t understand much but with time I dared read articles that were published in The Local from the original source in Swedish.

That made it possible to suck up a sufficient number of words to move on to Aftonbladet, which featured more or less simple Swedish. And now I can read Sydsvenskan without any problems despite the fact that it features more advanced Swedish.

I am still learning and practising, especially when it comes to conversing, but the progress is evident. One interesting thing is that I have chosen to learn Swedish through English, using an English dictionary instead of my mother tongue Serbian. So when I talk to Swedes they often assume that I am from England.

Emma Chataway

Emma Chataway

A part of me feels a bit ripped off. Having heard stories of people picking up a new language in a matter of months I’m bitterly disappointed with my progress.

I entered SFI [Swedish for Immigrants] four months ago with high enthusiasm, which was quickly thwarted by the constant stream of teachers and new students, leaving me with a twitch in my left eye each time the alphabet was repeated.

Since then I’ve moved up a grade which thankfully has a speedier tempo, and I’m quite enjoying it. However, the hardest thing is trying to be patient when practising with my boyfriend, when, after a long day, I just want to get to the point.

It’s catch 22 though, because everyone tells me getting a job will speed up the process but no one wants to hire someone without their SFI certificate. So nothing for it other than “fortsätta att försöka” [keep trying].

Thomas Smith

Thomas Smith

Well, I have started SFI in Hässleholm and I must tell you that it is quite a challenge. Partly because of my age, 53, it is somewhat difficult to get back into that school mode.

Pronunciation is also hard, as my lips do not want to conform to the correct shape, especially with the letters ö, ä, and å. I do wish that there were some Americans in my class.

I am bound and determined to learn the language and at least be able to communicate more with my fellow Swedes.

I think that it is important to know Swedish, as well as understand the language, as I love the country very much. Check back with me in 6 months.

Athanassia Fourla

Athanassia Fourla

I have studied many languages but Swedish is still very hard for me to learn. First of all because of the pronunciation (for a Greek person this is very difficult) and second because of the lack of rules in the language. It seems like there are only exceptions to non-existing rules.

Then of course one does not always feel the need and have the motivation to learn the language as all Swedes speak such good English – and often they prefer to speak English than Swedish.

To sum up: For me, learning good active Swedish is difficult but challenging and I will not give up. I love the melody of the Swedish language.

Daniel Nyström

Daniel Nyström

Not easy to estimate for a native Swede, but I can imagine it might be a bit easier than for example Finnish or Russian.

Swedish has many influences from both Germanic and Romance languages and might be easier to grasp for those coming from English or Spanish speaking countries as many words are similar. This is in many ways a side-effect from our warmongering and trade efforts during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Our grammatical system is however horrifying and can’t be easy to understand or learn. At least not for me.

I’ve also heard from Dutch people that they think Swedish is quite easy to understand.

Kristina Assouri

Kristina Assouri

Picture this: I come up to a café and attempt to order a “liten latte snälla”, said in what is seen as a typical American accent. The response I often times get goes something like: “so you want a small latte for here or to go.”

Defeated, I say “for here.” To which I get the reply “so where are you from?”. Upon discovering that I am in fact from L.A., I then get asked questions from how to plan a Route 66 trip to best places to hang out in L.A.

I am fluent in four languages — Assyrian (native), Persian, Spanish, and English) — so languages generally come naturally to me.

So before embarking upon my journey to study and work in Sweden, I knew that the language, and not the cold, would be the most difficult part of my assimilation into this part of the Nordic countries.

I took beginners’ Swedish at the University and was introduced to one of the most melodic sounding languages I have ever heard. I, however, slowly realized that it’s not the language itself that is difficult, but rather the inability to effectively practice it with any Swede.

The fact that most Swedes have a good command of the English language (thanks to the influence of American television and music) is also not conducive to an ex-pat learning Swedish because they can still communicate with you perfectly in English.

So all in all, sorry Swedes: I blame you for most ex-pats’ inability to achieve any sense of fluency in the Swedish language. So the next time an ex-pat asks for a small latte, make us feel good and just kindly say “Varsågod” [you’re welcome].

Graeme Newcomb

Graeme Newcomb

I am rather fortunate in that I was already fluent in a Germanic-based language before I started learning Swedish. This meant that I could recognise a lot of words that Sweden has in common with other Germanic languages.

In addition, there are also a lot of grammatical similarities. So, for someone with a background in a Germanic language (German, Dutch, Flemish etc.), learning Swedish will not be that difficult.

Probably the hardest thing to grasp about Swedish is how “intonated” the spoken language is. For me, the hardest part of learning Swedish is getting the intonation and pronunciation right, especially as some of the different sounds are almost indistinguishable. It is not helped by some of the more bizarre regional accents like Skånska!

Katarina Johnsson

Katarina Johnsson

Not applicable.

For members

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Le Havre rules: How to talk about French towns beginning with Le, La or Les

If you're into car racing, French politics or visits to seaside resorts you are likely at some point to need to talk about French towns with a 'Le' in the title. But how you talk about these places involves a slightly unexpected French grammar rule. Here's how it works.

Published: 30 November 2021 13:04 CET
Updated: 4 December 2021 17:47 CET
An old WW2 photo taken in the French port town of Le Havre.
An old WW2 photo taken in the French port town of Le Havre. It can be difficult to know what prepositions to use for places like this - so we have explained it for you. (Photo by AFP)

If you’re listening to French chat about any of those topics, at some point you’re likely to hear the names of Mans, Havre and Touquet bandied about.

And this is because French towns that have a ‘Le’ ‘La’ or ‘Les’ in the title lose them when you begin constructing sentences. 

As a general rule, French town, commune and city names do not carry a gender. 

So if you wanted to describe Paris as beautiful, you could write: Paris est belle or Paris est beau. It doesn’t matter what adjectival agreement you use. 

For most towns and cities, you would use à to evoke movement to the place or explain that you are already there, and de to explain that you come from/are coming from that location:

Je vais à Marseille – I am going to Marseille

Je suis à Marseille – I am in Marseille 

Je viens de Marseille – I come from Marseille 

But a select few settlements in France do carry a ‘Le’, a ‘La’ or a ‘Les’ as part of their name. 

In this case the preposition disappears when you begin formulating most sentences, and you structure the sentence as you would any other phrase with a ‘le’, ‘la’ or ‘les’ in it.

Masculine

Le is the most common preposition for two names (probably something to do with the patriarchy) with Le Havre, La Mans, Le Touquet and the town of Le Tampon on the French overseas territory of La Réunion (more on that later)

A good example of this is Le Havre, a city in northern France where former Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, who is tipped to one day run for the French presidency, serves as mayor. 

Edouard Philippe’s twitter profile describes him as the ‘Maire du Havre’, using a masculine preposition

Here we can see that his location is Le Havre, and his Twitter handle is Philippe_LH (for Le Havre) but when he comes to describe his job the Le disappears.

Because Le Havre is masculine, he describes himself as the Maire du Havre rather than the Maire de Havre (Anne Hidalgo, for example would describe herself as the Maire de Paris). 

For place names with ‘Le’ in front of them, you should use prepositions like this:

Ja vais au Touquet – I am going to Le Touquet

Je suis au Touquet – I am in Le Touquet 

Je viens du Touquet – I am from Le Touquet 

Je parle du Touquet – I am talking about Le Touquet

Le Traité du Touquet – the Le Touquet Treaty

Feminine

Some towns carry ‘La’ as part of their name. La Rochelle, the scenic town on the west coast of France known for its great seafood and rugby team, is one such example.

In French ‘à la‘ or ‘de la‘ is allowed, while ‘à le‘ becomes au and ‘de le’ becomes du. So for ‘feminine’ towns such as this, you should use the following prepositions:

Je vais à La Rochelle – I am going to La Rochelle

Je viens de La Rochelle – I am coming from La Rochelle 

Plural

And some places have ‘Les’ in front of their name, like Les Lilas, a commune in the suburbs of Paris. The name of this commune literally translates as ‘The Lilacs’ and was made famous by Serge Gainsbourg’s song Le Poinçonneur des Lilas, about a ticket puncher at the Metro station there. 

When talking about a place with ‘Les’ as part of the name, you must use a plural preposition like so:

Je suis le poinçonneur des Lilas – I am the ticket puncher of Lilas 

Je vais aux Lilas – I am going to Les Lilas

Il est né aux Lilas – He was born in Les Lilas  

Islands 

Islands follow more complicated rules. 

If you are talking about going to one island in particular, you would use à or en. This has nothing to do with gender and is entirely randomised. For example:

Je vais à La Réunion – I am going to La Réunion 

Je vais en Corse – I am going to Corsica 

Generally speaking, when talking about one of the en islands, you would use the following structure to suggest movement from the place: 

Je viens de Corse – I am coming from Corsica 

For the à Islands, you would say:

Je viens de La Réunion – I am coming from La Réunion 

When talking about territories composed of multiple islands, you should use aux.

Je vais aux Maldives – I am going to the Maldives. 

No preposition needed 

There are some phrases in French which don’t require any a preposition at all. This doesn’t change when dealing with ‘Le’ places, such as Le Mans – which is famous for its car-racing track and Motorcycle Grand Prix. Phrases that don’t need a preposition include: 

Je visite Le Mans – I am visiting Le Mans

J’aime Le Mans – I like Le Mans

But for a preposition phrase, the town becomes simply Mans, as in Je vais au Mans.

SHOW COMMENTS