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World says ‘yes’ to bonkers Swedish sound

The Local's video about the strange way northern Swedes say 'yes' is our most successful yet, clocking up 1.3 million hits by Saturday morning. Our Editor Maddy Savage looks at why the language quirk has gone viral and speaks to people in the region about their new global fame.

Published: 16 January 2015 13:44 CET
World says 'yes' to bonkers Swedish sound
The Local's Oliver Gee takes language lessons in Umeå. Photo: The Local
Shooting the video in temperatures of -5C after a long night at the festival put on by Umeå to celebrate the end of its year as a European Capital of Culture, I'll be honest, former Deputy Editor Oliver Gee (who's now based at The Local France) and I had no idea our report would be such an international success.
 
We knew those of you who are regular readers of The Local would love it, just as you've snapped up our stories about other Swedish quirks, from having to hug your boss to not sharing alcohol at parties. And don't get Oliver started on the word Göteborg.
 
But we couldn't have predicted that in just seven days our film – made on a smartphone – would have got almost 900,000 hits, been all over newspapers and social media in Sweden after an initial report by SVT and featured in international media ranging from the UK's Daily Mirror to Australia's News.au and Fox News in the US.
 
"The way people in one town in Sweden say 'Yes' is absolutely bonkers," wrote Irish news site entertainment.ie on Thursday, while backpacker site Travelpulse said "those folks might as well be saying 'sure, that will be just fine' in Klingon."
 
If you still haven't seen the video (and why not?), rather than saying 'ja' like most Swedes do, people living in northern Sweden make a noise that is a kind of gasp that could suggest the person listening to you is either impressed, shocked or a bit chilly.
 
 
A quick trawl through the comments section below the video on YouTube suggests that above all, the video is popular because it made people laugh.
 
"This is hilarious to me! I brought my American boyfriend to the north of Sweden where I'm from and he thought my Dad had a breathing problem when he said yes this way," said one post.
 
While Swede Olag Johansson quipped that the title of video was misleading, dubbing it instead "the most awesome sound".
 
On Reddit, a site which collates viral stories, another commentator joked that in northern Sweden, having (good) sex with someone might sound like "an asthma attack." 
 

A snapshot of our coverage on Google News. Photo: The Local
 
Speaking to The Local on Friday, the mayor of Umeå Marie-Louise Rönnmark said:  "Umeå always surprises! Umeå is a fantastic place where humour creates a certain kind of confidence. People are welcome here!".
 
Another contact at the tourist office, who did not want to be named, joked that she could envisage thousands showing up in the city and asking locals to make the sound.
 
Frederick Lindengren, Artistic Director of Umeå 2014, said: "'Schwup' is the answer to many big questions," adding that it could even help "boost international diplomacy." No we're not sure what he means either. We told you those people in northern Sweden were rather unusual.
 
Some of The Local's news team in Umeå: Editor Maddy Savage (left), intern Mimmi Nilsson and reporter Oliver Gee. Photo: The Local
 
Here at The Local we're especially proud that we shot the video on a smartphone, proving that our small but rapidly growing news brand doesn't need expensive equipment or camera crews to make the kind of content that our unique international audience enjoys watching.
 
"It's great that Oliver's video has made people around the world so curious about the wonderful Swedish language," said our Managing Editor James Savage on Friday.
 
"The Local is all about bridging different cultures, and what better way to connect with people than learning to say 'Yes'? Our nine European sites will be doing many more videos like this in the months to come."
 

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READER INSIGHTS

Reader’s story: How I slowly fell in love with the Swedish language

What makes a person want to learn Swedish? The Local's reader Sunny Das tries to answer a question that's bigger than quantifiable goals.

Published: 21 March 2024 14:31 CET
Updated: 11 April 2024 09:59 CEST
Reader's story: How I slowly fell in love with the Swedish language

It was a dark and cold October day as I found myself standing outside Arlanda Airport.

It had been a long journey from Singapore to Stockholm in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The first thing I noticed was that most of the pandemic restrictions that applied to people in the rest of the world were not as strict in Sweden. I looked like a real stranger with my face mask on.

But, somewhere in my heart something stirred, and my soul felt a little joy after seeing some form of normality. The taxi driver said something that sounded like “hey” in English, and so I responded in English. Then we started driving towards the centre of Stockholm.

Within 45 minutes, I was in Gamla Stan, and it was already evening. I was tired, but I won’t forget what I felt when I saw the beauty of the city. When the lights sparkled on the water, it was like poetry composing itself.

In the hotel lobby, I heard Swedish being spoken among people, and it was like music to my ears. It had been a long time since I learned a new language, but there was something melodic in the Swedish language that truly captivated me from the beginning.

This article was written by The Local’s reader Sunny Das. Photo: Private

Because there is freedom in Swedish society, it is easy to fall in love with something.

None of the Swedes I met said that I had to learn Swedish to survive in Sweden. As a result, I explored the language in my own way, and slowly fell in love with it.

Of course, attitudes towards language requirements have changed nowadays, but I’m grateful that it wasn’t like that when I started learning Swedish. It could have been very demotivating for me if someone had tried to force the language on me.

Instead, I had the opportunity to enjoy Swedish music, books and the culture in general. There was a song that inspired me to develop my Swedish and delve deeper into my language journey. The song was called Vem tänder stjärnorna by Eva Dahlgren (“Who lights the stars?”). What a beautiful song, just amazing. Evighet (eternity) is my favourite word in Swedish, which I learned from that song.

What is my goal with the Swedish language? A really good question.

But is there a goal in just watching the sunset with your dog on the beach? Or to dim the lights at three in the morning, closing your eyes and listening to “The Midnight” or “The Paper Kites”? Is there a goal when you share “Dad jokes” with your friends on a taco Friday night?

Many people learn French, Japanese or Italian to experience the culture and follow their hearts. I can say that there is no quantifiable goal but to enjoy the language journey, and sometime in the future, I can articulate my thoughts properly in a proper way in the Swedish language.

Yes, indeed, I’m still learning Swedish. There are certain situations when I can’t understand anything or find the right words from my limited vocabulary to explain something. But I’m trying, like many of us who are learning Swedish and love the language.

My grammar is wrong in various ways, and my pronunciation is flawed, and there have been several occasions when Swedish speakers have switched to English, perhaps out of sympathy or sometimes with a bit of a rude attitude.

I can only ask everyone who speaks Swedish not to discourage us but rather to help us learn this beautiful language instead.

Indian by origin, Sunny Das moved to Sweden in October 2020 and works as a software developer. The article was originally published in Swedish and translated to English by The Local. Would you like to share your Swedish story with The Local? Email our editorial team at [email protected] and we’ll get back to you if it’s something we’re able to publish.

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