This page is a two-parter, first we give you an explanation to the name chosen for this website, and then follows a piece about the ones running it.

“Why SwenglishRantings?”

“Swenglish”, or “svengelska” as it is called in Swedish, is a colloquial term meaning either “English spoken with a heavy Swedish accent or heavily influenced by Swedish vocabulary, grammar or syntax”, or “Swedish with many English words”.

Swedes often speak English with a melodic intonation, ending sentences on an up-note, much parodied. (The Swedish Chef from “The Muppet Show” is a well known example.)

Literal translation of Swedish expressions and idioms are sometimes used by mistake or in belief that they are correct English.

For example, a Swede might say “I hold my thumbs”. This is a direct translation of the Swedish expression “Jag håller tummarna”, which simply is the Swedish way of saying “I’m keeping my fingers crossed”. Since we are on the subject, another Swedish expression is “gröna fingrar”. Now all of a sudden the Swede is talking about “green fingers”. In English this of course sounds just as backwards as the previous expression, since English people have green THUMBS!

Several Swedish words have so called “false friends” (also known as “deceptive cognates”, meaning “words which have the same spelling, or almost identical sound, in the two languages but different meanings“) in English. When trying to find a suitable English counterpart to a Swedish word, it is tempting to “translate” the word by simply using the Swedish word in hope that the English counterpart is similar. However, the anglicized Swedish word may mean something completely different.

There are several Swedish-English “false friends” that can, unintentionally, take on an obscene meaning when used in English…

(“Readers discretion is advised” in the next segment.)

(English – Swedish – False Swedish friend – English Meaning)

actual – faktisk – aktuell – present, current
also Рocks̴ Рallts̴ Рtherefore, hence
announce – tillkännage – annonsera – advertise
art – konst – art – species
ask Рfr̴ga Рask Рbox
athlete – idrottsman – atlet – strong man, hunk
Austria – Österrike – Australien – Australia
bad Рd̴lig Рbad Рbath, bathe
bald Рskallig Рb̴ld (modig) Рbold
barn Рladug̴rd Рbarn Рchild, children
barracks – kasern – barack – shelter, shack
beef Рn̦tk̦tt Рbiff Рbeef steak
blanket – filt – blankett – form
bra РBH (beh̴) Рbra Рgood, well
breakfast – frukost – brakfest – feast
brand – varumärke – brand – fire
brick -tegelsten – bricka – tray
cab – taxi – cabriolet – convertible, hardtop
cheek – kind – käke – jaw
chef – kock – chef – boss
chin – haka – kind – cheek
cock – tupp, penis – kock – chef
cunt – fitta – kant – edge
fart – fjärt – fart – speed
foreskin Рf̦rhud Рf̦rskinn Рleather apron
fuck Рknulla Рfack Рcompartment (l̴da), trade union (f̦rening)
gift Рg̴va Рgift Рpoison
glass – glas – glass – ice cream

Well, you get the idea… When a Swede doesn’t know the proper English word, and uses the “false friend” instead, it can get PRETTY strange!

Another thing is when Swedish people move to an English speaking country. Unless they have contact with other Swedish speaking people, they tend to forget words here and there.

This happened to the first generations of immigrants that came to USA from Sweden, they started speaking “Swenglish”, they Americanized Swedish words and vice versa, so that they couldn’t be understood by either Americans in their new country OR Swedes back in the old country. The so called “immigrant letters”, letters sent to the loved ons back home, they are almost impossible to make any sense of).

Here are the lyrics to a little Swedish song, that gets you an idea of what those letters could be like, English words have been translated into Swedish and vice versa (and the translation of the original Swedish lyrics is in parenthesis):

Amerikabrevet

By: Ruben Nilsson

Ja, nu ska jag writa hem to you ett litet letter brev
(Yes, now I will skriva home till dej a little brev letter)
För att tala om hur very well jag mår
(To tell you how väldigt väl I am)
För det är rätt länge sen, you see. Som jag med pennan skrev
For it has been quite a while since, förstår du. That I wrote with the pen)
Så hoppas att du understand, förstår.
(So hope that you förstår, understand.)

MÃ¥nga dagar hava flytt, sen dess jag for from Swedens land.
(Many days have passed, since I went från Sveriges country.)
Men jag lovar dig ändå my little friend.
(But I promise you anyway min lilla vän.)
Och fastän du mig bedrog och skämde ut dig med en ann’
(And even if you cheated on me and embarrased yourself with ‘nother one)
Ska jag älska dig until my bitter end.
(I will love you until my bittra slut.)

Det var sorgligt som jag hörde, att din fästman gick to hell.
(It was sad what I heard, that your fiancé went åt helvete.)
Och att han blev killad utav en pistol.
(And that he was dödad by a gun.)
För han kom i bråk med Degos, när han skulle ut en kväll
(Because he got into a fight with Spicks, when he was going out one night)
Ja, så går det till i staden Liverpool.
(Yes, that is how it goes in the city of Liverpool.)

Därför tänkte jag som så, att när det gamla nu är glömt.
(So I was thinking like this, that when the old is now forgotten.)
Att jag skulle ta och fråga dig och be
(That I would ask you a question and ask)
Att du tog och reste hit, för det är drömmen som jag drömt.
(That you would travel over here, for that is the dream I have dreamt.)
Och förresten kan du ta din unge med.
(And by the way you can take that kid of yours with you.)

Men nu slutar jag och hoppas, att du tar och skriver hit.
(But now I end this and hope, that you will write me here.)
Fortast möjligt och adressen min den är,
(As soon as possible and my address is,)
Mr Charles P. Andersson sixhundred-fyra B. Main Street…
(Mr Charles P. Andersson, sexhundra-four B. Main Street…)
Person City – Indiana – USA!

Not hard to understand why Scandinavians were referred to as “Squareheads”, since nobody really understood them, but they themselves must have felt that they were talking proper English!

Since English is the language used in business, and when dealing with computers in particular, and with English being heard on TV, in movies and in music, a lot of English words become natural to use in our Swedish daily life. Some words have got their own Swedish counterparts, while others have been modified to fit Swedish grammar and even has gotten a more Swedish spelling – it has turned into… say it with me now… SWENGLISH!

When a Swedish teenager says “Jag ska downloada nÃ¥gra videosar frÃ¥n Internet”, that of course means he or she is going to download some videos off the Internet. (“Download” DOES have a Swedish counterpart, “ladda ner”, but especially young people use the English word.)

Anyway… Since we are one Swede and one American, and we intend to write in both English and Swedish on our page, and we also intend to RANT a bit about things that interest us, “SwenglishRantings” seemed to fit just fine!

About the Ranters:

The Ranters are one Swede and one American, currently residing on the “Best Coast” of Sweden.

We are no spring chickens, but we’re not TOO old and gray either. “Young at heart”, yes indeed! You could say that we have reached that stage in life when we are able to be mature, responsible adults when necessary, but we don’t really care if someone says we are acting childish at times. Some might even call us nuts, but ask any squirrel and he will tell you that nuts are GOOD!

One of us was born in the year that the Nobel Peace Prize went to UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund). The other one was born in the year that the Academy Awards ceremony was first broadcasted in color on television. One of us is old enough to remember the ticker tape parade after the first man had been “jumping on the moon one day…”, and the other one was being MANUFACTURED around that very same time. Neither one of us went to Woodstock.

Both of us like sushi. One of us is supposedly a part of Generation X, and the other one just might fit into Generation Y, but the X is really a Y and the Y is an X – or was that something that had to do with genetics? One of us is however an Aquarius, the other one is a Taurus. According to Chinese astrology, one is born in the year of the Dragon, and the other one in the year of the Dog. One of us has had a pet snake, a pet spider and a pet scorpion. The other one prefers the cute and cuddly, more NORMAL pets – the kind that a pet snake might have for LUNCH!

One of us went to Japan in business. The other one went to Greece at the age of 6, and came home with a dorky “secret club” ring that ALL the little tourist children got. One of us used to be a snowboard instructor. The other one broke three skis one winter, crashing into THE SAME TREE all three times! One of us has probably FORGOTTEN more about computers than the other one will ever LEARN.

One of us has Transylvanian ancestors, wouldn’t mind a bloody steak and likes to be awake at night, but thankfully LOVES garlic. The other one has Russian ancestors with connections to the last Tzar, but has never eaten a single bowl of Borscht. We are both MASTERS of disorganization! The total sum of letters in all of our names put together (first, middle and last) is 35, and 18 of those letters are vowels. If you put one of us on top of the other, we stand 11′7” tall (that is a little more than 3½ meters). If you put us both on a scale… Oh no – we’re not going into THAT one!!!

For those of you who wonder – no, we are NOT SINGLE! We are married, TO EACH OTHER, and have been so since October 4th, 2004. We are going for GOLD, so stay with us until 2054, because if we make it there, we sure are going to PARTY! (Hopefully we’ll still be healthy enough TO party …)

You could definitely say that we are living the good life, enjoying every day in each other’s company. Married life, for us it really isn’t that much different from the single life – we have just been fortunate enough to find that certain someone to share the good and the bad with.
Since we share so many interests (and HABITS) – we both enjoy gathering facts, surfing the net (Internet brings people closer together, THAT’S for sure!) and writing about different things – we thought we would gather up some of the best things and share them with you.
The topics are so varied that there is bound to be something for everyone – they range from dry facts to the more light hearted, warm and fuzzy stuff. If anything in particular catches your eye, if you agree or disagree, if you feel that we have gotten something wrong or if you have something you would like to add – feel free to tell us about it! (That’s what the “Comments” are for!)

Enjoy!

Ps. There is also a much younger Ranter lurking about on the site. If you just keep your eyes open, there might pop up a thing or two from that one as well. (A qualified guess would be something about animals, music or Sims 2, but you never know…)