Swedes don't talk

I spent this past weekend in New York with two Swedish girlfriends. I flew from middle of nowhere/Alberta, Canada, and they came from middle of Sweden. New York seemed like half way and way more exciting than any of the places we all normally live in.

What hit me the most was my girlfriends reflections of the people we met everywhere. "Wow, they are so polite!" "So many people are talking to us!"

What they meant by "talking" was maybe the phrase "There you go!" or "How are you today?" or "Have a nice day!"

This makes me wonder: How do the tourists and new immigrants to Sweden see the Swedes? Propably totally rude! The most Swedes would say to a stranger is: "Hej!" or "Tack!" (Swedes do know how to say thank you).

This little blog is to warn anyone going to Sweden. Don't expect an overwhelming welcoming! Swedes don't mean to be rude. Being quiet when seeing a stranger is just the way we are. We are maybe shy. Most of us simply don't think it's necessary, or meaningful to talk to strangers, asking for example how they are doing. We wouldn't get an honest answer anyway!

Take Swedes for what they are, and enjoy Sweden as it is! You will hopefully find our positive sides eventually, even if it may take time.

Blog about Melodifestivalen in Sweden | Swedish phrases and words to know for the Eurovision song contest

Swedes are coming in to a favourite season. No, they don't love slushy winter/spring, but inside by the TV, every Saturday night, it's their highlight of the year: Melodifestivalen 2013!

Also called Mello, Swedes love to hate this contest. What is it? In English it’s the Swedish song contest to elect the best song the Swedes can come up with for the Eurovision song contest. Normally Swedes have bad music taste, according to the rest of Europe, but last year we found the right hit with the help of Loreen, and won Europe’s hearts with the song Euphoria. Sweden finished number one (!) and the Eurovision contest will therefore this year be held in Malmö, Sweden.

But, what are the Swedes doing during the 6 weeks long season of Mello?

Other than watching song contests on tv 6 weekends in a row, complaining about the songs, the artist’s hair and clothes, eating snacks and drinking beer?

Well… we do other things… we... uhm… discuss the songs and artists every weekday on facebook, twitter or blogs, we find out more about the artists personal life in newspaper, on the radio and on every tv channel, we bet on the songs...

See! We have a life.

But for you who learn Swedish and want to be able to have a conversation with a Swede between February and May and to understand the media, here are some important words and phrases to know in Swedish:

Fel låt vann! = Wrong song won

Den var kass = It was terrible.

Den var kanon. = It was awesome.

Rösta på Carola! = Vote for Carola!

No, just kidding… she is actually not competing this year, nor Danny – another Mello-artist. But we could say:

Rösta på Army of Lovers/Ulrik, David Lindgren...

Jag älskar schlager! = I love ... well, this is the Swedish word for hit song and a type of Music that almost only configure in the Melodifestivalen.

Storfavoriten höll/föll. = The mega favourite artist won/failed.

And the headlines will likely include the word Eufori, just to be witty, like:

 

EUFORI I MALMÖ I MAJ

 

Read more about it (but in Swedish) here.

 

Another good blog about this phenomenon.