Are there any people, not native spekears, who have learnt both English and Swedish? (Norwegian) Which language is more difficult? As far as I know English is more complicated, at least its verbal system, it's got plenty of tenses. What about pronunciation, Is the Swedish pronunciation harder than the English one? I'm also acquainted that Swedish preserves the grammatical gender but the English vocabolary should be much richer?! Am I wrong?
English vs Swedish or Norwegian
J'ai été éduqué en français et j'ai appris l'allemand AVANT d'étudier l'anglais et le suédois.
Mon opinion :
- le vocabulaire suédois est plus simple, plus rationnel, plus intuitif que celui anglais,
- grammaire un tout petit peu plus complexe,
- prononciation plus facile et logique pour un niveau conversationnel courant (par contre, une parfaite prononciation académique requiert de maîtriser des subtilités peu évidentes). Quelques mots ont une prononciation illogique (comme en anglais), avec parfois des lettres finales omises (comme en français), mais ce sont des mots parmi les plus communs.
Mon opinion :
- le vocabulaire suédois est plus simple, plus rationnel, plus intuitif que celui anglais,
- grammaire un tout petit peu plus complexe,
- prononciation plus facile et logique pour un niveau conversationnel courant (par contre, une parfaite prononciation académique requiert de maîtriser des subtilités peu évidentes). Quelques mots ont une prononciation illogique (comme en anglais), avec parfois des lettres finales omises (comme en français), mais ce sont des mots parmi les plus communs.
I think it depends on your native language, if...for example, you are German, I think the vocabulary of Swedish would sound a bit more intuitive to you, while if you are Italian the English one will be easier, the reasons are the different influences the two languages had.
You shouldn't worry about the grammatical gender in Swedish, there are only two genders: a masculine-feminine one and a neuter one. And they are quite easy to remember.
The verb systems are really quite the same, with English only being slightly more complex.
And the pronunciation is not a big problem either, in this case I think Swedish is a bit harder, having some particular features that you would learn very quickly with a bit of experience.
You shouldn't worry about the grammatical gender in Swedish, there are only two genders: a masculine-feminine one and a neuter one. And they are quite easy to remember.
The verb systems are really quite the same, with English only being slightly more complex.
And the pronunciation is not a big problem either, in this case I think Swedish is a bit harder, having some particular features that you would learn very quickly with a bit of experience.
Si j'écoute quelqu'un en parlant le suédois, ça me semble qu'il chante - il y a de tons, je crois. Cette langue me semble différent de toutes les autres langues européennes. Est-ce qu'il y a de cas grammatiques comme en allemand?
No, no grammatic cases, that's a very positive thing (I think).
And yes, Swedish and Norwegian are sometimes described as being tonal (although not in a strict way as Chinese is).
This derives from the fact that the simplification of the vocabulary from the old Norse lead to similarities between these new words and already existing words, so the only way to distinguish them was to give them a different tone, stressing either the first or the last syllable.
And yes, the other Scandinavian people say that the Swedes "sing" when they speak, simply because sentences are stressed in a different way than they are in other Indoeuropean languages.
And yes, Swedish and Norwegian are sometimes described as being tonal (although not in a strict way as Chinese is).
This derives from the fact that the simplification of the vocabulary from the old Norse lead to similarities between these new words and already existing words, so the only way to distinguish them was to give them a different tone, stressing either the first or the last syllable.
And yes, the other Scandinavian people say that the Swedes "sing" when they speak, simply because sentences are stressed in a different way than they are in other Indoeuropean languages.
Les italiens chantent aussi lorqu'ils parlent? n'est-ce pas vrai? Pourquoi ça?
I think that it's due to so many double consonants. They are the responsible for such intonation.
«Luke Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:35 am GMT
I think it depends on your native language, if...for example, you are German, I think the vocabulary of Swedish would sound a bit more intuitive to you, while if you are Italian the English one will be easier, the reasons are the different influences the two languages had.
You shouldn't worry about the grammatical gender in Swedish, there are only two genders: a masculine-feminine one and a neuter one. And they are quite easy to remember.
The verb systems are really quite the same, with English only being slightly more complex.
And the pronunciation is not a big problem either, in this case I think Swedish is a bit harder, having some particular features that you would learn very quickly with a bit of experience.»
Since the football team I support has a lot of Swedes in their team they asked whether they found it easy to learn Dutch.
No that wasn't easy, as the system was completely different. There was one player however, who also learned German in the past who could use it within 6 months. The others weren't able to within a year. So I think German and Swedish aren't that similar.
I think it depends on your native language, if...for example, you are German, I think the vocabulary of Swedish would sound a bit more intuitive to you, while if you are Italian the English one will be easier, the reasons are the different influences the two languages had.
You shouldn't worry about the grammatical gender in Swedish, there are only two genders: a masculine-feminine one and a neuter one. And they are quite easy to remember.
The verb systems are really quite the same, with English only being slightly more complex.
And the pronunciation is not a big problem either, in this case I think Swedish is a bit harder, having some particular features that you would learn very quickly with a bit of experience.»
Since the football team I support has a lot of Swedes in their team they asked whether they found it easy to learn Dutch.
No that wasn't easy, as the system was completely different. There was one player however, who also learned German in the past who could use it within 6 months. The others weren't able to within a year. So I think German and Swedish aren't that similar.
Well no...they are not so similar, but the vocabulary of Swedish is more related to German than to English.
Except this Swedish has very few features in common with German
(like the verb stays always in the second place, for example "yesterday I went...", in German "Gestern ging ich..." and Swedish "Igår gick jag..." etc.), but for the rest it has undergone to a high level of simplification similar to the one English had.
Except this Swedish has very few features in common with German
(like the verb stays always in the second place, for example "yesterday I went...", in German "Gestern ging ich..." and Swedish "Igår gick jag..." etc.), but for the rest it has undergone to a high level of simplification similar to the one English had.
Swedish has tones, doesn't it? That would be an added complication? But yes from what I know of the Scandinavian languages they seem slightly more complex grammatically, with gender and a few adjective endings retained plus one other past tense form of verbs. However I believe they have no present tense conjugations at all, which means learners are never going to make the 'classical' mistake in English of saying something like 'He want', plus I understand the tense/aspect system is simpler (The tense/aspect system in English is supposedly the richest out of the Germanic languages somewhat ironically). I don't know about vocab or pronounciation.
>>That would be an added complication?<<
Sorry, no question mark intended here.
Sorry, no question mark intended here.
tense/aspect system in English is supposedly the richest out of the Germanic languages
I agree, but I woudn't include icelandic verbs, they are highly inflected and conservative compared to other Germanic languages
I agree, but I woudn't include icelandic verbs, they are highly inflected and conservative compared to other Germanic languages
The biggest difference between Swedish and German is pronunciation
For example, Germans and Swedes pronounce Göteborg and Igen differently. G pronounced as Y in Swedish but G in German.
"fick" means receive in past tense in Swedish but fuck in German.
For example, Germans and Swedes pronounce Göteborg and Igen differently. G pronounced as Y in Swedish but G in German.
"fick" means receive in past tense in Swedish but fuck in German.
Hahahaha!
Yes, you're right!
Well there are also other words with different meanings in Swedish-English:
for example "fart" = speed; "slut" = end; etc.
Yes, you're right!
Well there are also other words with different meanings in Swedish-English:
for example "fart" = speed; "slut" = end; etc.