OK snapshot: Skandinaviska (Scandinavian)

Nu med egna vokaler...
a new language, Scandinavian, now with its own vowels? The umlaut o got
both dots (from Swedish and Finnish), and a slash (from Danish and
Norwegian). Well, whatever works, right?
What is in the bag? Strawberry-flavored candy that looks like long string.

November

It is something special with the autumn.


November med skiftningar av ädelt pälsverk
[November with Nuances of Noble Fur]
skrivet av nobelpristagaren i litteratur 2011 Tomas Tranströmer
[written by Nobel Prize winner in Literature 2011, Tomas Tranströmer]

Just det att himlen är så grå
får marken själv att börja lysa:
ängarna med sitt skygga gröna,
den paltbrödsmörka åkerjorden

Det finns en ladas röda vägg.
Och det finns marker under vatten
som blanka risfält i Asien-
där stannar måsarna och minns

Disiga tomrum mitt i skogen
som klingar sakt mot varann.
Inspiration som lever skymd
och flyr i skogen som Nils Dacke.
 ____________________
Update and translation by LS

Somewhat to majorly non-sensical, logical, or funny Swedish words

... soppatorsk...  (literally meaning 'soup-cod', cod like the fish cod).  The meaning is: when you run out of gasoline while driving a car or boat.

...slå en sjua...  (literally meaning 'dial a seven').  This is the same for a man as in 'go and pee'.  I have never heard a woman say it.

...skitstövel....  (literally meaning a 'boot filled with shit') . Used about a person who is doing something really mean.

And then there are words that make sense but are kind of funny in their fantastic logical construction:

...slickepott... (literally meaning 'lick-the-pot'). Used for a silicon or rubber spatula used in the kitchen to scrape out the last of the dough from a bowl. 

...svartsjuk...  (literally meaning 'black-sick').  This means envy or envious.  Can't you see a person becoming black in his or her face of envy?

....grönsaker.... (literally meaning 'green things'.  This is of course vegetables, what else could it have been?

Enjoy!

Learning Swedish through Swedish music classics

There is so much great music in Swedish that never made it outside the borders.  A person in nearby me is currently learning Swedish and she loves music, so this is for her - listen and learn!  (And the rest of you can as well, of course.)

Sofia Karlsson, a fantastic young artist, recorded a new version of my favorite Peps Persson's 80's blues and reggae song För livet ('For life') in 2007, a song that I heard over and over again growing up and loved.  Peps version is filled by his 'skånska' accent from southernmost Sweden, but Sofia's version turns it more into a folk ballad.  You can listen to Sofia's version here. And here are the lyrics, line by line, with translation (literal, as much as possible) in parentheses.  Enjoy!

This song is a homage to all living things, all species.  Peps Persson has written several songs on this theme, and also songs that criticize society, capitalism, and materialism.  Som of this more famous song titles are (in translation): High Standard, False Mathematics, Oh Boy, and The Totally Fooled Generation.

Jag spelar för livet,      [I'm playing for life]

för allting som växer      [for everything that grows]
som lever och andas,       [that lives and breaths]

och föds och dör.          [and get born and dies]
Jag spelar för livet,      [I'm playing for life]

jag vet inget annat        [I don't know anything else]
som ger både mening        [that gives both meaning]

och dagligt bröd           [and daily bread]
Jag spelar för livet,      [I'm playing for life]

jag sjunger för full hals  [I'm singing out loud ('full throat')]
Jag leker med toner        [I'm playing with tunes]

och kysser ord             [and kissing words]
Jag spelar för livet,      [I'm playing for life]

med huvudet i himlen       [with the head in heaven]
och fötterna dansar        [and the feet are dancing]

på Moder jord              [on Mother Earth]

Jag spelar för livet, natt och dag [I'm playing for life, night and day]
Jag spelar för livet, sådan är jag [I'm playing for life, that's how I am] 
Jag spelar för livet, dag och natt [I'm playing for life, day and night] 
Jag spelar för livet, därför att   [I'm playing for life, because] 
Jag spelar för livet               [I'm playing for life]

Jag spelar för livet     [I'm playing for life]

med bultande hjärta      [with pounding heart]
och själen bräddfull     [and soul filled full]

av glädje och sorg       [with happiness and sorrow]
Jag spelar för livet     [I'm playing for life]

jag våndas, jag njuter   [I am scared, I am happy]
och säljer min möda      [and selling my work]

på månglarnas torg       [at the marketers' square]
Jag spelar för livet     [I'm playing for life]

och glömmer bort döden   [and forgetting about death]
för vid den horisonten   [because at that horizon]

syns inget ljus          [there is no light]
Jag spelar för livet     [I'm playing for life]

och litar på tiden       [and trust that time]
som alltid har växt      [which always has grown]

till nästa nu            [to the next now]

Jag spelar för livet, sådan är jag [I'm playing for life, that's how I am] 
Jag spelar för livet, natt som dag [I'm playing for life, night and day] 
Jag spelar för livet, dag och natt [I'm playing for life, day and night] 
Jag spelar för livet, som besatt   [I'm playing for life, like possessed] 
Jag spelar för livet               [I'm playing for life]

There is a Youtube video of Sofia and her band singing this song too, but the audio quality is not as good as the link above.  And, here is Peps Persson's song False Mathematics (Falsk matematik), in Swedish original, about the unfairness of rich and poor...