So I purchased my tickets to Stockholm last night. I’m both excited and nervous. On the one hand, I have always wanted to visit Sweden and now I am finally going to do it. I am looking forward to exploring the city and the surrounding areas, testing out my Svenska, and hopefully meeting new people. On the other hand, being as shy as I am, and the fact that I will be by myself during this trip, I’m scared of not breaking out of my shell.
Meanwhile, my studies in Svenska continue. I’m confused on some things though:
- Is the ‘g’ in Jag silent or what? I mean, it is totally silent on Rosetta Stone… but then go watch GoSwedish on YouTube and she very clearly says the ‘g’.
- This also goes for “och”. Do you make the hard ‘k’ sound at the end of the word? They don’t on Rosetta Stone.
- Same for “det”. Is the ‘t’ silent?
- Okay, so on Rosetta Stone they pronounce “det är…” as “day ear”. On GoSwedish is sounds like “dett ahr”. What the..? Are they both right? Which is more common?
- In Rosetta Stone, when referring to more than one person, they use the word “de” (pronounced “dom”). But elsewhere, I have seen the “de” replaced by “dom”. What’s up with that?
- What’s the proper pronunciation for “tion” in a word like “tunnelbanestationen”? I’ve hear it sound like “shu” and also more like the sound made when saying the number 7 (I don’t even know how to write out that pronunciation, lol).
So yeah, those are some of the questions I hope will be answered during my trip (seeing as I doubt I even have any readers here on The Local, let alone anyone willing to answer my questions online.
I leave you with a picture I took last weekend near Pike Place Market.
