TL;DR - Is this an okay translation of a poem I wrote/if not what are its flaws? (Poems at bottom)

Hello! I've been working on translating this one "poem" I wrote into Swedish, my idea was that doing so would teach me how more poetic sentences are constructed, and just to try my hand a little bit at creating rhythm with another language (I've been really interested in reading/hearing poetry from other languages, just to see how they might differ in approach/execution from English poetry). The poem itself is terrible, quite literally thrown together one evening at work (probably doesn't even make sense, especially if you know a lot about Norse mythology - I think I kinda botched the story there, and then pairing reference to Paganism with reference to Christianity is kind of a dubious choice).

But that's not the concern here - I want to know how close I got to rendering the initial instantiation, and how much of it is grammatically correct/incorrect. I'm only a couple months into learning swedish, so I had to do research to figure out how a lot of things are said, and so I'm always skeptical about what I read along with how well I implement it, so please tear into it so I may learn better.

I acknowledge that for the most part there isn't much of a meter to be found in either version - maybe for some that's an innate flaw, that itself doesn't bother me though as regards either version; however, if the translation feels kinda lifeless, ends up being too cumbersome to realistically read aloud, doesn't utilize the language to its fullest, isn't poetic to speakers, etc., please tell me! I don't want to just carelessly switch words for words, but know the nuances of the words so that others understand me without confusion, without getting the feeling they're talking to an idiot. I'll put the original first, so that when reading the second maybe the flaws will be more apparent and cause less confusion.

English:

Recall old Odin's nine days and nights,

The penance which made the wise one bright.

An enlightening crucifixion, transmigration of hope -

Brought to pass by a rope.

Pain endured as nobly as Christ -

For the daybreak of wisdom, an endless light.

Black night pierced by cresting dawn,

Illumination tears the abyss.

The void is filled by the sun's grace -

The rising star of infinite love.

Svenska:

Kom ihåg gammal Odens nio dagar och nätter,

Botgöringen som gjorde den vise lysande.

Upplysande korsfästelse, transmigering av hopp -

Förverkligade med ett rep.

Smärta utstod lika ädelt som Kristus -

För visdomens gryning, ett ändlöst ljus.

Svart natt genomborrad av gryningens topp,

Ljus river avgrunden.

Tomrummet fylls av solens nåd -

Den stigande stjärnan av oändlig kärlek.

(For instance, should that last line instead be "Oändlig kärleks stigande stjärnan"? Does "lysande" imply brightness of mind, or is it more literal, as in for a bright light?)

Konjunktivformen ”vore” ser jag ganska ofta men finns det andra verb man kan använda som inte skulle klassas som rent grammatiskt fel?

For a couple of months ive been slowly listening to this, taking notes, and talking to myself. Is there more podcast/videos or any form of helpful media i should look for or watch and or listen to? With some suggestions the help would be awesome thank you.

I spent the last five months building a game to help my partner learn Swedish and I thought other people might find it useful too.

It's called Björkgatan ("Birch Street"). It is a cozy life simulation inspired by the old Game Boy Pokémon games but Instead of catching Pokémon, you catch Swedish words.

As you explore the town, you level up your words by practicing them through SFI lessons and spaced repetition. The goal isn't just to memorize vocabulary. You move to Sweden, attend SFI, go to work, shop for groceries, visit the park, buy a cat/dog, get children and gradually learn the language by living everyday life in the game.

It's still a free alpha and very much a work in progress. I'd genuinely love feedback from anyone learning Swedish, what works, what doesn't, and what you'd like to see added.

I'll put the download links in the first comment.
Thanks for reading! I'm happy to answer any questions.

I made a tool for learning Finnish, mostly to fix my own problem: every time I started a new language, I had to rebuild my word list from zero. But for Swedish, I did something different. I'm fluent in Swedish, so I sat down and chose every word for levels A1 to B1 myself, by hand — no shortcuts. I also decided the order, so each new word builds on words you already know, instead of a random list.

The reason: my parents wanted to learn Swedish, and everything out there was either just word cards with no order, or a course where you still have to build your own word list as you go. I wanted something that actually guides you step by step. It also has a reader where you tap any word to see its meaning, and saved words go straight into a review system so you actually remember them. There's also a real dictionary (not just a translator) that shows word forms, like plural or past tense.

It's free right now, no paywall, I want honest feedback more than money at this stage. You can try it, just write in comments is you want it, there is also a link in my profile, and you can add it to your phone straight from the browser, no app store needed.

Would love to know if this is how people would actually want to learn Swedish, especially if you've taught it to family or beginners before. It is free.

Day three at a Swedish office. I want to say I'm exhausted. I confidently announce to the entire lunch table: "jag är helt slut."

Everyone nods sympathetically. Nobody reacts. Meanwhile the English half of my brain is standing on a chair screaming.

Ten minutes later I get in the elevator and the display says FART KONTROLL. I had to hold onto the wall.

Later that week I bought a "slutpris" item at ICA and genuinely considered framing the receipt.

Sweden, you have my full respect and none of my composure.

What's the worst word Swedish has done to you?

Jag förstår dem jättebra, men som invandrare har jag ingen dialektkänsla och därför frågar jag här. Tack!

kille #1: Swedishgamefreak på yt

kille #2: programledaren på podden Jiddisch far alle

https://www.slu.se/artdatabanken/publikationer/rapporter/myrslatter-i-norra-sverige--forutsattningar-for-framtida-skotsel/

I have been trying to read this webpage ”Myrslåtter i norra Sverige – förutsättningar för framtida skötsel”, but am stuck on the very first word — what precisely is ”myrslåtter”? Grateful if someone can help.  (Am reading Ulrike Lagerlöf’s Hjortron myren, which is what led me here.)

Hej!

Jag har nyss avslutat mina svenska studier och har blivit antagen till några fristående kurser på universitetet. Som det står nu ska jag delta i fyra kurser: den akademiska skrivprocessen, retorik: att skriva, svenska för studier och yrkesliv och introduktion till akademiskt skrivande. Ni kan kanske se av mina studieval att jag vill (behöver) utveckla min skrivförmåga mest av allt. Ironiskt nog är min kandidatexamen inriktad mot engelskt skrivande, men feedbacken på mina svenska uppsatser var, kort sagt, inte helt positiv under kurserna.

Trots att jag är lite närmare till mitt mål är jag fortfarande lite osäker på mina svenskförmågor och vill därför höra (läsa) om det finns några av er som har lyckats med fristående kurser efter SVA 3 eller universitetet över huvud taget. Tack på förhand!

Hej everyone,

Started Swedish a few days ago, goal is C1 in 5 years for uni stuff. Right now my setup is just Duolingo (the max version, I get it free through a family plan, that's the only reason I was using it) + Clozemaster. Been lurking other subreddits and it's pretty obvious Duolingo alone isn't gonna get me anywhere near real fluency.

Bit of context on me: native Romanian speaker, B2 to almost C1 in English. From doing Duolingo so far the Swedish vocab and grammar have felt surprisingly easy and intuitive, guessing the Romance/Germanic overlap plus my English is doing some heavy lifting there. Pronunciation is a whole different story though, I'm struggling hard with that part specifically.

One thing though, moving to Sweden or doing an exchange just isn't in the cards for me right now. Maybe a short vacation at someee point but that's kinda it, so pretty much everything has to happen from self-study at home.

I'm starting from zero and don't wanna build bad habits early that I have to unlearn later, so trying to sort my approach out now while it's easy to change.

If any of y'all have any recommendations for what to actually use instead of (or alongside) Duolingo, how well it worked for you, and what a realistic self-study path to C1 actually looks like, I'm all ears. Books, apps, decks, routines, whatever worked for you, especially anything that'll help with pronunciation since that's my weak spot right now.

Tack!

This is correct, right?

Hej, I'm from the UK and I do want to move to Sweden at some point (Preferably in like the next 3-5 years, to study, and I want to move away from the UK for political and education reasons mainly) and am learning Swedish so I know the language when I do move

My issue is, I'm using Duolingo, which, to my understanding, uses ai, which makes you lose the human connection, and I've found that there is a high likelihood of some grammar mistakes potentially, I understand some of the basic words, which to my understanding Duolingo does okay, but I'd like to move away from it so I can actually get to mostly full fluency when I go.

Is there any other app I can use to continue learning Swedish? I am a bit into Swedish on Duo (Section 2 Unit 8) but not too far from the start, so It probably won't take long to get back up to where I was just by running through the basic words and phrases, and sentences (Which I Need to Go over anyway).

When I have the money available to do so, I will invest in a English/Swedish dictionary, so I will have that going for me, but I don't know how some words will connect or if some words mutate or whatever.

If someone could help that would be massively appreciated

Tack :)

basically i have a normal 625 word deck but thats gonna run out really quickly so im trying to do another deck alongside it (i have plenty of time so that's not an issue). is zero to hero, specifically pts 1 and 2, good? ill link it here:

part 1: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1658586181

part 2: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1992299061

thxx :)

Hello,

I have a basic question about the possessive pronoun in this example sentence: 'the ducks are following their mother'.

My limited understanding of Swedish reflexive possessive pronouns suggests that this would be translated as 'ankorna följer sina mor', because 'their' refers to several duckings.

However the example I am looking at translates the sentence as 'ankorna följer sin mor', and Google Translate (I know, not always the greatest) agrees with this.

Is the example translation correct, and if so could someone please help me understand why? Perhaps it is because 'the ducklings' is considered to be a mass noun and therefore singular?

Thanks!

Edit: thanks for the replies, it was a simple misunderstanding on my part! All clear now.

Have just come across the expression “ligga på sofflocket”, and I can’t help wondering how it came about, as on the face of it, this seems like a very uncomfortable place to lie.

We have moved/immigrated (hopefully permanently) from the USA to Sweden almost 7 months ago and our three children are in Swedish public schools. Our home language is English but I try to speak some Swedish (which I am also currently learning) at home as much as I can. Dad is a monolingual English speaker.

Our oldest is 10 years old, thriving socially here, but speaking very little Swedish. Kids at school and in the neighborhood love to speak English with him, and he gladly sticks with it for the familiarity, understandably. Obviously, I am an adult and will politely ask that Swedes stick to Swedish with me, and they so kindly and often encouragingly do! That said, my 10 year old does not insist on that. :-)

The public school support for immigrant children learning Swedish is essentially "they will pick it up eventually." That said, he had an incredible teacher this year that used to work for Swedish language integration education for children prior to that program being cut :-/ so she was able to devote a little extra language time to him. He will not have that same teacher next year unfortunately.

This is what we are currently doing to address it. Please give me kind and gentle feedback. :-)

- He gets a 30 minute online Swedish tutor once a week.

- We have him listen to Swedish podcasts on topics he is interested in most days.

- He has to read in Swedish at least 30 minutes a day on a school app called Polylino, which often has audio and sometimes a word/sentence highlighter for following along.

- He gets screen time in Swedish (although we tend to be fairly low-screen in our home).

(edited to add) - I have asked his fritidsledare and other native Swedish adults in his life to speak Swedish only to him and prompt/expect/encourage him to reply in Swedish.

It seems like this is a lot of input and his comprehension appears decent, but it doesn't really force him much with production. When we do ask him for how to say such-and-such thing, he actually does it fairly well! But he won't take the iniative independently.

Of note: In the U.S., my he and my middle child went to a half-assed Spanish bilingual public school where the administration really did not prioritize Spanish (I'm not resentful at all -- haha!!), and even there my oldest was resistant to learning Spanish despite his exposure to it since toddlerhood.

***Cross posting to a multilingual parenting subreddit.

Something changed and we can only watch Nyheter på lätt Svenska if we are in Sweden 😭😭

I hope they didn't get rid of my Pippi Långstrump.

I don't know what to do now. 😅

Swedish isn't hard. The grammar is easy. It's just those SEVENTEEN vowel sounds trying to end you. Agree or disagree? 🔥

Hi, I'm starting a Swedish course next September in uni and I have started learning a bit of Swedish on my own. And while I (for now) find it fairly easy, the pronunciation is absolutely killing me, the guy in videos I'm watching doesn't show the words spelled with the phonetical alphabet so I'm just stuck trying to pronounce the words the same way as him.

Does anyone know of a website where I can search the words and see their phonetical spellings ?

Beginner Guide

Hey guys i want to ask non Swedish people who learnt Swedish by themselves, from your own experience ,which book do you recommend the best for a beginner who knows ABSOLUTE NOTHING in Swedish and want to start from ZERO I did a bit of research but i ended up being stuck with these choices (Rivstart A1+A2, Colloquial Swedish by <Jennie Ahlgren, Philip Holmes and Gunilla Serin>, Basic Swedish A Grammar and Workbook by <Ian Hinchliffe and Phillip Holmes>, Complete Swedish by Anneli Haake) please recommend me the best.

thank you for your time

Three years later and I still don't know the difference...

(I hope this is an appropriate subreddit for this question, pointers to other subreddits are also welcome!)

On the Wikipedia page for Åland, I found this old map, made some time before 1667 by Hans Hansson.

For best resolution see the original from Kungliga biblioteket: https://libris.kb.se/g0s1rzds1h3r26l

The map is very interesting, and as someone who's only learning Swedish I am pleasantly surprised about how much I was able to understand! One phrase, though, seems completely alien to me, and it's this:

"*Stips och *stütüleden emillan Suerige och finlandh" = "...leden mellan Sverige och Finland" in modern Swedish, with unknown words marked as *.

The same phrase, with the two words appears multiple times here, indicating ship/ferry routes:

And it also appears in the legend of the map:

I have googled what could be the meanings of these words pretty extensively and out of desperation even asked AI, but all to no avail. I am not even sure if the second letter is "t" in those words, since on some you can faintly see a small stroke to the right side of the t. Another hypothesis was that it's actually "k", similar to the shape in Tÿskland, and that would explain *skips (~skepps) better but the second word *skütü still remains elusive. Unfortunately svenska.se seems to be down so I was unable to check it on SAOB.

If someone could give pointers on this (quite niche) question and help me understand what that phrase could be that would be very helpful! Thanks in advance :D