Learn how to talk about languages
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jasmine: Hej och god morgon. Jasmine here. |
| Morten: Hej, allihopa. This is Morten and you're listening to SwedishPod101.com Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 5 - Which Languages Do You Speak in Sweden? |
| Jasmine: We have an exciting lesson ahead of us today. |
| Morten: Yes, as usual. |
| Jasmine: In this lesson, we will look at how to talk about the languages you speak and the ones you're learning. |
| Morten: The conversation takes place on a soccer field just outside the Ostkupan student halls in Kallebäck. |
| Jasmine: Our main characters are once again, James and Anders. |
| Morten: Anders is at the hall as part of his job for the IO. He sees James play soccer with some other people and walks up and talks to him. |
| Jasmine: This is now official match, just to kick about. James is taking a quick breather. |
| Morten: This is a casual encounter, so the situation has as you can imagine, very little formality. Let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Anders: Hej, James. Du spelar bra. |
| James: Tack Anders. Många här spelar bra, men jag förstår inte allas språk. |
| Anders: Jaså, hurså? |
| James: De där pratar franska. De talar ingen svenska och mycket lite engelska. |
| Anders: Jaha, vad kul, så många språk. Själv studerar jag spanska och japanska. |
| James: Oj, vad intressant. Då talar du många språk. |
| Anders: Nej, inte än. Min spanska är okej, men min japanska är fortfarande svag. |
| James: Som min svenska... |
| Anders: Nej, du talar ju nästan flytande. |
| Morten: And now let’s hear it slowly. |
| Jasmine: Nu ska vi lyssna på den sakta versionen. |
| Anders: Hej, James. Du spelar bra. |
| James: Tack Anders. Många här spelar bra, men jag förstår inte allas språk. |
| Anders: Jaså, hurså? |
| James: De där pratar franska. De talar ingen svenska och mycket lite engelska. |
| Anders: Jaha, vad kul, så många språk. Själv studerar jag spanska och japanska. |
| James: Oj, vad intressant. Då talar du många språk. |
| Anders: Nej, inte än. Min spanska är okej, men min japanska är fortfarande svag. |
| James: Som min svenska... |
| Anders: Nej, du talar ju nästan flytande. |
| Morten: And now, once more time with the translation. |
| Jasmine: Och en gång till med översättningen. |
| Anders: Hej, James. Du spelar bra. |
| Morten: Hello, James. You're a good player. |
| James: Tack Anders. Många här spelar bra, men jag förstår inte allas språk. |
| Morten: Thanks, Anders. Many here are good players, but I don't understand everyone's languages. |
| Anders: Jaså, hurså? |
| Morten: OK, how come? |
| James: De där pratar franska. De talar ingen svenska och mycket lite engelska. |
| Morten: Those there speak French. They speak no Swedish and very little English. |
| Anders: Jaha, vad kul, så många språk. Själv studerar jag spanska och japanska. |
| Morten: Really, so many languages. I am studying Spanish and Japanese myself. |
| James: Oj, vad intressant. Då talar du många språk. |
| Morten: Oh, how interesting. You speak many languages. |
| Anders: Nej, inte än. Min spanska är okej, men min japanska är fortfarande svag. |
| Morten: No, not yet. My Spanish is OK, but my Japanese is still weak. |
| James: Som min svenska... |
| Morten: Like my Swedish... |
| Anders: Nej, du talar ju nästan flytande. |
| Morten: No, you speak almost fluently. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Morten: James is playing soccer with many other international students, isn't he? |
| Jasmine: Well, we don't know. They could be exchange students, but they may also be Swedes with immigrant backgrounds. |
| Morten: Are there a lot of foreigners in Sweden? |
| Jasmine: Foreigners, I wouldn't exactly call them that. They are people with other language backgrounds living in Sweden. |
| Morten: Okay, so integration has been successful in Sweden. |
| Jasmine: Well, what does that mean successful? Sweden has about 15% of people with immigrant backgrounds of some sort. |
| Morten: But most of them speak Swedish when answered about? |
| Jasmine: I suppose that depends, but generally yes. |
| Morten: So they speak Swedish and in school they study? |
| Jasmine: In school everyone studies Swedish and English plus at least one other foreign language. |
| Morten: Like French or German? |
| Jasmine: Yes, these are the traditional languages, but in recent years Spanish has become increasingly popular. |
| Morten: And I hear even Asian languages like Chinese and Japanese. |
| Jasmine: Yeah, that's true. On top of that, pupils from a non-Swedish speaking background usually get hemspråksundervisning. |
| Morten: So that means they are instructed in their native language? |
| Jasmine: Yes, only a few hours per week and sometimes there are not enough students or no teachers. |
| Morten: Yes, I heard. There are more than a hundred languages spoken on Swedish school yards. |
| Jasmine: That's right. |
| Morten: So what about the level of English that people have in Sweden? |
| Jasmine: Generally around 90% of Swedes speak English. |
| Morten: You have a lot of TV in English with subtitles, don't you? |
| Jasmine: Yes and English is very popular. |
| Morten: So if you don't speak Swedish as a visitor to Sweden but can make yourself understood in English, that's all right? |
| Jasmine: Absolutely, in most cases, you'll be just fine. |
| Morten: And now, let's move on to the vocabulary section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| First we have. |
| Jasmine: Förstår (förstå) [natural native speed] |
| Morten: To understand. |
| Jasmine: Förstår (förstå) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Förstår (förstå) [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Ett språk [natural native speed] |
| Morten: A language. |
| Jasmine: Ett språk [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ett språk [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Talar (tala) [natural native speed] |
| Morten: To speak. |
| Jasmine: Talar (tala) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Talar (tala) [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have |
| Jasmine: Pratar (prata) [natural native speed] |
| Morten: To talk or to speak. |
| Jasmine: Pratar (prata) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Pratar (prata) [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Studerar (studera) [natural native speed] |
| Morten: To study. |
| Jasmine: Studerar (studera) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Studerar (studera) [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Franska [natural native speed] |
| Morten: French. |
| Jasmine: Franska [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Franska [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Svenska [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Swedish. |
| Jasmine: Svenska [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Svenska [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Next, we have. |
| Jasmine: Engelska [natural native speed] |
| Morten: English. |
| Jasmine: Engelska [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Engelska [natural native speed] |
| Morten: And finally, we have. |
| Jasmine: Japanska [natural native speed] |
| Morten: Japanese. |
| Jasmine: Japanska [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Japanska [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Morten: Let's take a closer look at the words and phrases from this lesson. In this lesson, we're focusing on a conversational phrase. |
| Jasmine: That's right, practical everyday stuff again. |
| Morten: If you want to express your enthusiastic approval of what's just been said, you can say? |
| Jasmine: vad kul |
| Morten: Meaning, how cool or how fascinating. Literally it means, how fun. So if I told you I made lot of friends at a party, listeners, what would you reply? [pause]. |
| Jasmine: Yes, that's right, vad kul. |
| Morten: This phrase is often used with small interjections like no and O. |
| Jasmine: Nej vad kul, Åh vad kul! So if I tell you that I found a new job, what would you listeners say? |
| Morten: Vad kul or Nej vad kul. |
| Jasmine: Our next phrase is also very common and useful to know. |
| Morten: It's about getting the other person to confirm what they've just said. |
| Jasmine: Say you tell me about your vintage car and the trip you're planning to take it on. I might say. |
| Morten: vad kul, how cool. And if I tell you I'm going on holiday to Australia tomorrow, you will say once again? |
| Jasmine: Vad kul. |
| Morten: So, I say, Jag pratar japanska. |
| Jasmine: Nej vad kul! |
| Morten: Tack. Thanks a lot. |
Lesson focus |
| And now, let's move on to the grammar section. In this lesson, we're all about languages and their names in Swedish. |
| Jasmine: We've already taken a look on countries and nationalities. Fortunately names of languages are a lot easier. |
| Morten: I'm sure you remember there are two different ways to say that you're English or French. |
| Jasmine: Jag är fransman or Jag är fransk. |
| Morten: I am Frenchman or I am French. |
| Jasmine: Yeah. And then Jag är fransk you already have the basic ingredient for saying the French language. |
| Morten: As we heard in the dialogue, that is? |
| Jasmine: Franska. Jag talar franska. |
| Morten: What about not speaking a language, how can I say I don't speak Swedish? |
| Jasmine: Jag talar inte svenska |
| Morten: Please listen and repeat. Jag talar inte svenska |
| Jasmine: Jag talar inte svenska. But you already speak a little, so you could say? |
| Morten: Jag talar lite svenska. |
| Jasmine: I speak a little Swedish. Please repeat after me, Jag talar lite svenska |
| Morten: Jag talar lite svenska. And what about other languages, how can we know what to call them? |
| Jasmine: Well, thankfully the names of languages are more regular than those of countries or nationalities. |
| Morten: But still not absolutely regular, right? |
| Jasmine: Tyvärr, unfortunately, that is correct. |
| Morten: In that case, let's cover a few more languages. How about German? |
| Jasmine: Jag talar tyska. |
| Morten: I speak German. What about Japanese? |
| Jasmine: Jag talar japanska. |
| Morten: Or I speak a little Spanish? |
| Jasmine: Jag talar lite spanska |
| Morten: Please listen again and repeat. |
| Jasmine: Jag talar lite spanska |
| Morten: Very good, I speak a little Spanish. |
| Jasmine: And if you want to say that you don't speak a language, put in the word inte. |
| Morten: This word means not or in this case don't. Another useful word. Can we see it in action? |
| Jasmine: Jag talar inte engelska |
| Morten: I don't speak English, something you will hopefully not hear in Sweden. |
| Jasmine: Right, that's unlikely. Plus… |
| Morten: When you get to Sweden or the next time you meet a Swedish person… |
| Jasmine: You will already speak some Swedish. |
| Morten: So practice what we've learned so far and impress those Swedes. |
| Jasmine: For impress, they will be. Listeners, do you know the reason flashcards are so popular? |
| Morten: It's because they work. |
| Jasmine: We've taken this time tested studying tool and modernized it with my word bank flashcards. |
| Morten: Learn vocabulary using your eyes and ears. |
| Jasmine: It's simple and powerful. Save difficult and interesting words to your personal vocabulary list called my word bank. |
| Morten: Master words in your my word bank by practicing with flashcards. |
| Jasmine: Words in my word bank come with audio, so you learn proper pronunciation… |
| Morten: …while you learn to recognize words by sight. |
| Jasmine: Go to SwedishPod101.com now and try my word bank and flashcards today. |
| Morten: Thanks for this lesson. Tack, allihopa. Hejdå |
| Jasmine: Tack. Hejdå. |
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