Learn how to talk about your ethnicity
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jasmine: Talking nationality in Swedish. This is the second in a five part series that will help you ease your way into Swedish. |
| Morten: Hey, [Jag heter Morten]. I'm Morten. Welcome. In this lesson, you will learn how to introduce yourself and tell people where you’re from. |
| Jasmine: Which is essential while traveling to Sweden because that will be the first question people will probably want to ask you. |
| Morten: Whether you’re in a language class, in a new country or in a new city, in our small world you can always find someone from somewhere else. |
| Jasmine: And in this Boot Camp we’ll be talking about ethnicity. |
| Morten: We’ll also go over one of the easy building blocks of learning Swedish - word order. |
| Jasmine: So have a listen to these Swedish students talk about where they are from. And while you’re listening, try to guess their ethnicities. |
| Morten: And I’ll give a hint - the first part of the words for nationalities are transliterations. |
| Jasmine: So if you do some mental gymnastics, you might be able to guess the nationality. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Jasmine: Hej. Jag heter Jasmine. Jag är svensk. |
| Morten: Hej. Jag heter Morten. Jag är engelsk. |
| Morten: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Jasmine: Hej. Jag heter Jasmine. Jag är svensk. |
| Morten: Hej. Jag heter Morten. Jag är engelsk. |
| Morten: And now with the translation. |
| Morten: Hej. Jag heter Jasmine. Jag är svensk. |
| Morten: Hej. Jag heter Morten. Jag är engelsk. |
| Morten: Hello. My name is Jasmine. I'm Swedish. |
| Morten: Hello, My name is Morten. I'm English. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jasmine: Because Sweden has had an influence with England and America, the language is recognized in many places. From the time when the Vikings traveled to when thousands of Swedes moved to America in search for a wealthier life in the 19th century. |
| Morten: And don’t forget to mention our fascinate music industry. |
| Jasmine: If you know Swedish you will see many random words within the English language. |
| Morten: That’s right. Take for example [Smörgåsbord] |
| Jasmine: I know what that means. That’s like a “buffet”. |
| Morten: Exactly, but it is actually a Swedish word with the same thing. Literally it means “sandwich table”. |
| Jasmine: Of course, nothing beats being able to order delicious food using only Swedish. |
| Morten: Or traveling from south to north, interacting with the people who live there. |
| Jasmine: It’s a truly wonderful experience and worth all the hours of study. |
| Morten: The fact that it is becoming more and more of an international destination makes it even more exciting to learn. |
| Jasmine: Yeah, I wish I could learn it like you guys. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Morten: Ok, now let’s take a look at the words we used in these phases so all our learners will be able to share where they’re from. The first word is… |
| Jasmine: [Svensk] |
| Morten: Swedish. |
| Jasmine: [Svensk] |
| Morten: The next word is… |
| Jasmine: [Jag är] |
| Morten: I am. |
| Jasmine: [Jag är] |
| Morten: Next we have… |
| Jasmine: Engelsk] |
| Morten: English. |
| Jasmine: [Engelsk] |
| Morten: And then we have… |
| Jasmine: [Jag] |
| Morten: Me. |
| Jasmine: [Jag] |
| Morten: And finally we have… |
| Jasmine: [Heter] |
| Morten: Called. |
| Jasmine: [Heter] Cool. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Jasmine: We already learned the greeting “Hey” in Boot Camp one. |
| Morten: And [Hej, jag heter]. |
| Jasmine: Right. “Hi. My name is [Jag heter]”. |
| Morten: Now, before you say your nationality you need one word. It is extremely important and you will use it all the time. |
| Jasmine: [Jag är] |
| Morten: That’s right. The word means “I am” in English. We won’t go into all the grammar, but can you say it once more slowly? |
| Jasmine: [Jag är] |
| Morten: And one more time faster? |
| Jasmine: [Jag är] |
| Morten: So in the dialogue we heard the speaker say [Jag är] and then the word… |
| Jasmine: [Svensk] |
| Morten: Which is the way someone would say “I am Swedish”. |
| Jasmine: That’s right. |
| Morten: So altogether that’s… |
| Jasmine: [Jag är svensk] |
| Morten: Listeners, please listen and repeat. |
| Jasmine: [Jag är svensk] |
| Morten: So what was the other nationality we heard in the dialogue? |
| Jasmine: [engelsk] |
| Morten: That sounds a lot like England. |
| Jasmine: That’s right, Morten. It comes directly from the English word for “English”. |
| Morten: That should be easy to remember. Listeners, listen and repeat the phrase. |
| Jasmine: [Jag är engelsk] |
| Morten: Please notice the [Jag är] didn’t change, just the word for an English person. |
| Jasmine: Sounds easy but let’s move on to the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Morten: Yes. We’ll have to tackle a more tricky subject there. |
| Jasmine: But don’t worry, we’ll make it as easy as possible. |
| Morten: Good idea. The focus of this lesson is gender in Swedish. |
| Jasmine: That’s right. We’ve learned how to say “I am Swedish” or “I am British”, but this is usually the way men would say it. |
| Morten: That’s right. Women can also use this but there is a special feminine form that only women use. To specify gender like this is becoming less and less common in modern Swedish. How can a woman say “I'm Swedish”? |
| Jasmine: [Jag är svenska] |
| Morten: The sound is slightly different at the end but it was mostly the same. Can you say the feminine version again? |
| Jasmine: [Jag är svenska] |
| Morten: And the masculine version? |
| Jasmine: [Jag är svensk] |
| Morten: Listeners, please notice the [A] sound added at the end of the feminine form. Please repeat the feminine version. |
| Jasmine: [Jag är svenska] |
| Morten: And now repeat the masculine version. |
| Jasmine: [Jag är svensk] |
| Morten: So let’s take this word and boot camp it up a little. What do you say? |
| Jasmine: I'm not sure what “boot camp it up” really means but I guess we’re going to find out. |
| Morten: We’re going to list a number of nationalities, first in the masculine and then in the feminine form. Listeners, try to follow along and catch the subtle differences between the two. Ok, let’s start with Swedish. Again, the male version will come first. |
| Jasmine: [svensk, svenska] |
| Morten: Now “Russian”. |
| Jasmine: [rysk, ryska] |
| Morten: American? |
| Jasmine: [amerikan, amerikanska] |
| Morten: And “English”. |
| Jasmine: [engelsk, engelska] |
| Morten: How about “Japanese”? |
| Jasmine: [japansk, japanska] |
| Morten: And “Chinese”? |
| Jasmine: [kinesisk, kinesiska] |
| Morten: French. |
| Jasmine: [fransk, fransyska] |
| Morten: And finally “Italian”. |
| Jasmine: [italiensk, italienska] |
| Morten: Listeners, did you catch the difference? |
| Jasmine: At first, it might seem a bit overwhelming but with practice it will become a second nature. |
| Morten: Yes, and all you have to do is add that little word… |
| Jasmine: [Jag är] |
| Morten: To any of these to say “Where are you from?” If you use the feminine form, they can also be used to refer to the spoken language. |
| Jasmine: Very true. It is not the same for talking about language or design, for example. |
| Morten: Ok, let’s recap. Listeners, how do you say “I'm Swedish” if you’re a woman? |
| Jasmine: [Jag är svenska] |
| Morten: And what about if you’re a man? |
| Jasmine: [Jag är svensk] |
| Morten: Great. Now, listeners, try to make some simple sentences with your own nationality. |
| Jasmine: Have some fun. |
| Morten: You’ll find more of them in the lesson note that accompanies this lesson. |
| Jasmine: So we hope everybody isn’t too tired after this Boot Camp. |
| Morten: I think we’re pretty nice Boot Camp instructors. We don’t, like, yell at listeners or anything like the boot camps I’ve seen. |
| Jasmine: So keep practicing and you’ll have these down in no time. |
Outro |
| Morten: That is it for this lesson. |
| Jasmine: Thanks for listening. [Hej då] |
| Morten: See you. [Hej då] |
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