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SwenglishSwenglish (or svengelska in Swedish) is a slang term meaning English spoken with a heavy Swedish accent or Swedish with many English words. English with a Swedish accent This refers to a common phenomenon among Swedes who may not speak English too often. The result can be very amusing for native English speakers because of how it sounds. Unlike English, Swedish has monophthong vowels. This difference is sometimes forgotten about by Swedish speakers, resulting in mispronunciation. Swedish also lacks some sounds like 'th' and 'z'. In general, written Swedish corresponds to the pronunciation but that's not the case with English. This too, when forgotten, leads to mispronunciation and mis-stressed words. Literal translations of Swedish expressions and idioms are sometimes used by mistake or in belief that they are correct English. Also, several Swedish words have false friends in English. When trying to find a suitable English counterpart to a Swedish word, it is tempting to "translate" the word by simply transcribing the Swedish word into "English". However, the anglicized Swedish word may mean something completely different. This sometimes results in humourous situations. For instance: Swedish fart (speed) isn't changed resulting in "fart". So one might say: So you all have fart controllers in your cars? intending to inquire about cruise control in cars. In Swenglish, false friends are used often and without reflection. Many Swedish words turn rather obscene after transcription, and perhaps vocabulary mistakes have added to the stereotype of the sexually liberated Swede. One example of this would be facklitteratur, meaning specialist or non-fiction literature if properly translated. However, when just transcribed it suddenly sounds quite naughty. Another could be rap (burp) becoming "rape" if you add an English touch to it. Result: In my family no one cares if someone rapes during dinner, if you intended to talk about your relaxed manners. There is also the melodic accent which might be the funniest part of Swenglish, and is parodied by the Swedish Chef on The Muppet Show. The sound of Swenglish varies greatly with the speaker's Swedish dialect and of course with the knowledge of the English language. Swedish with English words The second meaning of Swenglish applies mostly sports, computing and business where Swedish lacks words for many concepts, like the word serve in tennis. It also occurs when a word is to be "modernised", shortened or otherwise updated, like outsource in business (older Swedish expression would be lgga ut (p entreprenad)). Other examples of this practice include mejl/mail instead of e-post (English: e-mail), printa instead of skriva ut (English: to print). Such slips easily happen when working with English software. English words may be imported with or without adjustments. See Also External links - TT-sprket - A page with Swenglish words and writing tips (in Swedish)
- Avigsidan - A site with funny language mistakes, including Swenglish (in Swedish)
- The Swedish Centre for Terminology - Technical and computer-related words translated to Swedish (Swedish site but has a link to other languages as well)
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