Facts to go
Swedish has compact words – which is a challenge to translators
Swedish is a Germanic language and is the first language of around 10 million people, mainly in Sweden and some parts of Finland. But many people also understand Swedish in other parts of Scandinavia. Distinctive grammatical features of the language include the additional letter Å and the two genders common (for masculine and feminine terms) and neuter. Another peculiarity: there are some Swedish words that are not easy to translate.
As there is no one-to-one translation, the meaning of these compact words often have to be paraphrased in other languages, often with lengthy explanations. Good examples of this are the terms fredagsmys (taking time out on a Friday evening for a cosy get-together with the family and making yourself comfortable with snacks in front of the TV) and kaffesugen (a desire for a nice cup of coffee combined with a little break from the stress of everyday life). These special words challenge even native-speaker translators, as they have to render the meanings authentically and appropriately in a translation. Nevertheless, with a
professional translation, you can be sure that every word is correctly translated. Because real professionals are on the case.
The friendly and the formal “you” – and what that means for translation
In Sweden, the informal “you” pronoun is used – whatever the context. Both in private and in business contexts, people usually use the informal form in Swedish. You do not even have to know the person you are addressing. Apart from members of the Swedish royal family (and even here, things are now more relaxed), no one will have their nose put out of joint if you use the informal form.
This change from formal to informal and informal to formal must also be taken into account in a Swedish translation. With the correct form of address, you can speak to your readers in the language that is familiar to them and make a better impression on them. In marketing translations, in particular, the change makes sense (perhaps less so in
legal translations). The less a (marketing) text comes across as stilted and formal, the greater the probability that the message of the text will strike home – and that you will acquire another customer. If you are translating a Swedish text into German, for example, you have to watch out for the opposite case. Not every country uses informal personal pronouns everywhere.
Swedish, Danish, Norwegian – all (virtually) the same
For anyone who does not know the three languages, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian probably look almost identical at first sight (and they sound similar, too). In fact, they are closely related, all three belonging to the Scandinavian family of languages. They share many similarities as a result and only differ from one another on a few points. There are grammatical differences, for example, in the number of cases, with more in Swedish and Norwegian than in Danish. The position of verbs also varies in each language.
Nevertheless, Swedes and Danes understand one another very easily. Many of the words in the two languages have similar roots and meanings, which makes communication easier. But this is not the case for all words and expressions. That’s why you should not simply assume that you can reach the whole of Scandinavia with a
Danish translation – at least not if you want to make a good impression. It is always better to translate your messages into precisely the language of the people you are addressing. You will find native speaker experts for this through a professional translation service provider.
