Tongue Tied

​Apart from having an absolute rubbish memory, one of the hardest things for me learning Swedish is that unlike French, the spoken Swedish language often sounds nothing like the written word suggests.

For example the Swedish for goodbye is written as ‘hejdå‘.

 When read with the English grammar and letter sounds that I have used all of my life, this suggests the word is pronounced ‘hedge dah’, but it actually sounds more like ‘hey door”.

Another is ‘hur mär du?

This is ‘how are you?’

Sure, you’d think ‘how are you’ = ‘her mar do’… but no, it’s more like ‘hur more ah’. 

Ett mä... to feel.

Looks like ‘et mah’ but is pronounced more like ‘or more’.

Lots of rolled ‘r’ sounds too.

I’m making some progress…