Words to use with caution when traveling in Scandinavia.

Asgar

Hi!

This is more of a fun thread for those who will travel between the Scandinavian countries.

Even thou the languages are closely related, doesn't mean that there can be a lot of misunderstandings. Between the three Scandinavian lanuages there are a lot of "false friend" words. (False Friend= a word that is the same between to languages but has two totaly difrent meanings. Ex: English word Gift, in swedish the word means Poison or Married)

One example I have between Sweden and Denmark comes with the constant trafic of Swedish people buying cheap beer in Denmark.
In swedish I would say: "Jag vill köpa en back öl!" I would like to buy a crate of beer.
To a Dane this would sound verry strange since the word back would sound like the danish word bakke. That in this content would for a Dane mean a tray.

One other example of misunderstanding would come if you know the Danish word for "Bag". In danish this is "Taske". But if you travel over to sweden and use the word, and think that the Swedes would know what you are talking of..... Then you might find that you are mistaken. In certain parts of Sweden "Task" or "Tasken" refers to the male genetalia... so be carefull what you learn.

I'll end his with a question ;-)
Why would a Dane laugh his head of when reading a sign that is not to uncommon at the Swedish schools?
The sign reads "Det är förbjudet att bolla mot väggarna" English: "It is forbidden to bounce balls off the walls"

Have fun
Asgar the Viking

Unpossible

means Poison or Married)

interesting how posioned and married mean the same thing.


Just a tip for all you Travellers to finland, as Bill Cullen would say:
Just between you and me pussi isn't what you and I would call a p*ssy in this city,
btw fanny is a brand that makes yogourt here



There is also a supermarket called K Supermarket which has KKK in huge letters over its doorway


PS I know finland is not in scandinavia, but its close enough

naitkris

it's all good

with Denmark and Sweden playing against each other in Euro 2004 some Nordic jokes are definitley in order

one that used to have my English speaking friends laugh when i was younger (i.e. very young!) would be when i would use the word "fart" in a sentence, which in Swedish as "sätta fart" means in English something like "get going"

Danish and Swedish are too different spoken and i have some difficulty talking to a Dane, yet talking to a Norwegian is almost no problem for me as a Swede. Norwegian is like the middle language of the three and were a Dane, Swede and Norwegian be put in a room together, it'd be the Norwegian one understanding most.

Asgar

ww) I'm fluent in Danish but I'm native Swedish. But I grew up with Danish TV, so I had an advantage when learning Danish. Plus that I have no problem understanding the most obscure dialect of norweigan. I learned that during my time here in Dublin of all places.

The sentence the Danes would laugh at: "Det är förbjudet att bolla mot väggarna"
For a Dane this would mean, that it is not alowed to F**k against the walls.

The Danes love their morning bread. They go to the local baker in the morning and get their "Morgenbrød". If they use that word in Norway.... they would not get the same responce from the baker as they thought... Because in Norway "Morgenbrød" means Morning Hardon.

manzana

oh well.

i remember i read something about a magazine in swedish. how to dress smartly for a work. there was a man who told in the article that he took his "slip" off when he was at work.
i was WTF .. i thought slip = women's underwear, as it is in italian. i didn'r know it means 'cravatte' or tie in swedish. :eek:

there is a terrible amount of false friend words between italian and finnish. though neither are really scandinavian, .. embarassing.

i think cazzo is an universal word so not just italians understand it ('dick'). well, the finnish word 'katso' (look) is pronounced the same way. so finnish turists in italy can sound terrible. they are in a group and someone says "look at the sea" (katso merta) .. and what you hear in italian is something else (d*ck s**t) .. :ninja:

they have also an animal called minkki, somehting like a ferret .. so 'look at that ferret' would be 'katso minkkiä", sounding d*ck d*ck to the italians. minchia is the word for cazzo in sicilian)..

panna is the other way around. in italian it's cream, and finnish it's to put, and to f*ck. so a friend of mine, an italian girl, was in finland buying an ice cream. she didn't remember how to say cream in english, so she asked the blond nice guy seleling ice cream with her italinish english "excuse me, can i have some panna" .. :eek:

Asgar

Hahaha I'm supprised that no finns has gotten in to any fights in Italy. :eek: