Oh you fancy huh?
Aka. the tiny guide to Sweden for the incoming exchange students!
It seems Uppsala has been invaded by newbies! And since not all buddies are created equal I thought I'd sum up some of the questions I have been answering over and over this past week:
Basic Swedish:
hello: hej: pronounced similar to the english version 'hey' though the j sound is more like the i in oi! and is sat on much longer than the quick y in hey. Also important to note that this is HELLO and not HEY. You don't need to be friends with someone to use it.
thank you: tack :again, the ck is sat on longer than an english pronunciation, but the a is quite short. Can be said many times in quick succession. Thank you very much is tack så mycket pronounced kind of like 'tack saw m-eu-keh' The y is difficult to explain as it is not a sound found in english.
Sorry/Excuse me: If you're Canadian you may have to learn that there isn't one direct translation of sorry in Swedish and can no longer say it in place of other words. In the excuse me/I'm sorry senseyoucansay förlåt pronounced furlawt (note the å is not exactly an aw sound, but thats as close as I can figure out). You can also say ursäkta (ew-sheckta) if someone is in your way.
I don't speak Swedish/I speak English: Jag pratar/talar inte svenska (Ya pratar inteh svenska) / Jag pratar/talar engelska (Ya pratar engelska). Note that pratar and talar ultimately mean the same thing, but pratar is more commonly used/less formal.
That can be extended to the question Do you speak english? : Talar/Pratar du engelska? (Pratar do engelska?)