It's Sweden's national day today, so I invite you all to hear our national anthem and see some nice pictures of our beautiful country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKtZVeSAK40

Enjoy.

I'm Italian, but I hate Italy
Hope a day to live in Sweden or Norway, my favourites countries!

Happy Sweden Day!!!

Happy National Day my Prince!!! We salute you and your County.

Your YouTube does, indeed, show some of the spectacular beauty of your homeland.

But from the Music Department, I much prefer the rendition of your National Anthem found in this clip, not just because the lady is pleasing to look upon, but because Calola's singing presents "Du Gamla Du Fria" in a much more "beautiful" manner than the instrumental which accompanies the beautiful scenery of the first clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaNZGUW6eVU

More of the beautiful countryside of Sweden is available in several of the clips on the page dELTA provided, such as:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlHaschCX2s



Regards,

For anyone interested in following the words of Calola's singing of the Swedish National Anthem, here is one listing of the words with an English translation.

Swedish National Anthem
Du Gamla, Du Fria, Du Fjällhöga Nord

Du gamla, Du fria, Du fjällhöga Nord,
du tysta, du glädjerika sköna!
Jag hälsar dig vänaste land uppå jord
din sol, din himmel, dina ängder gröna!
Din sol, din himmel, dina ängder gröna!

Du tronar på minnen från fornstora dar,
då ärat ditt namn flög över jorden.
Jag vet, att du är och du blir, vad du var.
Ja, jag vill leva, jag vill dö i Norden,
Ja, jag vill leva, jag vill dö i Norden.


O glorious mountain crown'd land of the North,
thou quiet thou joyous land, I love thee,
I hail thee as fairest of lands on this earth;
Thy meadows green, the sun in heav'n above thee,
Thy meadows green, the sun in heav'n above thee.

Thy throne is the mem'ry of great days of yore,
when all through the world thy name was carried,
thou art this, I know, the same as of old.
In thee I'll live, in thee I'll die, thou North Land,
In thee I'll live, in thee I'll die, thou North Land.

(Damn program won't do side by side columns. :mad

Regards,

Thanks JMI and evilcry!

And those are nice clips indeed JMI! One particularly cool thing is the series of snaps from the Swedish Icehotel, starting at about 1:51 in the second clip. This is an entire hotel built and sculpted in pure ice (including the furniture etc(!), which can be seen in these snaps too). It is entirely rebuilt each autumn, and melts away naturally with the spring each year. Definitely recommended if visiting the northern parts of Sweden in winter!

Some more info here:
http://www.icehotel.com/Winter/Icehotel/

And evilcry, what you say seems to be quite common with Italians I've learned. I've already given one reverser at this board the grand tour of Stockholm, including a traditional Swedish dinner at my house...

Oh, and if you want to live in Sweden (and while we're at it linking to national anthem videos with nice images of Sweden), I guess you'd need to learn to sing the lyrics too, so here are three more nice versions with lyrics (sorry, maybe a little too caught up in the national day celebrations here ).

This one also has some nice Stockholm pictures:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46tuVH16VDg

This one has a little less interesting sunset pictures, but still good for clear lyrics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mshagu47xGg

And finally, a "karaoke" version, if you really want to learn and follow the words (also including all the verses, not just the most commonly sung first two verses, quoted by JMI above):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ4rpH4wLMQ

Didn't they blow up the IceHotel in one of the James Bond films?

Just kidding, my Prince!

Regards,

In the USA, Sweden is mostly all about three things:

1) IKEA;
2) the hot blond-haired exchange students they send to our high schools;
3)
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/290/abbaqz2.jpg

Hehe, yeah, I know. I guess those things are not the worst things imaginable though, so it's ok.

And regarding the ice palace in that James bond movie, actually, the following can be read on its trivia page at IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246460/trivia).

Oh that is a horrible picture! I have just burned my vinyl collection..

I do have several CDs of ABBA's songs. They were always fairly good foot tapping rhythms which were easy to sing along. They certainly were a very big hit here in the US for several years.

And, Yes, My Prince, I did know that they didn't blow up the "real" Ice Hotel. Although, since it melts and is rebuilt each year, it would not have been that big a deal to "end" it's life a little early.

Regards,

Jesus jumped up christ....................

ABBA, for the love of all that is holy............

Could there not have been a vodka for number 3 ?
Or some fish or some other natural wonder.

Its ABBA for christs sake. Stop the madness

JUST STOP THE MADNESS .

Woodmann

Extremist, add to your list:
- hospitality
- kindness
(- vodka )

Evilcry: go to Sweden, definitely

Å ja , den söt svensk dam de/vi/du/ni är böter. Lång levande Svensk dag.

Hehe, it took me a few seconds to figure out what the hell that sentence said, and even more importantly, the reason for why your translation software produced such a strange sentence, and what you really meant. Then it came to me that the reason for it was that the word "fine" (as in "that's one fine girl" and "fine" (as in "park here and you'll get a fine" are homonyms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym) in the English language, but not in the Swedish language. Thus, your translation software thought that Swedish girls were "fine" (as in the bad parking scenario).

But sure, I'll agree that there's plenty of "jail bait" material walking around here, especially in the summer...

eheh Thanks for the hints dELTA, Sweden has an highly evolved concept of Structural Engineering, should be great to work in a such advanced State

I suspect that, even in Sweden, attempting to "fool around" with a "too young" Swedish girl, can actually result in a "fine" or maybe even jail time.

Regards,

As it happens (which might of course be what you were referring to in the first place), you will see another fine example of structural engineering at 2:01 in the same video as the Ice Hotel appears (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaNZGUW6eVU). It's "The Turning Torso", in the Swedish city of Malmö, followed by "The Öresund bridge", connecting Sweden and Denmark in the south.

how well-spoken is english in sweden? i was in montreal for recon and i was surprised at how many locals didn't speak much english.
also, how do they feel towards americans? if i go to sweden and say i'm an american will i get stabbed in the face?
and do american accents have the same effect on swedish women as british accents have on american women?

Sweden is actually famous for the well-spoken English of its citizens. If you walk up to any random person between the age of say 15 and 50 in the street, chances are pretty high that they will be able to speak fluent English with you, and chances are extremely high that they will be able to make themselves understood and understand what you are saying if you simple it down a bit.

About the general public opinion about Americans, I guess that it has been somewhat damaged during the last 8 years or so, like in most other parts of the world, but not at all to a level where there should be any problems in the streets. One tip if you don't want to be disliked is to not be loud and pushy, since this is the "bad part" of the American people's image in Sweden. This is in part also because Swedes are a bit extra withdrawn and distance keeping towards strangers compared to a "world average", while Americans are often on the other side of the scale, which makes for a little clash.

Finally, I'm not sure what effect British accent has on American women, but I don't think there should be a very big effect either way. Sure, some girls might find an American to be a little extra cool, because there is such a large American influence in TV series and movies, and because they are foreign in general, but that's about it I'd say.

Anyway, do you have any real plans to go here? Make sure to let me know in that case, and we'll meet up for a beer or something like that.

Every Swede I've spoken to has presented themself with immaculate English.
So much so that it puts me to shame for my lack of multilinguality

dELTA, thanks for the very complete response. Yes, I am serious about going.. I just need to find some vacation time. Sweden is in the top 3 or 4 places that I'd like to visit now.

Only top 3 or 4, wtf? Anyway, cool, just let me know when you have some more specific plans then!

Oh, and if possible, try to avoid going during this August, since I will be in the US during that time, which would make a somewhat ironic switch.

Sweden have also a great level of atheists and high quality of Metal!

Indeed.

This is true for pretty much all of Europe - Europeans are generally less loud and in-your-face than Americans, and there's often a clash of culture.




By all accounts a British accent has quite a disproportionate effect on American women. Some people say it's the Hugh Grant effect, but even if you have a "normal" (ie: non-affected, non-posh) southern English accent the same results can be observed. Just like a science experiment

So next time you meet an American woman, simply say "what ho my lady, is it time for tea and crumpets, yah?"

Yes, but the Nordic (i.e. the North European) culture can clash enough with the South European culture in this aspect, so then you can imagine the clash between the Nordic culture and some Americans... The Brits are much closer to the Nordic culture than to the South European culture in this aspect I'd say though (and they are indeed relatively far up north to, although not members of the Nordic countries (which are: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland)).

Sounds like the echo of "The Ugly American." Even many of us also find the "ME, ME, ME" and "I am THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WHOLE WORLD" attitude of many in the U.S. more that difficult to take. Part of it is a culture where the TV and Advertising attempts to convince everyone that "they" are the only thing which is important and that "they" should have what-ever-they-want, which is just a subtle way of saying: "Buy the crap we make and sell for ridiculous prices, because "we" say it will demonstrate "you" are a member of the "in crowd."

On the other hand, there are millions of Americans who would, and a very great many who have sacrificed their "all" to attempt to help and save other peoples from "the forces of darkness." At the same time, there are also some who have difficulty telling "darkness" from the "real" light.

Simply put, we Americans, as a group, are neither all good, nor all bad, and most of us are more like the rest of the peoples of the world than we are different. It is a problem world wide that we humans are prone to "generalize" about each other. It is a "shortcoming" practice within most countries, where peoples are categorized by "others" because of their "differences," rather than recognized for those many characteristic and qualities which are shared.

But enough philosophy for one post.

Regards,

Yes, generalization is bad. Just to make sure I'm not offending anyone here, I'd like to clarify that I'm in no way trying to say that one culture is better than the other, and I'm not even speaking about the acts and undertakings of entire nations in the world at all.

Rather, it is just a well-established fact that different cultures often perceive each other in certain common ways. Not because the people of one or the other other culture "misbehave" in any way, but rather because what's considered a "normal" level for certain different factors of behavior and social interaction is more or less different and far apart between these cultures.

Either way, psychology and social interaction are very interesting fields.

And I would be the last to deny that certain Americans have not presented the personalities of our widely diverse peoples, in general, in a very favorable light. But these people present themselves and are known as "ugly Americans" even here at home.

No matter where they might go, life in only about themselves, and that is the way they behave, all the time. Generally the result of a poor upbring and a lack of attention to, or any the consideration of the "rights" of anybody, other than themselves.

Regards,

Hmm, you may well be right about that, although my perception is that British culture is drifting slowly towards American culture.

And with regard to the other point, remember this proverb: "Empty vessels make the most noise"

...i will never ever forget the time that I said a natural "give me the cd" to the a small store in London, and the guy looked offended, lowered the voice tone and answered something like "give me the money" looking his friend.

...then I suddenly remembered why the fucking absence of declination in verbal stems imposes the presence of the personal pronoun in sentences.

...which is, more or less, what delta was pointing about the cultural differences to take care when travelling among different nations: way of acting/commercially relating that can often be perceived as arrogance, or making you become a ball-breaking guy because you are used to ask for something and wondered why the result is not what you were expecting.

Just be flexible and remember that what may look a natural way to relate to you can be seen as 'too direct' and so 'arrogant' elsewhere

...and this happens even from EU to EU country as well, no need to travel for many thousands miles, believe me