Translate carefully: false friend words in Swedish
Hi! I am Jessica Tovesson, founder and instructor at Learn Swedish Now, LLC. I offer my customer the absolutely best way to learn Swedish: with live online instruction from a native Swedish speaker! In my lessons I incorporate Swedish culture, current events, and various aspects of everyday life in Sweden to keep my customers engaged, entertained, and entertained as they quickly advance their skills. One particular source of amusement that often comes up in my lessons has to do with a concept of false friends words. This is when words or phrases in different languages are similar phonetically but have different meanings. When a word in Swedish sounds very similar to one in English it is easy to assume they have the same meaning, but when they don’t the result can be funny, weird, or even embarrassing! In today’s blog I will list some false friends words in Swedish-English translation. Pay attention and you might avoid some awkward situations…
Bra – This Swedish word does not refer to a type of underwear, but actually means “good”, as in “Låten är bra” - “This is a good song”.
Farthinder - The Swedish word fart translates to speed in Swedish. When you are driving in Sweden and see a sign that says “farthinder”, it is informing you about an upcoming speed bump.
Barn - It would be easy to assume that this Swedish word is used when discussing structures commonly found at farms. The actual translation to English is “child”.
Mitten - This is not something that you wear in winter, but rather the word for “middle”.
Rap - This Swedish word is not a music style, but rather means “burp”.
Far - You might think this is something in the distance, but the correct translation is “father”.
Stare - Not a stern look, but a type of bird called “Starling” in English. When the Swedes notice that the stare has arrived early spring many Swedes start spending more and more time outside in our beautiful nature.
Brand - Swedish word for “fire”.
God - Might seem like it would be a holy being, but is actually the Swedish word for “tasty”.
Fan - A word to be careful with. While in English being a fan is a positive thing, in Swedish it is a profanity and reference to the dark lord himself.
Gift - This word has two meanings in Swedish: poison and married. Coincidence? I sure hope so.
Kock – This means chef, and nothing else. So the famous Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show is called “Svenska Kocken” in Swedish.
Puss - Okay, this one is quite interesting. Puss is the Swedish word for “kiss”, while in Swedish kiss actually means urine…
And finally: Sex - The Swedish word that represents both the number six, and the human activity sex. Does this make any sense? Not as far as I can tell…
So now you know. You can’t make assumptions about the translation of words just because they sound similar. And if you want to learn more about the Swedish language, and perhaps culture, sign up for one of my free trials today. I will give you a lesson in Swedish and answer all your questions about my private lessons and group classes. Get started with speaking Swedish today!
