Parrot Time Magazine

Proverbs from the World:
Swedish

The world is full of languages, which in turn are full of proverbs and proverbial phrases. Some of them are very culture related, some instead very universal. The language of choice this time is Swedish. In Swedish the language is called "svenska".

Swedish is the main language spoken in Sweden and the official language there and in Finland. It is the native language of the majority of Swedes. There are also five official minority languages: Finnish, Meänkieli, Sami, Romani and Yiddish. The number of native speakers is about 9,2 million. There are native speakers even in Estonia, although there the amount of speakers has declined drastically over the years, and only a handful remain to this day.

Swedish belongs to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, and more specifically, to the North Germanic language sub-group. Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are known for their high degree of mutual intelligibility, and some argue that they could be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language, but the matter is not simple, as they all have their separate orthographies and everything else defining an autonomous language. The Swedish dialect spoken in Finland has a pretty distinct pronunciation and some unique and archaic vocabulary, and it’s called Finland Swedish, finlandssvenska. Considering the current amount of native speakers in Finland, 5,4 %, the language has a strong status there. Finland has a long history with Sweden.

The alphabet is Latin, with the unusual letter å. Swedish has two grammatical genders, common (en form) and neuter (ett form), and nouns have singular, plural, indefinite and definite forms. The form of an adjective defining a noun depends on the form of the noun.

Being an Indo-European language with Christian history, many of the proverbs, ordspråk, seem to be of international heritage. Many of them also have a direct equivalent in the neighbouring Finnish language which is not related but has been in close contact with Swedish throughout the history.

Here are some selected proverbs:

1. Av skadan blir man vis.
Translation:
From injury a person learns.

Direct equivalent in Finnish:
Vahingosta viisastuu.

Meaning:
People learn from their mistakes.

2. Av barn, fyllon och dårar får man höra sanningen.
Translation:
From children, drukards and madmen people hear the truth.

English equivalent:
Children, fools and drunken men tell the truth.

In Finnish this proverb commonly mentions only children but otherwise it’s the same: Lasten suusta totuus kuullaan.

3. Blod är tjockare än vatten.
Translation:
Blood is thicker than water.

Direct equivalent in Finnish:
Veri on vettä sakeampaa.

Meaning:
Family ties are stronger than other types of relationships.

4. Den som tiger han samtycker.
Translation:
Who stays quiet, consents.

Direct equivalent in Finnish:
Vaikeneminen on myöntymisen merkki.

Meaning:
No comments and therefore no opposition is interpreted as consent when new ideas are presented.

5. Även en blind höna kan hitta ett korn.
Translation:
Even a blind hen can find a grain.

Equivalent in English:
Even a blind pig may occasionally pick up an acorn.

In Finnish the proverb is like in Swedish, about hens, not pigs:
Kyllä sokeakin kana joskus jyvän löytää.

Finally one very Swedish proverb: 6. Blott Sverige svenska krusbär har.
Translation:
Only Sweden has Swedish gooseberries.

Meaning:
Sweden is a unique country.