Swedish - The #1 North Germanic language!

Special thanks to Wilhelm Sandelin Anton for his audio samples and helpful suggestions!

Ali Mametraimov, AmateurTextualCriticism, Anjo Barnes, Anton Opanasenko, Auguste Fields, Bennett Seacrist, Bill Walderman, Brandon Gonzalez, Brian King, CFitz17, Clark Roth, Irina Bruce, J Choi, Jacob Madsen, John Moffat, Karl-Erik Wångstedt, Kenny, Kirk Kirkpatrick, Marcelo Loureiro, Matthew Etter, Michael Arbagi, Michael Cuomo, Michael Regal, Mody, Nobbi Lampe-Strang, Patricia Roxanne Warner, Paul Falstad, Rosalind Resnick, Ruben Sanchez Jr, ShadowCrossZero, Simon Jaglom, Victoria Goh, Vincent David, W T, Walter Moore, Wolfgang Egon, Schroder, Yamen Zein, Yuko Sunda, 19jks94, Abdullah Al-Kazaz, Adam Powell, Adam Vanderpluym, Admir Soko, Alan Corley, Alen, Alex Hanselka, Alexandre Smirnov, Ali Muhammed Alshehri, Alvin Quiñones, Andrew Transini, Andrew Woods, Anthony Kinread, Anthony Peter Swallow, Aous Mansouri, Ashley Dierolf, Avital Levant, Bartosz Czarnotta, Ben, Brent Warner, Brian Begnoche, Brian Morton, Bruce Stark, Chelsea Boudreau, chris brown, Christian Langreiter, Christopher Lowell, contumaciousCulimancer, Cyrus Shahrivar, Daniel Young, Darek, David Eggleston, David LeCount, Dean Cary, Debbie Willow, Diane Young, DickyBoa, Dieter Raber, Dina Trageser, divad, Divadrax, Don Ross, Donald Tilley, Ed B, Ed Heard, Edward Wilson, Eren Parla, Eric Loewenthal, Evolyzer, Fabio Martini, fatimahl, Fawad Quraishi, G Bot, Grace Wagner, Greg Boyarko, Gregory Garecki, Harry Kek, Henri Saussure, Herr K, Howard Clark, Hugh AULT, Ina Mwanda, Jack Jackson, Jaidyn Workman, Jakub Krajňanský, James and Amanda Soderling, James Lillis, JAMES ORR, Jay Bernard, Jenna Matthews, Jens Aksel Takle, JESUS FERNANDO MIRANDA BARBOSA, Jim McLaughlin, Jim Wink, JING LUO, JK Nair, JL Bumgarner, joanna jansen, John Hyaduck, Josh Rotenberg, Julie Sriken, Justin Faist, K M,
Kenneth Lum, Kirk Vistain, Klaw117, Konrad, Kristian Erickson, Krzysztof Dobrzanski, Kyle Ibarra, Kyle James, Lance Bedasie, Laura Morland, Lee Dedmon, Leo Coyne, Leo Barudi, Lincoln Hutton, Lissette Talledo, Lorraine Inez Lil, Louie dela Fuente, Luke Jensen, M.Aqeel Afzal, Mahmoud Hashemi, maiku, Margaret Langendorf, Maria Comninou, Mark, Mark Bonneaux, Mark Grigoleit, Mark Judge, Mark Kemp, Markzipan, Martin Blackwell, Merrick Bobb, Michael Poplin, Michael Sisson, Mike Frysinger, Mohammed A. Abahussain, Mário Pegado,
Naama and Geoff Shang, Nadia B., Nicholas Gentry, Nicole Tovar, Oleksandr Ivanov, Oto Kohulák, ou_lyss, Panot, Papp Roland, Patrick smith, Patriot Nurse, Paul Flynn, Paul Shutler, Pauline Pavon, Paulla Fetzek, Peter Andersson, Peter Nikitin, Peter Scollar, piero, Raymond Thomas, Renato Paroni de Castro, ReysDad, Richard Kelly, Robert Brockway, Robert Sheehan, Robert Williams, Roger Smith, Roland Seuhs, Ron McKinnon, Ronald Brady, Saffo Papantonopoulou, Sergio Pascalin, Shawn Galloway, Sheila Perryman, Sierra Rooney,
Sigbjørn Nerland, Simon Blanchet, Skarlett Gabriela, Spartak Kagramanyan, Stefan Reichenberger, Steven Severance, Suzanne Jacobs, Tara Pride, Thegamemonkey65, Theophagous, Thomas Chapel, thug rife, tommy dahill, Vinicius, Marchezini, Vitor, William MacKenzie, William O Beeman, Yagub Alserkal, yasmine jaafar, Yassine Ouarzazi,
Yeshar Hadi, Yuval Filmus, zhangyimo, Éric Martin, Навальный

The following photos are used under creative commons share alike license:

00:00 Our sponsor
00:12 General information about Swedish
00:50 A brief history of Swedish
03:16 Pronunciation & orthography
06:16 Swedish grammar
14:44 Closing comments
15:12 The Question of the Day
15:27 Recommended Swedish course

[Langfocus]

(Full disclosure: if you upgrade to a paid plan, Langfocus receives a small referral fee. But if I didn't like it, I wouldn't recommend it, and the free account is pretty good on its own!)

[BeryAb]

As a German speaker, Swedish is like Danish, but more normal.

[wham_]

I'm a native Swedish speaker, but you taught me a new word: boken, meaning overripe or spoiled (of fruit). Never heard before. ☺️

[seneca]

-I have never been to Norway.
-Why not?
-Beer is more expensive in Norway than in Sweden.

That's a pretty good reason actually.

[BackerSultan]

I agree with you about how enjoyable the process of learning Swedish is.

It took me two years to master the language. The pronunciation is sometimes a challenge but the language is fairly easy to learn.

The hardest part is not the language, it's finding people to talk Swedish to. It's hard to make friends in Sweden.

[martinstent]

Knowing now that “wherefore” means why, it suddenly makes me see “therefore” differently! Wherefore ... therefore! It’s the question and answer that reflect each other!!

[lhommeg]

This video reminded me of my French teacher, Jean. He was a Swede who taught French in Mexico Lol

[roskis]

As a Swede, I speak: 60% standard Swedish, 30% Östgötska and 10% Gibberish.

[Wilh]

When he said "'Öl är dyrare i Norge än i Sverige", I felt that.

[PastaPutin]

Textbook: "Nej, det gör han inte."
Me, a Swede: "Aedegöante."

Edit: Smålänning

[jakobfredriksson]

I'm a swede and would say I'm using about 20 percent local dialect and 90 percent standard Swedish because we're quite lousy at math up here.

[idunswahn]

me, a swede: *watches the whole video in awe, thinking swedish seems difficult*

[jesuschal]

As Spanish speaker it was more like a “walk in the park” to learn Swedish from English than if I had learned it from Spanish. The challenge has been to manage to go from a 5 vowel sound language to a 12 vowel sound language. You have to learn to differentiate long from short vowel sounds and to pry vowel sounds in between two that you are not able to differentiate. And the last problem is the “singing” sooo important! If someone would speak to me in Spanish with that Swedish singing I would have to “recompile” the phrase, flat it out and the repeat it in my head without the “melody”. The same thing happens to the Swedish people when listening to a Spanish native speaking Swedish. We speak so “flat” and “fast” that they need to recompile the phrase, put the melody and slow down the rpm from 45 to 33.

[mcgoldenblade]

I've actually studied Swedish a few years ago. It is by far the easiest language I have studied thus far. As a native English speaker, almost everything about it just feels so intuitive, it makes sense. I also adore Swedish history and culture, and just Nordic culture in general.

[gaber]

As an English speaker who spent Years learning the “easy” language of French to much success. Swedish is a breeze! So simple so intuitive. No wonder so many Swedes speak perfect english I’m assuming it’s a breeze for them too

[whereisamine]

I think the main challenge that comes with learning Swedish is that it’s literally impossible to speak it as a foreigner in Sweden since Swedes are all too good at English and rather impatient with foreigners trying their best to speak Swedish 😂 They’re just too quick to switch to English it’s incredible

[YuichiSakata]

I’m a Japanese but one of my friends is a Swede so I’m trying to learn Swedish language. Its sounds are so beautiful.

[gccsp]

I had a "tragic story" about swedish language: Some time ago I went to Sweden for business and for some reason I had to buy a specific type of adhesive tape. When I went to a shop I didn't find the tape so I asked help to an attender girl by using my broken swedish (I wanted to be nice by asking in swedish). For some crazy reason I mispronounced the word tape by using the equivalent word in portuguese which is FITA (I'm native BR portugese speaker), so the sentence was: Kan du visa mig var är din FITTA? (Could you show me where is your FITTA?)
Swedes will understand what kind of trouble I went through.

[MisterTipp]

Interesting facts about Runes in Sweden is that they were kept in use by the common people up until around the 1600s, and in certain places even longer. It was sorta customary for priests to learn Latin alphabet for official writing and runic writing for parishioners

[Jensildur]

Swedes' all time favourite conversation topic when visiting Norway: the beer is so expensive here.