Learning Swedish, one song at a time

[kareina]

For much of my life the goal "learn another language" has been on my to-do list, but it hasn't managed to get high enough on that list to actually be accomplished. Oh, sure, I've made a few half-hearted attempts at that goal, but the've all petered out fairly quickly.


Language Classes taken in Jr High/High School:
1978-79: French (1 quarter)
1981-1982: Latin (5 quarters)(5!?? but that is what my transcripts show--I earned an A in that class 5 times that year)
1982-83: Middle English (1 quarter)
1983-1984: Spanish (1 quarter)
Language Classes taken at APU:
In Fall Semester of 1984 I took a semester of Japanese, but the class wasn't available the following term.
In Spring Semester of 1985 I took a semester of French, but the class wasn't available the following term.
In Fall Semester of 1985 I took a call on Chinese (Mandarin), but the teacher moved away after that (and I did too not long there after)
Language Classes taken at UAA:
In Fall Semester of 1988 and Spring Semester of 1989 I took an entire year of Japanese, but did not continue thereafter.
In Fall Semester of 1989, and again in Fall of 1990 I took Norwegian as independent study: read the book, do the assignments, and once a week meet with the teacher to report my progress.
Language Classes taken at The Oslo International Summer School:
In summer of 1990 I spent six weeks in Oslo and took the intro to Norwegian class there.
Language Classes taken at UofO:
in Spring Semester of 1991 I took the third quarter of the year-long Norwegian class, which used a very, very different text book than I'd been using for my independent study. Then I moved to Ashland, where Norwegian wasn't a possible course.
Language Classes taken at SOSC:
In Fall Semester of 1993 and Winter of 1994 I took a class in German.
Language Classes taken at UTAS:
in 2005 I attended clovis_t's first semester Latin class with him while waiting for acceptance into my PhD program. The teacher gave me permission to sit in without being enrolled, and I took all of the quizzes, but didn't turn them in (not wanting to burden her with the extra grading) but rather checked my work the next day when she returned the quizzes to the others. We did all of the assigned translating together, and it was much fun to discuss the whys and wherefores of what we were reading. I would have liked to have done second semester as well, but then I had too much to do to re-learn all of the geology I'd forgotten between my Master's and PhD.
Language Classes taken in Italy:
in 2009 I took one semester of Italian. This was the first time I took a language course that was taught in the language we were meant to be learning (rather than teaching in English), and I found it very disconcerting. I suspect that had I actually wanted to learn Italian it would be a better way to learn the language. As it was I only sort of survived because of having had Latin so recently and being able to recognize those words which haven't changed (much) in the past 2000 or so years. (Note: students came from all over the planet--there was no common language for all of us, so it makes sense that it was taught in Italian.)


Learning a language is still on my to-do list, and with my upcoming travels in Sweden I've got yet another opportunity. This time I'm starting it by learning Swedish, one song at a time. My friend archinonlive has been teaching me songs, and has expressed a willingness to teach more when I head up to visit him next month. Sunday's song was a lullabye


Trollmor

När trollmor har lagt sina elva små troll
och bundit dom fast i svansen,
då sjunger hon sakta för elva små trollen
de vackraste ord hon känner:
Ho aj aj aj aj buff,
ho aj aj aj aj buff,
ho aj aj aj aj buff buff!
Ho aj aj aj aj buff.

This one translates:

When the troll-mother had placed (implied: in bed) her 11 small trolls
and tied them fast(firmly) by the tails
then she sang slowly(gently) for 11 small trolls
the most beautiful words she knows:
(nonsense syllables follow)

This song led to an interesting discussion on the difference between 'dom' and 'dem'. The traditional version of the song says "och bundit dom fast i svansen", but he is inclined to sing "och bundit fast dem i svansen". Both dem and dom mean "them", but after he thought about it a bit he decided that for "bundit dom fast" the 'them' refers more to the small trolls as people, and for "bundit fast dem" it is more about tying up the tails themselves.


and Monday's song was

Blinka lilla stjärna

Blinka lilla stjärna där,
hur jag undrar var du är.
Fjärran lockar du min syn,
likt en diamant i skyn.
Blinka lilla stjärna där.

This one translates:

Blink(twinkle) little star there
how I wonder where you are
Far-off above the world I see you
like a diamond in the sky
Blink(twinkle) little star there

When my friend Lyn visited on Saturday to help me eat birthday cake she brought me a gift of a lovely leather covered notebook with what looks to be hand-made paper inside. I have decided to use it to write down the songs as I learn them, so I can keep them with me, and I will also share them here for your amusement. The hard part will be forcing my hand-writing to look nice enough to belong in such a pretty book.

Edited a secong time to add: He's now got a web page with the recordings on it, you can listen to Trolmor on that link or to Blinka lilla stjärna on that one.

Edited to add: should any of you want to hear these songs, let me know and I can e-mail you the file of him singing them, since he's been nice enough to record them for me.

Comments

[hunrvogt.livejournal.com]

I used to visit a ranch owned by a very nice man who was orginally from Tiawan. I used to learn one Manderin word each visit.

[kareina.livejournal.com]

They do add up. Takes a long time to be able to converse at that rate, but if you were to have kept visiting indefinitely...

[goddessofchaos.livejournal.com]

I've always loved the idea of being fluent in another language. I was good at French for a while, after learning it in school, and have attempted other languages over the years, but never get very far. I think I lack the motivation - I think I would pick up a language quickly if I was moving to a country, but can't persuade myself that learning one just for the fun of it is worth the time and effort. Good luck with your Swedish! Learning through songs is a nice idea.

[sismith42.livejournal.com]

I can highly recommend the love school of languages. It's really helped my French (gotta be able to talk to the inlaws!) and I know someone who's German, Finnish, and Spanish (at least!) skills developed due to romances.

[kareina.livejournal.com]

I bet! Humans tend to do well under the reward system, and there isn't much more rewarding than a good romance.