take me and the ship

One Swenglish structure I've failed at correcting for more than a year is the taunt
-You can't take me.

What he means is clearly the taunting dare:
-You can't get me.

Like in the words of Mik Jagger: "And I try, and I try and I try, and I try"

Today, however, a unique event occurred. For once, I corrected X's Swedish. Swedish has two "genders" for its nouns. They either are an "Ett" or an "En" verb. That's the form of both the indefinite and definite articles. There's no rhyme or reason to remember which one is which.

Skepp (ship) is "ett". However, X was playing with a friend's Lego ship calling it "skeppen" when it should be "skeppet".

I felt so scholarly.

Where they tank

The hubby and kids took a walk in the rain to the fire station. X described the route they took. And for this neither language is developed enough to express that they took a road which ran parallel to the big road.

To help him describe such a complex thought he tried to use other landmarks.

-You know, the place where they tank.

-You mean the gas station?

-Yeah, the gas station.

church berries

Our cherry tree is currently doing its best to develop and ripen its second season of church berries. Well, that's what X calls them.

In Swedish it's called "körsbär" which sounds like "shurshbear". However if you misunderstand the pronunciation in Swedish, as a child can, it sounds like "shirksbear" (kyrksbär), which directly translated becomes: church berry.

Our Church Berry tree commemorates a number of memorable life's moments:

1. The birth of X
   
2. The birth of K
3. 10 years of marriage
4. Our new home

We have a lot riding on that tree. Not a bad thing if it inspires some divine protection.

how loud can you count?

X was counting in Swedish this morning up in the "twenties." He clearly hasn't fully mastered the "twenties" as I heard him saying the equivalent of "twenty sixteen" and other twenty-teens. As we haven't worked much on our 20s yet in English I thought I'd do a spot check to see how high he could count in English. So I asked him:

--How high can you count?

He considered the question a second and started off from ONE in English speaking VERY loudly. I quickly shushed him realizing that he'd literally translated the question and tried to speak as loudly as he could. The word "high" when modifying speech indicates volume level. I've made the error in Swedish a number of times asking Swedish children how "loud" they could count. They normally look at me as if I were nuts. Children are intuitive that way.

i'm drunk

Much of what I notice from X's language is of course the Swenglish constructions and usages while speaking English but it certainly reverses.

Today at dinner at Farmor's X announced he didn't want another serving saying:
--Jag är full. (I am "full")

Full in Swedish is the colloquial usage of expressing the state of inebriation. So his Swedish statement is literally translated: "I am drunk."

Some of his other mix ups with the two languages --with their being so similar-- can go unnoticed. The other day we were talking in English but used the Swedish word "snaps" which is pronounced much like the German ""schopps" meaning a shot of alcohol. X spoke up determined to be part of the adult conversation and declared:

--Girls aren't as interested in "snaps" (pronounced in an American accent /snops/) as boys are.

I tried hard to contain my laughter and realized that the hubby didn't really "get" what he was referring to. The hubby had only thought that girls weren't as interested in throwing back a shot of spiced alcohol as boys --a statement he probably fully agrees with from experience.

I pointed out that X was not referring to "snaps" but "snoppar" --the child-friendly and euphemistic nomenclature for a boy's "willy."

church berries

We have a cherry tree in our yard which the hubby gave me the day we took K home as a gift for a slew of events: K's birth, X's birth, 10 year anniversary and our new home. It's an important tree.

Today we were checking out its spring return and X saw the picture of the cherries on the tag.

--What are inside those church berries?
--There are seeds inside the cherries.

We tried hard to contain our gleeful enjoyment of the Swenglish name for the fruit. Church berries. Might have to become the family word. We already have adopted Cruzzle Puzzle for crossword puzzle.

X also has a hard time with new names he's never heard. We sent him over the compost pile to the neighbor's to play. The younger's name is Ludvig. X is still calling him Luddig. That means lint-y in Swedish.

what's a snike?

Being a native English speaker needs qualification of "Which English". X was watching a nature program on snakes from Down Under (OZ).

He turned to me and asked:

"What's a snike?"

which land

X is always in competition especially with his cousin A. Cousin A is on her way to Vietnam for Easter. So the question arises:

--Why does A get to go to so many other lands?
--You mean countries. Well, she is on vacation with her family
[conversation about what a vacation is]

--But why does A get to go to another land? I haven't been to another land.
--It's "country" in English.
--No. It's land.

Hmmm. How do you explain that "country" is in fact synonymous with "land" in English too, but it's more correct to use "country" when discussing it the way we were?

dropped a tooth

X "dropped a tooth" a few days ago. It started coming loose in one day and by the next morning it fell out with breakfast.

--Mommy, I dropped my tooth.

Losing a tooth doesn't actually make more (or less) sense. After all, you know where it is.

Speaking of knowing where it went. In Sweden a tooth is placed in a glace of water and is exchanged for a coin by the tooth fairy. We put it in water but opted to hybrid the event so that it incorporated the American tooth fairy who comes at night for the "dropped" tooth under the pillow.

The American tooth fairy left a 20kr note. That didn't go over well since 20kr notes are certainly not coins.

Californian lingo

In the late 80s early 90s California-speak caught on as "fly" speak among the youth on the east coast.
'
--I'm going to the pizza place. You comin' with?

X regularly speaks in this happenin' speak.

--Is Daddy coming with?
--Why isn't Kimber coming with?

In Swedish the structure is set up this way ending with the preposition "med" --with. Or is it a throw back to the hip speak of Cali?

your name is what your are

"You're a mom and your name is Mommy. That's silly. Your name is what you are. Ugh."

reindeer go in the rain

This is a mix of a cute contemplation of English homonyms and the Swedish use of "gå" meaning walk. X mulled over how 'rein' in reindeer and rain sounded the same. He had no thoughts about what they might be doing in the rain...walking or going.

speaking "normal"

A preschool mate of X asked him this morning why he spoke English with me and his sister. This led to an impromptu learning moment about speaking "other than Swedish" languages at home. The teacher tried to stimulate an examination of the diversity by asking the children with non-Swedish parents which language they spoke at home. One boy when asked which language they spoke at home replied that he spoke "vanligt" --normally-- at home.

This isn't the first time that preschool mates have reacted to our speaking English around them and each time I wonder how this affects X's willingness to use English in front of his pals. Most often our use of English prompts the other children to show off their language skills, counting out 1-10 in English while beaming with pride. Children I don't even recognize yet smile sheepishly at me and say "Bye bye" as they leave me. Only occasionally does the query of language usage imply a subtle criticism or oddity. Kids don't like to be odd. They want to be "normal."

I wonder if this is the age when the resistance to the "abnormal" language they speak at home starts. I wonder if I can put a marketing spin on it and sell it back to X and his pals as a privilege rather than an oddity.

Today's Svengelska word is "tills" instead of until. This one has been around for a while since I continue to fail in introducing into usage the English word 'until.'

are you tired? no i am pig

X is coming home with more and more to say that he only knows how to say in Swedish. Much of the time it's not only vocabulary but also structure.

When you ask if you're tired in English the reply restricted to "I'm not tired". While in Swedish you would reply that you are "energetic" or "spry" more akin to "alert"...pigg.

So my son isn't tired. He's pig.

raising fluent sweglish speakers

Conventional terminology would label my children bilingual. I'd like to argue that before they achieve true bilingualism they will be fluent Swenglish speakers with an ability to put the emphasis of English or Swedish on their language usage at will.

I'm not only enjoying the humor of listening to the Swenglish constructions of my 4.year old's speech, but when analyzing it it makes me contemplate language acquisition for all of us. These little sponge-brains are fascinating to observe.

I don't know what this blog will become, but I thought I would start archiving the little-studied Swenglish language as spoken by my son (b. June 2004) and daughter (b. June 2007), X and K.

X: "I dropped my ba*LANCE" (emphasis on second syllable) = tapade balansen = lost my balance. (autumn 2008)

X: "I can troll this" = I can do magic (Christmas 2008)

X: "I'm bläddring [through the pages]" = I'm flipping through pages (January 2009)