Swedish Translation Services
Language History
Swedish is one of the three Scandinavian languages to emerge from Old Norse – the language of the Vikings. Dubbed a ‘North Germanic language’, there was much Danish influence on Swedish before 1525 when King Gustav I Vasa gained power. He famously gave rise to Modern Swedish after ordering a Swedish translation of the Bible. This led to Swedish being spoken and written uniformly among the people.
Swedish eventually gained influence from other languages such as Low German, especially in the 17th century. As one of Europe’s main languages, French also had an impact over the evolution of the Swedish language in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was after the 19th century when a sense of national identity brought about the popularity of the Swedish language, when figures like August Strindberg, encouraged the standardisation of its grammar and vocabulary.
According to Babbel, there are around 10.5 million people who speak Swedish around the world. Approximately 9 million of these people are native Swedish speakers, with 8.5 million living in Sweden.
Where is Swedish Spoken?
FACT
Did you know?
Swedish Dialects
there are said to be a few hundred out there.
• Norrland • Svealand • Gotland • Götaland • South Swedish
• East Swedish (Finland Swedish)
4 Easy Phrases in Swedish!
Population vs. Internet Penetration
Sweden Population:
10,053,135
Internet Users:
9,653,776
Penetration:
96.0%
As of 2019. Source:
www.internetworldstats.com
Fact!
False Friends in Swedish and English
“Swedish is considered one of the easiest languages for English speaking people to learn.”
Swedish Translation Tips
• Remember rules of word order in Swedish – the finite verb appears in second position in a declarative main clause.
• “K” is used instead of “Q” (except in proper names) and “W” is replaced with “V” (except in proper names).
• There are no case endings in nouns except for the possessive “s”.
• The Swedish language has only two genders – neuter and common.
