Communication

The language is a mirror of the society we live in. As a Swedish person you might think that an Americanized country as Sweden does not differ that much from the US, when it comes to communicating. From knowing the English language and slowly being infiltrated by TV shows, films, music videos and commercial products I think we Swedes can adjust pretty easy to an American lifestyle. But there are things that I think we sometimes forget that the people around us do not understand.

In the Swedish language there are several expressions that reflect what we all are suppose to know and understand. Things we are taking for granted. Which also means we're taking for granted that everyone is taking it for granted.
If it's about serious things, like how if you’re sick you get cared for and if you're a kid you get to go to school, then I can more easily understand that there is a difference, because it's such a severe and obvious difference. When it comes to smaller things though, I sometimes forget about it. At those times various sayings in Swedish pop up in my mind. Some of them have their equivalence in English (that's probably were Sweden got them from) while others totally get lost in translation. Even those sayings that you can express another way in English come to me the Swedish way. Can you imagine the uninterested and totally confused look on people’s faces when I'm translating it word by word? Sure, some still make grammatically correct sentences, but the meaning disappears halfway when the familiar feeling of the well known stated reminds you of what everybody already is supposed to know.

=)

From everything bad comes something good.
Don't yell hi until you're over the river.
Small tussock often overturn big load.
Away is good, home is best.
It has to bent in time, what's going to be crooked.
Everybody knows the monkey but the monkey knows nobody.
All ways are good, except the bad.
The exception confirms the rule.
Butt against butt nothing can happen.
The one who opens his mouth for much, often loses the entire piece.
Or: The one who yells after much, often loses the entire piece.
Don't wake the bear that's sleeping.

=)

And I could go on forever...
But if it's this way with smaller things...what happens when values and opinions get lost in translation? What if there's not actually a word for the meaning you are trying to describe?
(And please help me out here...that's exactly one of the words I'm looking for: what's the correct translation for begrepp? Is there an equivalent word?)
The language and the way we're living is an entire concept, where it's hard if not impossible to divide one from another. It's building walls. But it can also, in one way, be seen as something very positive. Basically, we have a need for language as deep as our existence, and we're actually succeeding to communicate so well within the groups we form that, sadly, other groups would be rather clueless if they listened in.

I would think that it's not only a one way thing. We form the language after our way of life, our understandings, our knowledge and our opinions. But the language can also influence us. It can limit us. Or inspire us.

Limitations... In Swedish I would have to say a very clear limitation is the use of "man" (yes it means man) that is used to express anybody. (Compare with "one" or "you". "One could think..." "How do you do this?”) What both Swedish and English have in common is the expectation that the male word is the neutral word. That man means everybody. Woman just means women. ("One man one vote") Women slowly become more and more involved in the word man, but why aren't men more involved in the word for women? Once again it's the women that have to adjust to the frames of man. (Ten actresses and one actor is a group of.....actors?)

Do we need to change the language before we can change? Or can the language just express how little we've actually achieved? I do know that words matter, and they do affect us.