Have you ever wondered if the people of the Nordic countries swear? Finland and Denmark take turns being the happiest country in the world, and Iceland, Norway and Sweden are not far behind on the same metric.

So, do Nordic people even have reason to curse? If you ask them, the answer would probably be: of course! Across the Nordic countries, swearing is a widespread practice, from teenagers to jaunty grandmothers. Even younger children are known to throw in a swearword once in a while (sometimes under their breath, depending on the proximity of their parents).

If you鈥檙e curious about this perhaps controversial language practice as performed in the Nordic countries, then this article is for you. Read on to get an idea of the nature of profanity in this part of the world, as well as specific examples of swearwords from each country.

So, hva faen are you waiting for? Have fun learning a bit about Nordic foul language!

The nature of Nordic swearing

As in other parts of the world, swearing in the Nordic countries is often done to let off steam. For instance, when you鈥檙e angry with someone, you want to express annoyance at something, or you seek to (mentally) relieve the pain of stubbing your toe (we鈥檝e all been there!).

Just like swearing in other languages, swearwords in the Nordic languages reference things that are taboo in the local culture. However, swearing in the Nordic countries does seem to differ from swearing in the UK or the US, for example, in two particular areas: the perceived offensiveness of swearing and the themes of the swearwords.

Perceived offensiveness of swearing in the Nordic countries

Studies on the perceived offensiveness of swearing in English-speaking countries as well as the Nordic countries have been conducted and compared. The results suggest that Nordic people swear more freely than their English-speaking counterparts.

In general, Nordic people have a laissez-faire attitude towards swearing, and to many, swearing is an integral part of their everyday language. Whilst many in the UK share the same attitude, Nordic people often go further, swearing in contexts even Brits would find unacceptable.

To many Nordic people, swearing is an integral part of everyday language.

This laid-back relationship with bad words is evident when watching TV for instance. Even when guests on Nordic TV shows are instructed not to swear while on air, some just can鈥檛 help doing so 鈥� and the swearwords themselves aren鈥檛 censored or bleeped out.

Although Nordic people tend to swear more freely, swearing is not considered good form. Given that swearing is a rather informal use of language, there are of course certain situations in which it would be inappropriate to do so.

At a job interview, for example, you鈥檇 probably be better off keeping the swearing to a minimum 鈥� or just refrain from doing it at all. That way you don鈥檛 risk coming across as unprofessional.

However, if your potential employer is blown away by your wit, skills and vision, you might just get the job anyway.

Themes of Nordic swearwords

Some of the themes present in English-language swearing also exist in the Nordic languages.

Religion as a theme, or the incorporation of God, the devil or hell when swearing, is a prime example of this. In Sweden, for instance, many people use the swear word fan, which literally means 鈥榯he devil鈥�, as an exclamation for when something goes wrong.

You can also swear by 鈥榟ell鈥� in all five Nordic languages. In Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish, you would exclaim Helvetti!, 贬别濒惫铆迟颈!, Helvete! and Helvete!, respectively, whilst you would say For helvede! in Danish.

One theme that is not present in English-language swearing today is that of diseases. In Danish, this theme contains swearwords with reference to serious illnesses such as cancer.

Kraftedeme is an example of this as it is a contraction of Kr忙ften 忙de mig, which translates into 鈥榤ay cancer eat me鈥�. This swearword acts as an oath: a curse that is used to strengthen a statement and underline the seriousness of the speaker. For example, Det er kraftedeme ikke i orden!, means 鈥楾his is not okay 鈥� may cancer eat me if it is okay!鈥�.

Another theme that is exclusive to the Nordic languages as compared to English is numbers. In Sweden, you can exclaim Sjutton! or Attans! when something doesn鈥檛 go according to plan. Meaning 鈥榮eventeen鈥� and 鈥榚ighteen鈥� respectively, these words are technically classified as euphemisms in Swedish, which makes them very unloaded and safe to use in any situation.

Danish has a similar euphemism 鈥� For syv sytten!, literally meaning 鈥楩or seven seventeen!鈥� 鈥� which is used in a similar way to its Swedish counterparts.

The influence of English on Nordic swearing

Like other societies, the Nordic countries are heavily influenced by American culture in the form of TV, films, music and, as a consequence of this, language use.

In Denmark, code-switching (the act of alternating between languages in the same conversation) is not unheard of, especially within the younger generations. The occasional 鈥榣iterally鈥�, 鈥榟onestly鈥�, 鈥榮orry鈥� or even typical English syntax often enter the conversation.

This English-inspired language use has also found its way into swearing across the Nordic languages.

The Nordic countries and their swearing are heavily influenced by American culture and English-language use.

Apart from swearwords originating from Nordic languages, the use of 鈥榝uck鈥� and 鈥榝ucking鈥� can be heard and seen in each of the Nordic countries 鈥� 鈥榮hit鈥� has also been adopted by many Nordic people. Both four-letter words are used in much the same way as they are in the English-speaking countries, i.e. when something goes wrong.

In Danish, for instance, you could say Fuck, jeg har glemt mine n酶gler!, meaning 鈥楩uck, I forgot my keys!鈥�. You could easily use 鈥榮hit鈥� instead of 鈥榝uck鈥� in this example 鈥� the swearwords are interchangeable in most situations.

Just like in English, the swearword 鈥榝ucking鈥� is used descriptively to emphasise a negative attitude the speaker has towards someone or something. In Danish, Han er en fucking idiot! means 鈥楬e is a fucking idiot!鈥�.

The perceived offensiveness of English swearwords amongst Nordic people compared to Americans or Brits has been debated, as it seems that the aforementioned four-letter specimens don鈥檛 have the same impact when used in the Nordic countries.

It could be that the theme of sex is just not as taboo as in the English-speaking countries鈥� or maybe swearing in a foreign language doesn鈥檛 feel as bad as in your mother tongue.

In any case, 鈥榝uck鈥� and 鈥榮hit鈥� have become an integral part of the Nordic vocabulary of swearwords. So much so that certain countries have developed their own spellings of 鈥榝uck鈥� and 鈥榝ucking鈥�. Icelanders, for instance, spell the words fokk and fokking, respectively, whilst the Norwegians often spell 鈥榝uck鈥� either fakk or 蹿酶办办.

Swearwords from each Nordic country

Are you curious to learn some bad language from each of the Nordic countries? Below is a list of the most common or remarkable swearwords from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Denmark

Finland

Iceland

Norway

Sweden

Now that you know more about the controversial linguistic practice of swearing in the Nordic languages, you鈥檒l be able to show off what you鈥檝e learnt. Nordic people tend to have a great sense of humour and they鈥檒l probably enjoy hearing a foreigner swear like a native!

Just remember to keep the swearing to informal situations 鈥� Sandberg takes no responsibility for any lost job opportunities due to foul language!

Christina Bjerggaard is a Danish translator at Sandberg. She wrote her master鈥檚 thesis on the translation of swearwords from English to Danish and, with her additional research for this article, is now our in-house profanity expert!

The post Swearing in the Nordic languages appeared first on sa国际传媒.

During Lent, which traditionally lasts for 40 days, eating fatty foods and meat was not allowed, and historically Fastelavn served as a ritual-based feast to prepare for this period of abstinence. Today, however, Lent is not widely practised among Nordic people, so Fastelavn has largely become a fun-focused children鈥檚 festival featuring merry and distinctive traditions 鈥� some of which are in fact based on rather dark rituals of the past.

This year, Fastelavn falls on Sunday 14 February in Denmark and Norway and Tuesday 16 in Sweden and Finland, whilst the Icelanders will be celebrating from Monday 15 to Wednesday 18 February. Even though the Nordic countries are tightly knit in many ways, each nation has its own distinct way of celebrating, and each unique Fastelavn tradition is worth experiencing. If you鈥檙e not in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway or Sweden to experience Fastelavn for yourself, read on and learn more about this special tradition.

Cover image: A girl 鈥渂eats the cat out of the barrel鈥� at Fastelavn in Denmark.

? Fastelavn parades

In Denmark and Norway, Fastelavn is first and foremost a carnival. Children at pre-school and primary-school age (and some cheery parents) dress up in costumes ranging from the highly popular princess or superhero, to more creative and quite funny takes, such as a bucket of popcorn, a whoopie cushion or their favourite celebrity.

On the Monday after the Fastelavn Sunday in Denmark and Norway, children go to school in their costumes and take part in a special parade for the school鈥檚 older pupils, teachers and (occasionally) parents to behold. Marching around various school buildings, the children sing the traditional and cheerful song 鈥淔astelavn er mit navn鈥� (literally 鈥淔astelavn is my name鈥�) 鈥� the central message of which is the singers鈥� demand for the special holiday pastry fastelavnsboller听(鈥淔astelavn buns鈥�) by threat of shenanigans if this demand isn鈥檛 met.

In Iceland, children dress up on Ash Wednesday, called 脰蝉办耻诲补驳耻谤, to tour the streets of their town centre. Whilst unquestionably a sight to behold, Icelandic children don鈥檛 just show off their costumes for the sole purpose of pleasing their spectators 鈥� they鈥檙e in it for the sweets! On this day, shops and businesses are stocked up with sweets and the merrily clad children go from shop to shop to collect their bounty by singing to the cashiers.

? 鈥淏eating the cat out of the barrel鈥�

Fastelavn is an important event, especially in Denmark, and as a result, the Danes have certain traditions that are practised more or less exclusively in their country. One of these is the tradition of sl氓 katten af t酶nden (鈥渂eating the cat out of the barrel鈥�), now a lovely party game for children, but once a gruesome religious ritual.

It was once believed that cats were witches鈥� companions and therefore symbolised evil. To protect themselves from these wicked forces, people locked a cat in a barrel, strung it up and started beating it with clubs until the barrel broke. The terrified cat would then jump out and run away 鈥� if it wasn鈥檛 mutilated 鈥� which was interpreted as a metaphor for evil leaving the town.

Today, actual cats are fortunately nowhere to be found in Fastelavn barrels. Instead, they often contain a drawing of a cat, but most importantly, they are now filled with sweets, just like a pi帽ata. One by one, children (dressed up of course) try their luck breaking open the barrel by adding one solid hit to it with a baseball bat. As the barrel is made of wood, it鈥檚 relatively sturdy, so the children often have quite a few chances to be the one to break it open and release the sweets.

The person who beats open the barrel and makes the sweets fall out is proclaimed kattekonge (鈥渒ing of cats鈥�) and coronated with a shiny paper crown. The game continues until somebody knocks down the last board of the barrel. This person will then receive a smaller crown and the title of kattedronning (鈥渜ueen of cats鈥�). The sweets are then shared out amongst the children.

? Trick or treasure

Another Fastelavn tradition exclusive to Denmark is 鈥渞attling鈥� (at rasle), where children walk around their neighbourhoods collecting money, very similar to trick-or-treating on Halloween. On Fastelavn Sunday, children put on their costumes, grab a collection box or small plastic container and walk from door to door to sing to their neighbours in the hope of receiving a coin or two to spend themselves. Whilst singing, the children shake their collection boxes so they rattle, or rasler.

In some regions, children receive a Fastelavn bun instead of money and as a result, children can choose between two different songs when going 鈥渞attling鈥�. If requesting buns, the children will sing the aforementioned 鈥淔astelavn er mit navn鈥�, in which the lyrics say to give the singer some fastelavnsboller, or else they鈥檒l make trouble. If requesting coins, the children sing a slightly adapted version of 鈥淔astelavn er mit navn鈥�, namely 鈥淧enge op, penge ned鈥� (literally 鈥淢oney up, money down鈥�), which gives the neighbour the option of giving the children some change or falling victim to a trick. It鈥檚 all good fun, and most people are more than happy to open their doors to hear and see the dressed-up children sing.

Arguably, the practice is not as popular today as it was a decade ago, but there鈥檚 still a good chance of 鈥渢rick-or-treasurers鈥� knocking at your door if you live in an area largely inhabited by families with children in the primary-school age 鈥� in which case you better have some change ready!

? Fastelavnsris 鈥� a colourful decoration

For Fastelavn in Denmark and Norway, families decorate their homes with colourful birch twigs known as fastelavnsris (pictured right,听). These twigs are adorned with multi-coloured feathers and paper ornaments and sometimes also sweets, and they鈥檙e often arranged in vases around the home to symbolise the transition from the long, cold winter to the vibrant and fruitful spring.

Originally, the twigs were used to flog young, childless women to make them fertile. There was a pagan superstition that birch twigs possessed the power of fertility, and as a result, young men were allowed to flog young women passing by.

Traditionally, children also used these twigs to (gently) thwack their parents to wake them up on the morning of Fastelavn Sunday. The reward for this thwacking was always a bun, which gave birth to the tradition of the delicious pastry fastelavnsboller.

? Traditional Fastelavn foods

No Nordic tradition is complete without food 鈥� Fastelavn is of course no exception. In fact, fastelavnsboller, or in English 鈥淔astelavn buns鈥�, might be the only traditional aspect that is represented across all the Nordic countries鈥� distinctive Fastelavn celebrations to this day. Each country has their own take on this sweet holiday treat, but what characterises all of them is their round shape, puffy texture and delicious filling (which varies by country).

In Sweden, Fastelavn is known as Fettisdagen (Fat Tuesday) and is largely celebrated with baking and eating semlor听(pictured below), the Swedish version of the fastelavnsboller. The semla (singular form of semlor) contains a sweet filling of whipped cream and almond paste similar to marzipan, whilst the bun itself often contains aromatic cardamom and is sprinkled with icing sugar.

Danish fastelavnsboller are a bit different as they typically contain a thick, sweet cream and are topped with icing, whilst the Norwegian version is filled with jam, whipped cream or an almond filling. Across the Nordic countries, fastelavnsboller are highly popular and are sold from shortly after Christmas to well into March.

In Finland and Iceland, a traditional evening meal is part of the festivities on Shrove Tuesday, traditionally the day before Lent. On this day, called Laskiainen in Finland, the Finnish take their sledge out for a fun day in the snow and then return home for a hot meal of pea soup and their version of the Fastelavn bun, the delicious laskiaispulla, which is much like the semla.

Icelanders typically eat a dish of split pea soup accompanied by salted lamb on this day, but of course the bun is also part of the celebrations 鈥� in fact so much so that Iceland has a whole day devoted to the pastry, namely Bolludagur or 鈥淏un Day鈥�, on the day before Shrove Tuesday.

I hope you鈥檝e enjoyed this tour of Fastelavn traditions across the Nordic countries. Even if you can鈥檛 be there in person to witness them or take part, you鈥檝e probably learnt something new about this unusual and lesser-known Lent celebration. Gl忙delig fastelavn!

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But what about your non-English landing pages? Say you鈥檙e seeking to expand your business to the Nordic market 鈥� would you be just as diligent about applying SEO to your localised content?

If you choose to skip the SEO stage when localising your website, you risk missing out on great business opportunities. Partnering with a specialist company to handle the entire process of translating and search-engine optimising your content, on the other hand, enables you to seize that opportunity, giving your customers the best possible experience at the same time.

But don鈥檛 just take our word for it! Here are 5 reasons why you should invest in international SEO for the Nordic market.

1. Customers tend to search for products and services in their own language

You may be wondering if it鈥檚 necessary to translate your content into the Nordic languages in the first place. After all, people in the Nordic countries generally have excellent English-language skills. While high English-language proficiency across the Nordic region has been documented by multiple studies, it doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that your Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish customers prefer to do their online searches in English.

In fact, showed that 42% of EU respondents never use other languages when searching for products and services online. It does make sense when you think about it. Shopping for products or services on foreign sites might mean costly shipping and prolonged delivery times 鈥� or services not being available in the user鈥檚 home country 鈥� and who has time for searches with outcomes like those?

When it comes to targeting the Nordic market, communicating with consumers in their own language can give you that edge. If you choose to optimise your localised content for search engines, you鈥檒l be able to effectively connect with your intended audience and engage with them in a way that could result in new business for you.

2. Localising keywords means less competition in search results

The fact that your Nordic audience is more likely to search for products and services in their own language makes it worth publishing SEO-friendly translations of your web content. But did you know that this also means filtering out competition in Google search results?

Let鈥檚 take an example. Imagine typing the words backlit keyboard into Google鈥檚 search bar and hitting enter. If you do, you get 54.5 million hits and a massive variety of pages giving you the option to buy backlit keyboards, watch how-to videos about backlit keyboards or read articles on which backlit keyboard is the best. Picture a company using this term as a keyword in search-optimised text on their landing page. The amount of competition from other web pages would be huge, and it would take a great effort for the landing page to rank near the top of the search results.

By search-engine optimising your translated content, you can drown out the background noise of your competition significantly. Consider the Danish equivalent of our English keyword above: baggrundsbelyst tastatur. When searching for this keyword on Google, you get just 385,000 hits 鈥� a mere fraction of the 54.5 million from your first search. Of course, the audience is much smaller as well, but it鈥檚 a higher-quality audience tailored to the market you鈥檙e targeting. Better to be a big fish in a small pond in this case.

Because of the widespread use of English on the internet, using localised keywords is an effective strategy to segment your target audience and reduce competition from other pages in the search engine results, making your products and services more visible to online customers.

3. SEO and localisation build brand credibility

As a business, having a trusted brand is crucial for generating revenue. Your products or services may be the best, but if your brand is suffering your customers might turn their backs and head to your competitors.

Localising your online content and making sure that it鈥檚 thoroughly optimised gives your customers a better user experience, meaning they can easily find what they鈥檙e looking for and read about it in their own language. Making your content easily accessible to your customers in this way leaves them feeling good about your brand and more likely to buy your products or services.

The impact of this effort is particularly appreciated in the Nordic countries, where some international companies don鈥檛 bother with localisation. Making the investment demonstrates to your Nordic customers that you value their business, and helps you stand out from international competitors that might not be as committed to the region.

4. SEO drives a higher conversion rate than traditional marketing channels

If you thought that SEO was an inadequate tool, that channels an insignificant number of extra leads to your website, you might want to read this. that SEO鈥檈d online content drives a conversion rate of a whopping 14.6%, as opposed to the 1.7% conversion rate from traditional marketing channels such as print ads and direct mail. This means that the number of leads coming to a website from SEO that go on to make a purchase is more than 8 times higher than those from traditional strategies.

The explanation for this is simple. SEO, being a 鈥減ull鈥� rather than a 鈥減ush鈥� strategy, generates leads that are already interested in knowing more and may already wish to buy a certain product or service. So, publishing SEO-friendly translations of your online content is an efficient way of leveraging an existing interest in defined customer segments and boost revenue faster than traditional marketing strategies.

5. International SEO as a service is a convenient end-to-end solution

Using search-engine optimised translations of your online content certainly has its benefits, but maybe you鈥檙e convinced that it鈥檚 better to keep this task in-house and let your own employees handle it? You might be tempted to believe that this will save you both money and time, but letting a specialised company perform the task will in fact do exactly that 鈥� in addition to being a convenient end-to-end solution.

In our recent article 6 reasons why you shouldn鈥檛 rely on your own employees for translation, we explained why translation is a specialist skill which, when performed incorrectly, could cause more harm than good. The same applies to international SEO, where picking the wrong keyword could mean your efforts fail to bear fruit. Choosing a specialised company to translate and optimise your online content:

• Is highly convenient for you,
• Yields a high-quality result, and
• Allows for tailoring to your exact needs.

Let鈥檚 take a closer look at these three points.

Firstly, performing international SEO can be a struggle for untrained non-specialists. Navigating various advanced online tools and honing in on the right keywords is not easy unless you have the skills and know-how to do it. Handing over the reins to a translation company means that you avoid that hassle whilst trained professionals manage your task.

Secondly, choosing a translation company for the job means choosing professional translators, who not only have the education and training to deliver high-quality translation, but also the cultural expertise to help select the right keywords for your content.

Thirdly, a translation company can tailor your international SEO to your exact needs, whether you need an extensive search-engine optimised transcreation of your content or already have a list of keywords to be implemented in a text.

All things considered, investing in international SEO for the Nordic market yields numerous benefits and could be your leg-up into the Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish markets. Want to know more about what Sandberg can offer? Take a look at our Multilingual marketing and ISEO services page.

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