Nordic values 鈥� and value for money

, one of the greatest success stories to come out of Scandinavia in the past few decades, embodies some of the most important Nordic values: it is straightforwardly unshowy (if persistent), democratically inexpensive (comparatively) and pragmatically practical (unless, like me, you are exceedingly clumsy with self-assembly), yet has a good eye on quality and design elegance.听听

One company slogan from 1981 ran, 鈥�Like Sm氓land鈥檚 farmers, our values are down-to-earth.鈥� It could be said that 滨碍贰础鈥檚 cheapest furniture may not be of the finest quality, but when compared with what you might pay somewhere else, it鈥檚 more than good enough for many people. Many of the store鈥檚 utensils and home accessories are exceptionally good value and quality. But only once you add the magic of Nordic designer chic do you get a winner like IKEA.听

Humble beginnings

By now it鈥檚 well-known that IKEA is named after the initials of its founder, Ingvar Kamprad, and those of the farm he grew up on, Elmtaryd, and his hometown, Agunnaryd. What鈥檚 less well known is that the initial investment came from Kamprad鈥檚 father, who had promised to give the young Ingvar a monetary reward for passing his exams with decent results in 1943.听

After a decade of trading, two important things happened in 1953: the first showroom opened in 脛lmhult, Southern Sweden, (apparently so that sceptical customers could come and see that the quality was good despite the low price) and the company adopted the concept of selling its furniture flat-packed for customers to assemble at home.听听

IKEA designer Gillis Lundgren, who designed the BILLY bookcase and IKEA logo, was on his way to a photo shoot for the IKEA catalogue with a table that he struggled to fit in his car. He took the legs off and the proverbial (LED) lightbulb went off in his head: why not design the furniture to be assembled at home by the customer, and thus save massively on transportation cost?听

Whilst IKEA does not claim that Lundgren invented the concept, he certainly contributed to bringing it to the masses and at a level that had never been seen before. The company has adopted the mantra 鈥淲e hate air,鈥� meaning that transporting the empty space inside a dresser or a table increases transportation costs, and therefore the cost to the end-consumer. Less volume, less cost, lower prices.听

Global thinking 鈥� learning from mistakes听

In 1963, a full decade after the first showroom opened and 20 years after the company was founded, IKEA opened its first store abroad, in Norway. Another 10 years passed before IKEA established its first presence outside Scandinavia, in Spreitenbach, Switzerland, with Germany soon to follow. Germany has since become 滨碍贰础鈥檚 biggest market with 53 stores as of 2019.听

After successfully establishing a presence outside Scandinavia, 滨碍贰础鈥檚 global expansion marched on steadily, but not at breakneck speed. Indeed, its first attempt at establishing a presence in Japan in the 1970s went wrong due to a lack of adaptation to local expectations. Japan is a service-oriented society, and the idea of buying furniture that you then have to assemble yourself is not seen as socially acceptable. Another problem was that the standard IKEA sizes did not fit the smaller sizes of Japanese homes. By 1982 IKEA had pulled out of Japan.

Another market that experienced size problems was America, but this time the other way around. Apparently, American customers weren鈥檛 used to such small glasses, so were accidentally buying . But for IKEA, these experiences were all extremely valuable lessons. This is where the Nordic value of pragmatism comes in, as when the company directed its longboats towards the US market in 1985, IKEA made sure that the standard sizes of the furniture and other products it offered met the larger expectations of the average American consumer.听

Then, in 2018, the now experienced global furniture trader entered India, a country that, like Japan, does not have a strong tradition of Do-It-Yourself. But this time IKEA was ready for it; the company set up service booths where IKEA staff could help the customers put the furniture together.听

Global standard with local twists听

Based on these experiences, IKEA developed an approach to the globalisation of its business that worked extremely well: stay true to the basic concept, but make just enough local adaptations to be relevant and acceptable to local customers.听

In China , as these are common in Chinese flats. It also cooperated with local businesses to provide delivery and assembly services because Chinese consumers saw it as lower status to have to assemble their own furniture.听

In Korea the company adapted its kitchen designs to , which are common for storing this traditional Korean side-dish. They also removed mentions of the Sea of Japan in a map of the store, instead calling it 鈥淭he East Sea鈥�, which South Koreans prefer.听

The approach that IKEA follows is a combination of standardisation and localisation. Wherever you go in the world, , but there will be subtle differences. The company has large teams of researchers interviewing thousands of consumers to learn about their habits, tastes and preferences.听听

Even the food offered in the IKEA restaurants is adjusted slightly to align it to local tastes. In some Chinese stores, this means offering dim sum and other local favourites on the menu in addition to Swedish meatballs, whereas in India, the meatballs are either made of chicken or are meat-free as Hindus 诲辞苍鈥檛 tend to eat beef for religious and cultural reasons.听

Translation, localisation and funny names听

You鈥檝e heard of BILLY, but what about FR脰SET, SM脜STAD, TORKIS, P脛RONHOLMEN, SKUBB or STUK?听

Exactly why IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad decided to use place and personal names for the company鈥檚 various products is not really known. Some say it was to help his dyslexia, while others say that it was to give the products a more personable feel. What is certain is that for naming products, such as character length (4-12), no family names, use of 鈥溍�,鈥� 鈥溍も�� and 鈥溍垛�� is a plus, the word must not be trademarked, and it must be a 鈥渘ice鈥� word.听

Of course, a nice word in Swedish is not necessarily so in another language. In 2005 for example, IKEA named a children鈥檚 desk 鈥�鈥� (meaning 鈥渟peedy鈥� in Swedish) which caused a bit of a stink. The rather unfortunate connotation in English meant it had to be changed to something less gaseous for the English-speaking markets.听

But most of the time, IKEA carefully ensures that names can be used in the various countries it sells in. When opening in Thailand, to go through every single product name and to not only read them silently, but to say them out loud and determine if any had negative or embarrassing connotations. The work took four years but paid off; when IKEA finally opened in Thailand, all the displayed product names retained as much of the original Swedish as possible, with small adjustments made where needed.听

This means that Thai customers can happily join the long tradition of non-Scandi customers trying to read, say and decipher what those funny Swedish names actually mean, such as FYRKANTIG (square) or 脰DMJUK (humble).听听

But even IKEA can get the balance wrong. In for having airbrushed women out of its catalogue for the Saudi Arabian market. In trying to adapt to the culture and norms of the Islamic country, IKEA had gone too far and created reputational damage when Western commentators, politicians and consumers started criticising these adaptations. The company issued an apology and said that it had failed to live up to its own values.听听

For the most part, however, IKEA applies the Nordic value of pragmatism and balances the universality of its products with the necessary local adjustments.听

The global language听

One certain way to avoid translation fails is to not have any words to translate in the first place. to Charlie Chaplin that 鈥�What I most admire about your art, is your universality. You 诲辞苍鈥檛 say a word, yet the world understands you!鈥� IKEA appears to have taken this on-board, because in many of its assembly instructions, such as the one shown to the right for the MICKE desk, there is not a single word in the 40 pages of instructions!听听

There is one obvious and one potential benefit from this. As with Charlie Chaplin films, no words means that in theory everyone can understand the pictures, no matter what language they speak. The potential benefit is the saved cost of having to print only one set of instructions and avoiding the cost of the translation process. I say 鈥減otential,鈥� because when you attempt to show rather than tell, you may actually be producing documents with more pages. Translation may also be more cost-effective if it makes customers more satisfied and therefore more likely to buy another piece of furniture.听

The wordless pictograms have been another central part of 滨碍贰础鈥檚 global approach. To ensure that the instructions are easy to follow, they ask new employees at IKEA headquarters to have a go at following the instructions and assembling the furniture. That way, they get an idea of how well the average consumer will fare. If it takes too long to assemble, they call it a 鈥渉usband killer鈥� and make adjustments until it is easy enough not to drive dad to despair.听

This was not true about one of IKEAs epic fails, the , which was inspired by the car industry and in which items were supposed to be screwed together by the customer and then dressed in a cover of choice. Unfortunately, the covers, which were produced in South Korea, had such extreme colour variations that they could not be sold as sets. And the instructions, shown on the left, went down in IKEA history as the most incomprehensible ever.听听

Several of 滨碍贰础鈥檚 mistakes, including the inflatable sofa that fell flat, the compost kitchen sofa that was a bit too organic and the pianos that could not be flat–packed, are displayed at the IKEA museum as examples of how to learn from mistakes. Kamprad himself wrote in his 1976 book The Testament of a Furniture Dealer that mistakes are permissible as long as one learns from them.听

Know what you鈥檙e not good at

As mentioned above, IKEA is good at learning from mistakes, and that includes knowing what not to continue doing. In 2012 it launched its UPPLEVA (experience) line of TV benches with an in-built TV and speakers.听听

The design manager, Marcus Engman, admitted that the company鈥檚 venture into electronic technology was not a great success, saying, 鈥�鈥淸it] is one area where IKEA won鈥檛 go. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 any good there,鈥� [鈥鈥淲e鈥檙e world champions in making mistakes,鈥� adds Engman. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e really good at correcting them.鈥�鈥�听

This again reflects that Nordic value of being practical and realising when something strays so much from the company鈥檚 core expertise that the effort and cost involved in becoming good at it is more than it is worth. In other words, stop doing what you can鈥檛, do more of what you are good at, and keep getting better at it.听

滨碍贰础鈥�s unique customer experience听

And what IKEA is especially good at is creating that unique customer experience that you can only find at an IKEA store. Walking into the huge warehouse (the biggest of which is in Manila, in the Philippines with a whopping 700,000 square feet, or 65,000m2, of floorspace), you enter an entirely new world. The stores use 鈥減athways鈥� that guide you through their various film-set like exhibits, showing you (on purpose) how you might use the various products, such as furniture, utensils and cuddly toys.听听

If you are desperate to stray from the one true path, you can dash through one of the direct openings from one 鈥渇ilm set鈥� section to another, with the openings situated so that you only miss what is relevant to the previous sections. If you want to make an early exit from the store itself however, that could prove very difficult indeed. Not impossible, just difficult; you鈥檙e not supposed to leave without having purchased something.听

顿辞苍鈥檛 get hangry听

In fact, IKEA-founder Ingvar Kamprad observed back in the early days of his business that customers tended to leave around lunchtime, often without having purchased anything. The simple reason was that they were hungry and needed to go home, or to a caf茅 or shop, to get lunch. Kamprad realised that hungry customers buy less, and with that Nordic attitude of straightforwardness, he decided that if your customers are hungry, you feed them. In June 1960, IKEA stores only offered coffee and cold dishes, but by the end of the year, 滨碍贰础鈥檚 restaurant kitchens were fully equipped. This included a microwave oven, which was certainly a novelty at the time.听听

Eventually, the classic dish of Swedish meatballs served up with peas, potatoes, lingonberry jam and a generous helping of cream sauce became the centrepiece of the IKEA restaurant experience.听听

Another clever move was to install large, staffed play areas in stores where a customer could leave their child to play for an hour while wandering around and looking at the products. As any parent knows, shopping with children can be a stressful experience, so being able to park them safely so that you get the peace of mind to think and choose is again a very pragmatic solution that can make a big difference.听

Translating values to value听

The Nordic values underpinning 滨碍贰础鈥檚 business model and operating style may not be unique to the Nordic or Scandinavian countries, but the combination of these and the role they play in Nordic people鈥檚 own awareness of themselves may very well mean that they play a much stronger role here than in other parts of the world.听

The Nordic self-image as a particularly democratic and egalitarian people has no doubt played a part in 滨碍贰础鈥檚 championing of the concept they call Democratic Design, meaning a balance between five 鈥渄imensions鈥�: function, form, quality, sustainability and low price. As Senior Designer, Sarah Fager, says: 鈥�Without Democratic Design, we would not live up to our vision to create a better everyday life for the many people.鈥�听

Cheap but expensive?听

Although 鈥渢he many鈥� can, and indeed have, taken advantage of the cheap but well-designed products that IKEA offers, questions have also been raised about the sustainability of 滨碍贰础鈥檚 products. IKEA has contributed, perhaps more than any other furniture business, to a change in mentality with regard to furniture. It has gone from something you invested in for the rest of your life and often handed down to the next generation to something that you buy for a much shorter time and dispose of when you want something new or the item breaks. How can this be squared with the 鈥渟ustainability鈥� aspect of 滨碍贰础鈥檚 Democratic Design concept?听

IKEA is aware of the reputational need to do something about this, and Marcus Engman, Chief Creative Officer for Ingka Group, IKEA, that changing consumer behaviour to become more 鈥渃ircular鈥� was a cornerstone in how IKEA wanted to contribute to a more sustainable future. 鈥�We鈥檙e moving into a future where waste is the raw material,鈥� he said.听听

There is no doubt that, in conjunction with policy changes to encourage it, large businesses like IKEA can have an impact one way or another. When IKEA switched all its lights to LED, it instantly led to hundreds of thousands of people having less impact on the electricity grid than they otherwise would have. And it is a balance; is it not a good thing that people on tight budgets, not least families with children, can afford to make home-improvements even if there is an environmental cost?听

As Mr Engman went on to say, 鈥淚n Sweden, where I come from, nature is in your face. You learn from an early age how to embed nature in your daily life and how to forage to fill your pantry.鈥澨�听

Once again, Swedish and Nordic values will show the way.听

The post IKEA: How Swedish home-furnishing conquered the global market appeared first on sa国际传媒.

A truly wide-ranging e-commerce report听

is the leading provider of parcels and logistics services to, from and within the Nordic countries, with around 28,000 employees, and HUI Research AB is a consultancy firm specialising in retail, tourism, consumption and economics. It was founded in 1968 as an independent subsidiary of the trade association Svensk Handel.听

, has collated data by surveying a total of 191 retail companies who sell goods online, and around 15,000 consumers over 12 months, with the latest in December 2022. The information from the companies was gathered in January this year, so these figures form the newest and most up-to-date intelligence on the Swedish e-commerce market that we have available.听

In Europe alone, the medical technology market was estimated to be worth about , and despite a setback following the credit crunch of 2008, average growth over the past 10 years has been 4.8% per annum, with a growth rate of 2.9% in 2021.听

The average spending in Europe on healthcare is around y, including medical devices. Additionally, out of the 15,300 patents filed with the European Patent Office, 41% were home-grown, i.e. from the UK and EEA or EU member states. 38% came from the US and 21% from other countries. As mentioned above, in 2021 two European countries 鈥� Germany, with USD 11.9 billion, and the Netherlands, with USD 11.7 billion. 鈥� were the top importers of medical instruments in the world after the United States. 听

This means that not only is there a solid level of innovation, development and sales of new products across borders within Europe, but it is also extremely lucrative to sell medical devices into the European market.

Rebalancing between physical stores and
e-commerce in Sweden听

In another blog post, we wrote about the boom in online retail in the Nordics generally, with figures taken from the extraordinary rise in online shopping and home delivery that we saw during the pandemic.听

It is therefore not altogether surprising that growth might begin to slow down once things started to get back to normal, but what is slightly surprising is that we have actually seen a decrease in e-commerce in Sweden:听

鈥淸鈥 for the first time in E-barometern鈥檚 history, [e-commerce] showed negative annual growth, falling by 7 per cent.鈥�听

The report points to several contributory factors that are all too familiar to most of us from our daily news 鈥� war, inflation, supply-line problems, etc. 鈥� but the steep rise in e-commerce during the pandemic was almost inevitably bound to rebalance once physical stores reopened. What鈥檚 interesting is to consider the overall trends as we now get used to the 鈥渘ew normal鈥� 鈥� what is the direction of travel when it comes to online shopping in Sweden?听

Online shopping trends 鈥� where are we going?听

The sector with the largest share of e-commerce in Sweden is Home Electronics, accounting for 51% of the market in 2021 and 47% in 2022, so the reduction of 10% in online sales in that sector really makes a difference. Other sectors showing a fall are Children鈥檚 Items/Toys (by 16%); Books and Media, including audio books (by 10%); Furniture & Home and Sports & Leisure (both by 8%); and Building Products (by 3%).听

One sector that is bucking the trend is Pharmaceutical Products, which are up by 10%. Interestingly, this is a sector dominated by older age groups, who only really embraced online shopping during the pandemic. It seems that many still find the convenience of shopping online and having the goods delivered worth continuing with. This is also a cohort with high levels of purchasing power and brand loyalty, but one that overwhelmingly prefers websites that are in their own language and are easy to navigate, as well as trustworthy.

Not all bad for e-commerce in Sweden听

Apart from a dose of optimism from the Pharma sector, it鈥檚 easy to think it鈥檚 all doom and gloom and downhill from here 鈥� but this certainly isn鈥檛 the case. There are some very interesting and real opportunities breaking through the apparently gloomy statistical clouds.听

First of all, even with the net overall reduction in e-commerce of 7%, online sales are still up on 2019 by a significant margin, as this graph from the report shows.听

The report discusses various future scenarios, but the commonality between them all is that they point to a steady increase in in e-commerce over the next few years.听

What are the e-commerce trends showing us?听

E-commerce has had a strong and increasing presence in Sweden and throughout the Nordics for many years. Scandinavians are generally quick to take up new technologies, and their relatively strong purchasing power on the global stage means that technological devices are more affordable to a greater number of people at pretty much all income levels.听

As the report states: 鈥�In 2003 net sales in e-commerce amounted to SEK 5 billion, accounting for around 1 per cent of total retail sales. Some 20 years later, in 2022, e-commerce had net sales of SEK 136 billion. This corresponds to a growth rate of more than 2,600 per cent鈥�.听

Greater urbanisation also means that it is cheap and easy to have things delivered, either to your home or to a pick-up hub, within 24 hours, with a greater focus on green delivery and sustainability 鈥� delivery to hubs has increased in recent years. For many, simply avoiding the crowds in the stores is reason enough to choose the convenience of ordering online.听

Online payments and e-commerce听

Furthermore, Sweden has seen a rise in convenient methods of paying online. The most popular way of paying online has long been with a trusty credit or debit card, with saying they had used one in the past three months to pay online, with 鈥�颈苍惫辞颈肠别鈥� interestingly listed as the second most popular 鈥� something that is 听

But other payment methods have seen a significant increase in user popularity, especially in the younger age groups. The Nets survey saw 41% reporting that they had used a mobile payment option, Swish, in the previous three months in 2019, up from 28% in 2017. Among the 25鈥�34 age group, the figure is 48%!听

Other new players, such as Klarna, are also on the rise. Klarna specialises in Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) or By Instalment services, and as such competes with credit cards or store cards. The BNPL sector is predicted to in Sweden between 2022 and 2028, so this is clearly an area to watch, not least as the economy puts a squeeze on many people鈥檚 budget 鈥� especially younger cohorts 鈥� and leads them to look for ways to make purchases more affordable and manageable.听

Second hand, first choice听

The economic squeeze, coupled with a concern for the environment and a wish to live more 鈥渟ustainably鈥�, are jointly contributing to another trend towards buying more second-hand items online. Traditionally, this was mainly the preserve of charity or vintage shops, as well as the online marketplace eBay, but the report predicts a boom in online second-hand purchases in 2023. Second-hand has been growing for years, but as the report states, the second-hand retailer 贰谤颈办蝉丑箩盲濒辫别苍 has seen record growth month-on-month, and Tradera鈥檚 Christmas sales spiked by 24% from 2021 to 2022.听

Apart from the external reasons for turning to second-hand shopping, one factor in its particular popularity online is a combination of affordability and convenience.听

鈥�In a physical second-hand store, it is hard to know if you will find what you are looking for, but online you can search for and find whatever you are looking for.鈥�听

It鈥檚 also interesting to note where the biggest gender differences are in online purchases. Women are twice as likely as men to buy clothing, footwear and home furnishings online, whereas men are three times more likely than women to buy home electronics and eight times more likely to buy vehicles or accessories for vehicles online.听

Another key difference between customers in the second-hand market relates to age groups. Customers in the youngest age group are almost four times more likely to buy second-hand than the oldest, as demonstrated in the graph below.听

One reason for this is the aforementioned purchasing power of older customers, who are perhaps more likely to be the contributors of the items being sold a second time 鈥� after all, a second-hand market can only be derived from an associated first-hand market.听

Marketplaces work听

In addition to 贰谤颈办蝉丑箩盲濒辫别苍 (a charity) and Tradera (a marketplace using bidding, like eBay), there鈥檚 also Vinted, for non-professionals and with a specific list of allowed categories, as well as more niche online shops such as Arkivet, specialising in clothing and fashion items for women. The latter has almost doubled its online sales since 2018.听

Generally, marketplaces are the go-to for second-hand customers, with more than half of such purchases in 2022 made through the leading online marketplace Blocket, followed by Tradera in second place with 45%. Shopping through social media is also on the rise, with 38% of respondents having purchased through Facebook Marketplace.听

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the report states that 鈥�Companies selling via digital marketplaces are more positive about how their sales will develop in 2023.鈥�听

Amazon on the up听

Other marketplaces, such as CDON, Afound and Amazon have a strong position, with 32% of men and 23% of women making online purchases through an online marketplace. The 18鈥�29 age group has the highest share, totalling 37% and 27% respectively for men and women.听

Amazon is a marketplace that is becoming increasingly popular with Swedes, featuring among the three best-liked e-commerce companies for the first time in 2022. Apotea still ranks first, with Zalando second. Consumers clearly enjoy what Amazon has to offer; in September 2022, Amazon Prime Video became the most downloaded entertainment app in Sweden, with over 40,000 downloads.听

We can see another clear difference between generations here, with younger consumers being more attracted to websites such as Inet, Sellpy and Lyko, with older cohorts preferring Bokus, ICA and Engelsons. This is partly because the age groups consume different products, but also because they tend to buy from different kinds of companies.听

Cross-border e-commerce听

10% of consumers reported that they had shopped online from outside Sweden, and 6 out of 10 of these purchases were from Germany, China and the UK. Germany has seen an increase in online purchases from Sweden, accounting for 32% of online shopping from outside the country, followed by China at 15%.听

Germany is popular not least due to its automobile industry, affordable spare parts and accessories, which make up a significant share of the imports.听

Danish e-commerce has also grown in popularity in recent years; the plus points for the Danes are in furniture, design products and toys.听

Basket abandonment remains a problem for e-commerce听

Almost 8 in 10 online shopping baskets (77%) are abandoned without a purchase being made. The reasons for this vary between age groups, with window shopping 鈥� using your basket merely as a shopping list 鈥� being the most common reason among the young, and the lack of a preferred payment option, as well as the need to register an account, the most prevalent reasons among the older age groups.听

Adding more payment and delivery options is one simple way to reduce basket abandonment. Convincing those who use the basket as a shopping list to take the next step is more difficult, but can potentially be done with the help of an effective special offer or some other incentive.听

Good user experience (UX) design, preferably in the customer鈥檚 native language, is also extremely important. 97% of respondents mentioned 鈥�Good, clear information about products鈥� as an important factor when deciding who to purchase from. 94% mentioned 鈥�Easy navigation鈥� and 93% 鈥淕ood search function on the website鈥�. Having to guess or click around will not encourage these potential customers to complete a purchase on your website.听

Say goodbye to cookies听

For the up to 10% who abandon their basket or the 71%(!) who are put off altogether by having to register an account, guest purchasing options can be an easy solution. However, note another trend that is on the rise: no more cookies 鈥� and we鈥檙e not talking about curbs to your diet. There has long been a discussion around cookies 鈥� the small text files that websites store on a user鈥檚 computer to remember selected settings and preferences, used by third parties to collect data about users 鈥� and how this is squared with privacy concerns.听

Google plans to phase them out by 2024 and Safari and Firefox already block many third-party cookies as it is. The conundrum is, if you can鈥檛 use third-party cookies and as many as 7 out of 10 consumers do not want to register before they buy, how do you collect their details so as to build a relationship with them and send them relevant offers?听

One solution could be to offer special advantages 鈥� rebates, free delivery or similar 鈥� in exchange for their registering on your website.听

Opportunities for e-commerce in Sweden听

It is clear from the tendencies and trends we see in this report, corroborated by data from other sources, that e-commerce has a well-established presence in the Swedish market, and that there is significant growth potential to tap into as an online business, or a business with an online presence, for those retailers who can speak to the hearts and minds of the Swedish consumer.听

The post E-commerce trends in Sweden 鈥� challenges and opportunities appeared first on sa国际传媒.

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 诲辞苍鈥檛 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 诲辞苍鈥檛 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.

This year, however, I decided to try to teach myself a new language. It鈥檚 less of a 鈥渘ew year鈥檚 resolution鈥� and more like a 鈥淛anuary resolution鈥� 鈥� while others are trying Veganuary or Dry January, I鈥檝e been attempting to teach myself Swedish using only free resources.

So why Swedish?

As a bit of background, I currently translate from three languages into English as part of my role as an Account Linguist at Sandberg. I started learning French and Spanish at secondary school, and then picked up German as a beginner at university, where I studied all three. Besides those, I鈥檝e dabbled in Icelandic, Sanskrit and a couple of other languages over the years, aided for the most part by apps such as Duolingo and the embarrassing number of barely-touched language learning books on my shelf, but I鈥檝e never made the foray into Swedish. Until now, that is.

Hopefully I can help you to make a start 鈥� after all, that鈥檚 the most difficult part!

I picked Swedish for a few reasons. First, there appeared to be a large number of resources out there, ranging from apps to websites describing grammar and YouTube videos about pronunciation. Second, many of my colleagues at Sandberg are either Swedish, know Swedish or have studied Swedish in the past, so I would be able to ask for help if needed. Finally, and perhaps most importantly 鈥� I wanted to be able to understand ABBA songs in their native language.

In this article, I鈥檒l explain the free resources I鈥檝e used and any problems I encountered while giving my opinion on the best ways to start learning a new language. It takes a lot of dedication if you鈥檙e thinking of starting a new language from scratch, but hopefully I can help you to make a start 鈥� after all, that鈥檚 the most difficult part!

Setting the ground rules

Before starting this challenge, I decided to set myself some rules:

1. First of all, I would only practise for 45 minutes per day, i.e. the amount of time I would normally spend commuting on the train in the pre-COVID world. I chose this amount of time for a variety of reasons, the most important being that it is more sustainable to practise a language every single day for a short period of time rather than once or twice a week for a few hours. It also gives your brain a chance to let the new information you鈥檝e learnt sink in, rather than overloading it with vocabulary for two hours and then forgetting everything straight away.
2. Secondly, as I mentioned above, I would only be using free resources to learn Swedish, so there鈥檇 be no buying of Swedish textbooks or paying for premium versions of apps 鈥� I want to prove how it really is possible to start learning a language without spending anything.
3. Finally, at the end of the month, I would need to take a test to see whether I鈥檇 managed to reach (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). This is because I think it鈥檚 really important to have tangible goals in mind when learning a language.

Week 1

For the first couple of days, I didn鈥檛 have much of a plan about which resources I wanted to use. I started off with the apps that I knew already 鈥� and . If you haven鈥檛 come across either of these apps before, they basically gamify the language-learning experience, and most would agree that they are a lower-effort method of revising vocabulary and learning new words, though neither explain the grammar behind the words and phrases.

As my aim was to get to at least A1 level of Swedish by the end of the month, I quickly realised that I would need to introduce a different resource which explained both grammar and basic but useful vocabulary. This is how I came across the website . If you鈥檙e trying to learn a new language from scratch, I would advise doing some googling until you find the best resources for you 鈥� everyone has different learning styles, after all!

I ended up using Say it in Swedish throughout the entire month as my principal source of learning material. I found that each topic was explained succinctly, mixing both grammatical themes and a variety of fundamental topics such as family, colours, directions and parts of the body, all of which are really handy basics when you鈥檙e learning a language from scratch.

Where I wanted to learn more about a certain topic, I found it really useful to search for more information online, and in some cases asked questions of my patient colleagues, many of whom are already very experienced in Swedish or are native Swedish speakers themselves. This leads us nicely onto week two鈥�

Week 2

In week 2, I decided it鈥檇 be a good idea to research the different tenses that Swedish uses, to see what I was getting into and make some notes on the basics. To my absolute horror, I discovered a new concept which isn鈥檛 used in any of the other languages I鈥檝e learnt in the past.

Rather unhelpfully, the websites I was checking didn鈥檛 give much of an indication of when said concept (the , if you are interested and want to go down a rabbit hole of confusion) should be used, or why. But luckily, working in a Nordic translation company means I had a secret weapon: people who know Swedish.

I bothered a couple of colleagues to see if anyone could offer up an explanation where the internet had failed, and I was in luck. In a few minutes, a grammatical mess that I previously had no idea about had been untangled and suddenly seemed so much clearer. It鈥檚 at this juncture that I would highly recommend that you get yourself a friendly speaker of your target language to help you through sticky situations like this 鈥� there are plenty of communities online via social media and YouTube, for example.

By the end of the week, I had expanded my vocabulary further and had a better idea of how to form grammatically correct sentences, even if these were still limited to phrases such as 鈥渏ag har en svart katt och hon heter Tulip鈥� and 鈥渄et 盲r ett stort hus鈥�. Baby steps.

Week 3

At this point, I was starting to realise quite what I鈥檇 got myself into. Learning a language is no mean feat, especially trying to teach yourself. From scratch. Using solely free online resources. Motivation was waning and I hit a bit of a wall; the only thing keeping me from quitting was the fact that I鈥檇 committed to writing this article, and it鈥檇 be pretty embarrassing to admit that I gave up halfway through, before I鈥檇 even learnt how to ask for directions.

So I kept chugging along, incorporating some news articles in l盲tt Svenska (鈥渆asy Swedish鈥�) into my routine. I found this really helped me enjoy the learning process more than I had previously, as it introduced me to a variety of new, topical themes and awoke me to where and how specific grammatical concepts are used.

Another benefit of this style of learning is that it鈥檚 slightly more intuitive, as you can make educated guesses at what specific terms may mean in English based on the surrounding vocabulary. I鈥檇 definitely recommend varying the different resources and methods when learning a new language, not only because I find it effectively combats lack of motivation, but it also helps your brain to learn to process a variety of inputs as you would in your native language.

Week 4

By the start of the final week, I felt as though I鈥檇 developed a schedule that worked well for me 鈥� I鈥檇 finish work, have a tea break, and then make a start on Swedish. I was using a mix of the different methods described above, as well as making revision posters to stick up behind my desk and developing techniques to learn vocabulary more efficiently.

My favourite way to learn vocabulary, I鈥檝e decided, is writing down words repeatedly until they stick in my head. Sometimes you 诲辞苍鈥檛 need to have flashy apps and special games to learn vocabulary: if you鈥檙e anything like me, good old pen and paper does the trick!

31 January finally dawned and it was time to test myself on what I鈥檇 learnt and find out whether I had reached A1 level. I found two different online tests, which I will link to at the end of this article.

The first of these tests didn鈥檛 have any listening exercises, but it did provide questions on grammar and vocabulary, so I decided to take the results as evidence of my Swedish written comprehension and grammatical skills rather than an indicator of how 鈥済ood鈥� I was at the language on the whole. This first test gave me a result of 26 points out of 40, which apparently means that I have reached A2 level in terms of written comprehension and grammar, which was above what I expected!

However, the second test supplied some more in-depth results. It included sections on vocabulary and grammar, reading, listening, and also allows the test-taker to self-assess their writing and speaking skills. For this second test, my result averaged an A2 as well, though it dipped to A1 for listening.

Overall, I鈥檓 really proud of the results I achieved through this little experiment. While I鈥檓 yet undecided on whether I鈥檒l continue learning Swedish in the long term, I鈥檝e definitely learnt a lot 鈥� mainly, that consistency is key. Having spent just 45 minutes per day, every day, on learning this language and managing to reach A1/A2 level at the end of a month (in terms of comprehension at least!), I feel really accomplished and have managed to form a habit that I hope sticks with me in the future.

For anyone looking to learn a new language, whether it be Swedish or Mandarin, I truly would recommend that you try to learn a little bit every day and spend some time working out which techniques and resources work best for you. You 诲辞苍鈥檛 always need fancy apps or textbooks, there鈥檚 a whole world of alternative resources out there just waiting to be discovered.

The post How I learnt Swedish in 4 weeks appeared first on sa国际传媒.

Nordic dialect map

Learn about the languages and dialects of the entire Nordic region with our interactive map.

Nordic dialect map

Learn about the languages and dialects of the entire Nordic region with our interactive map.

The post 4 facts about the Swedish language appeared first on sa国际传媒.