"Does the interpreter speak Swedish?"
Translation:Talar tolken svenska?
8 Comments
103
But surely "pratar" and "talar" aren't equivalent here, right? I mean "does the interpreter speak Swedish" is clearly different from "is the interpreter speaking Swedish" in English -- which is what I take the difference between "talar" and "pratar" to be...
From what I understand, they do mean the same thing, but talar is more formal and some would say antiquated. Pratar is more commonly used.
"Talar" is actually more appropriate in this case! "Talar" may be antiquidated, but in the case of describing what language a person speaks (Jag talar svenska - I speak (the) Swedish (language)), it's perfectly fine.
You can however use "pratar" and still get your meaning across. The context is clear enough to indicate that it's meant as "speaks" rather than "is speaking (right now)".
Mainly because the addition of "om" would change it into talking "about" Swedish.
