- Forum >
- Topic: Swedish >
- "Ett svenskt hus är vanligtvi…
20 Comments
1098
There are a lot of red houses. However, perhaps "often" would be a more appropriate adverb than "usually." Let's see what people say who live there, though.
- 1328
To me, ofta makes it sound a bit like the houses would change colors, which I guess they do sometimes when they're repainted, but still… It is however true that the typical house in the countryside in Sweden is red. This is because of Falu koppargruva, where copper has been mined since the age of the vikings, and using that copper, the typical color falu red is made.
- 1098
Well, I didn't do too well understanding the Falu koppargruva article, so I tried Chrome's automatic translation button at the top. Here is one of the resulting paragraphs:
When in 1719 emptied a 500 foot deep reduction, marten mine, which for many years been under water, was found where the corpse of a miner Mats Israelsson, commonly called Fet-Mats , who 42 years earlier gone alone into the thin and then died. Upon resumption was the vitriolhaltiga water genomlakade body yet soft. He then became hard as rock and stored for many years as a great curiosity, but did eventually decompose and was then with great honor buried in Stora Kopparberg old church in 1749. [ 6 ] The rest did not last long, they would do if the church floor and was Had to move on Fet-Mats. His leg was put in a box as one moved up to the attic where he was forgotten. In the 1930s, they found the box with Mats when you did on the wind and he got his funeral year 1934th.
- 1328
Fat Mats is a legendary figure, who even has his own Wikipedia article in English here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fet-Mats
His horrible fate inspired many authors.
- 1098
Wow, his story almost became a Wagner opera! But parts of the English article seem to contradict the Swedish. As soon as the Swedish course has immersion, I am going to post that article!
- 1098
Mycket intressant, tack. Using "often" in English doesn't make me think of the house changing colors, but I guess the sentence could be changed to "many Swedish houses are red."
Late answer, but for those who are curious the reason that red is a rather common color in Sweden for houses (and barns, that's where the stereotypical red barn with white trim comes from) has to do with the historical prevalence of copper mining as a major aspect of the Swedish economy. The classic red color used is a pigment produced from the byproducts of the copper refining process and originally was produced mostly in Falun. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falu_red for a bit more info.
What would be more idiomatic in Swedish: "Ett svenskt hus är vanligtvis rött" or "Svenska hus är vanligtvis röda"? In English, I believe, it would be more natural to use the latter: "Swedish houses are usually red."
- 1328
ett hus - ett svenskt hus
en bil - en svensk bil
huset -> det svenska huset
bilen -> den svenska bilen
plural:
svenska hus, svenska bilar
de svenska husen, de svenska bilarna
- 18
Because we needed a seven-letter word with only one vowel for our daily Swedish tonguenastics workout :)
Ahaha, I was wondering that. I'm living in Skåne right now and was really struggling to think of any red houses in the area
Some of these things are just arbitrary. Isn't "ordinarily" an acceptable translation of vanligtvis?
generally ( allmanhet) and usually (vanligtvis) mean the same?. or if not. what would be the case?
I think "a Swedish house is often red," would also be an appropriate translation
