The Scandy languages like long sequences of consonants, and not just for reasons of coding non-Latin sounds with the Latin alphabet.

The SKS in Fisksätra, where I live, is a problem to many immigrants. But the place has a pet name in typical Stockholm style: Fiskis.

So a lot of people call it Fiskis-ätra.

#language

Check out our orthography: star is roughly pronounced sher-nah. We spell it STJÄRNA. 😄

#language

@mrundkvist Fishy-eats? this sounds like the place for me!

@mrundkvist

As a Dane, I would say Fisk-sætra because Fisk is recognisable, not because I know what it means.

In Danish, we have a word "angstskrig" which makes foreigners cry out in anguish.

#angstskrig

@seindal @mrundkvist Hade inte ni danskar uttalat det som Fisksae eftersom ni inte uttalar konsonanter i slutet av ord? Amager blir Amah!

@ThomasIvars62 @mrundkvist

Hvis bare det var så simpelt.

Sammentrækningerne er dovenskab. Moder → Mor; Fader → Far; Amager → Amar

Interessant at 'a' ændre udtale i de to sidste eksempler.

@seindal @mrundkvist In Dutch, there is ”angstschreeuw”!
@mrundkvist Hur uttalar folk från Lidingö med sina långa i Fisksätra?
@ThomasIvars62
Det finns inget långt I där.
@mrundkvist Intressant språkkunskap från igår. Spanskan har ett namn för att ta klämdagar, "hacer puente", fick jag lära mig igår. "Dia puente" är klämdagen.
@mrundkvist the last five of göteborgskt is troublesome for even native speakers when you point out the spelling :)

@mrundkvist
The consonants wouldn't stump me, but the ä would. There are consonant groups in English too. However, some English people can't pronounce sequences of consonants in English (e.g. rendering umbrella as umb-uh-rella).

Swedish words are hard for an Anglo to pronounce from the spelling. I sang in a multi-lingual vocal group: Japanese ok, Czech yes, German and French a doddle, Swedish we had to take out of the concert programme. We'd have done better if we couldn't read the words.

@sunflowerinrain
Ä and Å are at least easy for Anglos to pronounce: MAN or MEN, DOOR or LOST. Ö, Y and U are problems.
@mrundkvist
Ah, memories of a geography lesson on Scandy economy in which the teacher had us practising "Jönköping". I don't know if we got it right.
@sunflowerinrain I've always wondered what an English-speaking person would make of Yasjön, a village I pass whenever I go into Big Town here… 😄
@mrundkvist
On coding non-Latin sounds with the Latin alphabet: it really doesn't work well for English, either. Putting in an 'h' to denote something that doesn't feature in Latin is bad enough, but trying to represent the plethora of English vowels with far too few letters is a mess. Still, it provides comedy.