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Va' sa' du?

"Vad sade du?" is the commonest phrase in Swedish. You will hear it all the time, in shops, streets, restaurants, people's homes. It means, "What did you say?" Swedes often don't seem to be able to understand each other, so how foreigners are expected to know is an interesting question. If I say it, the chances are I will get a reply in reasonably good English which doesn't help my learning.

We have been having lessons in Swedish pronunciation. The general idea is to drop about one-third of what is written and mumble the rest, apart from a couple of key words in every sentence, which much be pronounced absolutely spot-on.
It is also the case that there is, we have been told, no standard and accepted way of speaking Swedish. There is nothing corresponding to "Received Pronounciation", apparently. But at least the teacher assured us that we are not being taught to speak like teenagers, though we have to take that on trust.

Konstigt. Eller hur?

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