Category: Languages

Things i write according to my knowledge and readings as a (Nordic) languages enthusiast

7 fun facts about Lucia, Sweden’s pagan saint

Lucia brings light in the darkest night of the year and is a mix of pagan and christian traditions. It is celebrated in Scandinavia with processions, saffron buns and church concerts.

Luciadagen is celebrated in Scandinavia, especially in Sweden, on 13th December, marking the start of Nordic Christmas, Jul, season. Sankta Lucia is typically depitcted with a wreath of candles.

1. Lucia was a dangerous night…– the pagan origin

Lussinatta was observed between Norway and Sweden. On that magic night, Lussi, a dark, female creature, would come with witches and trolls, punishing those who misbehaved or did not observe Yule preparations -also by going down the chimney (reminds me of somebody…) and blowing up the house… To protect oneself, it was necessary to stay indoors and respect the tradition of Lussevaka, staying awake and watching out on the longest night of the year. Candles would also help protect.

2. The real Lucia was Sicilian – the christian origin

Saint Lucy was a Syracusan martyr of the 4th century AD. Some say she brought food to Christians hidden in the Roman catacombs, with candles on her head to have her hands free. A figure who brings light in the darkness, much needed in the Northern winter, replaced the dark creatures of Lussinatta!

3. Lucia’s modern look came from Germany

The current celebration of Lucia is derived from the German tradition of Kindchen Jesus or Christkind (child Jesus). The Christkind was represented by a girl dressed in white, wearing a crown and lights, who handed out gifts to children. The tradition was brought to Sweden in the 1700s, where the name became Kinken Jes and spread from southwestern Sweden. It became common among wealthy families that a girl dressed as Lucia would serve breakfast in the 1800s.

Findus-Lucia with pepparkakor!
Mu

4. A Lucia is elected each year

The girls representing local Lucias in processions are elected each year, as is one national Lucia for whole Sweden. The first public procession in Sweden took place in 1927, when a newspaper in Stockholm elected an official Lucia of that year for Stockholm. There used to be Lucia contests, but nowadays it is more about children processions, with schools which often let chance decide who’s to be Lucia, for example by organising a draw.

5. Lucia’s male counterparts are Star boys, gingerbread men and christmas elves

The processions include the Lucia at the head, giving out sweets, accompanied by other angel girls and boys dressed as stjärngossar “star boys”, in white, wearing a cone hat with golden stars and holding a star stick. They are linked to stjärngossespel, a tradition from middle ages consisting in ‘star’ children going door to door singing songs, representing the Three Kings.
Other children are pepparkaksgubbar (gingerbread men) and tomtenissar (Christmas elves). Lucia songs as are sung, as Natten går tunga fjät “the night comes heavily”. It is actually based off a song by a Neapolitan composer.

6. Lucia’s treats: Saffron buns

Around Advent time Sweden is full of Saffron buns, especially the classic Lussekatter, shaped like an S with raisins, which would be shaped as curled-up cats with some fantasy.

lussekatt pepparkaka lucia in the netherlands
lussekatt, with a pepparkaka
saffransbullar

Other Advent-time treats as pepparkakor (spiced cookies) and glögg (mulled whine) are also commonly linked to Lucia traditions.

7. Lucia is celebrated in the rest of Scandinavia…and Italy

The Swedish-speaking population of Finland celebrates Luciasfester. Finland elects its Lucia since 1949, when she was elected and crowned in the cathedral of Helsinki, but the very first Finnish Lucia might have been elected in a school in Åbo/Turku in 1898.
In Denmark and Norway, Lucia started being celebrated during and after WW2, and it is mostly celebrated in schools and kindergartens. In 1944, the tradition was brought to Denmark with the first procession in Copenhagen, as a way to strengthen common Nordic traditions in the dark times of German occupation.

Some parts of Italy also celebrate Lucia! That is mostly around Bergamo, North Italy, where Lucia comes on a donkey and brings presents in the night, and children leave some treats as cookies for her. The 13th is also a special day in schools! It is also celebrated in Sicily, where it is more christianity-centered.

Sources:

False Friends within Scandinavian languages

False friends in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic that can lead to misunderstandings and funny situations between Scandinavians.

False friends are a very common thing in similar languages, and they can cause funny or weird situations, from calling someone calm instead of fun and pastries becoming headaches. Or insulting a girl by calling her girl.

So here is a list to find out curious false friends and keep yourself safe from incoveniences. As you will notice, Danish and Norwegian often have the same meaning opposed to Swedish, but not always.

(se-dk-no) wordSwedish meaningDanish meaningNorwegian meaning
roligfun (calm=lugn)calmcalm
artigpolitefunnyfunny
frukost/frokostbreakfast (lunch=lunch)lunch (breakfast=morgenmad)breakfast (lunch=lunsj)
blomma/eflower (plum=plommon)plum (flower=blomster)plomme=plum (flower=blomster)
varelse/værelse(living) being (room=rum)room room
bytown/village (city=stad)city (town=landsby)city (town=landsby)
stad/stedcity placeplace
semesterholiday (semester=termin)semester (holiday=ferie)semester (holiday=ferie)
lovsummer break , promise (law=lag)law (a promise=et løfte, but to promise=at love) law (a promise=et løfte, but to promise=at love)
rarweird (nice=snäll)nice, friendlyweird (nice=snill)
konstig/kunstigweirdartificial (weird=mærkelig, underlig)artificial (weird=rar, merkelig)
snålstingy–weird, odd
lesmile (laugh=skratta)laugh (smile=smile, read smeeleh)laugh (smile=smile)
grina/eweep, cry, also gråtalaugh (cry=græde)cry (laugh=le, also gråte)
glassice cream (glass=glas)glass (ice cream=is)glass (ice cream=is)
kjol/kjoleskirt (dress=klänning)dress (skirt=nederdel)dress (skirt=skjørt)
killingyoung goatkitten*geitekilling=young goat
bumsimmediately, at oncepimple–
kryddsill/krydsildspiced herringcrossfire (spiced herring=kryddersild)-, spiced herring=kryddersild)
tallrik/talrigplatenumeous (plate=tallerken)-, plate=tallerken
hurtigcheekyfastfast
anledningreasonreasonopportunity
bedriftachievementcompanycompany
styggnaughtyugly
flyescapeairplaneflight
tillbud/tilbudincidentofferoffer
tullcustoms– (customs=told)joke/nonsense (customs=toll)
snortsnotlace, cord
driva/e medjoking with/kiddingdoing
måste/må jeg…do I have to?may I?do i have to?

and here special section with Naughty words…. Pay attention

Swedish meaningDanish meaningNorwegian meaning
skedephasevag**a
tös/tøsgirlgirlsl*t
bolla/eplay boll (to f8&k=knulla)to f*cken bolle=bun pastry, å bolle seg=chill, have fun (to f8&k=knulle)
kneppe–to f**k (button=knappebutton (fuck=pul3)
måsseagullbutt (seagull=måge)– (seagull=måke)
svanstailfag**t–
källing/kællingkitten*b**ch–
kukd1ckcuckoo , mess (d*ck=p1k)d1ck
bärs/bæ,sjslang for a beerpoop

icelandic also has a few interesting cases:

SwedishIcelandic
huggachopconsole
bakverkpastrybackache

That’s all for now, I will keep this updated in the future!



more:

7 fun facts about Lucia, Sweden’s pagan saint

Lucia brings light in the darkest night of the year and is a mix of pagan and christian traditions. It is celebrated in Scandinavia with processions, saffron buns and church concerts.

Chiara's avatar by Chiara

How I learned all Scandinavian languages (and more)- Anchor language method

The ‘anchor’ language concept allowed me to learn Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian easily starting from studying properly only one language. This approach helps prevent confusion and builds a solid foundational understanding of language structures.

At the Polyglot Gathering 2025 – an event to connect with fellow language lovers and attend talks on language-related topics – Richard Simcott mentioned an interesting concept during his talk Language Bubble. Replying to a question about learning many closely related languages (and avoid confusion) he talked about relying on an ‘anchor’ language. And I realized i actually used that method without being fully aware of it.

As I mentioned while talking about learning all Germanic languages simultaneously, I did not start 5 languages at once. It was a gradual journey. And I relied on different languages at different stages. First on German, then on Swedish, and that is how I gradually studied/learned all Scandinavian languages. My experience as follows.

How I learned Scandinavian languages together

My first Scandinavian language was Swedish, which I picked out of feeling. Sweden was probably just slightly better represented in my head than Denmark and Norway. I started it after having studied English and German for years, and that helped me significantly, vocabulary and grammar wise. The same goes for Dutch, which I started at the same time as Swedish – they are related, but not that closely.
When I started, I could make a lot of assumptions and give things for granted thanks to my German knowledge: verb position, past verb paradigm, vocabulary I could understand etc. Back then, German could be loosely defined as my Anchor language for both.

Then, after having focused myself only on Swedish for 2 years, I started trying to write in Danish. I could not express myself but all i needed was figuring out how to modify my Swedish. The grammar works In the exact same way for most things, vocabulary is often very similar and has recurring spelling differences. After a while just google translating you see the patterns, and learn fast because of how similar they are.

Similarly, as I happened to chat with more Danes than Norwegians, I expanded a lot my Danish skills, making it more ‘independent’ from my Swedish. For Norwegian I have been relying on both, being aware of typical Norwegian features. I believe the key when attempting to speak is learning well filler words. The listener will be impressed about it before you recycle a word in another language – fake it until you make it they say.

Knowing Scandinavian languages surely did not have the same role as an anchor language when learning Icelandic, but I guess I could/can still use them as a ”reference”. German similarly when it came to Icelandic grammar in the beginning.

Anchor language concept In a nutshell

This concept consists in one language being on a higher level than the rest, To know something also means to know what distinct it from the rest, and for that you need a solid base you can rely on and use as reference. At some point, you will rely less and less on the anchor language.

  1. Pick a language and focus only on it and no new closely related ones for a while. You do not need to become fluent, but you need to know the language structure well: how grammar works, general vocabulary etc. So you are sure of what is Swedish, and do not mix it with what isn’t when learning.
  2. Get exposure in other related languages: start getting to know the other members of the family. Just like in a real family you do not remember the names of everybody after first introductions with many new people, so you have to have contact with them again here and there to actually be acquainted.
  3. Start using the other languages. As the passive language skills are already there due to language intellegibility, and you can use what you naturally absorb after a while, also by searching words you do not know and grammar concepts that might be different in your anchor language.

you can also see it as writing two essays: it works better to first write and finish one with a defined structure, then take that structure for a different topic and slightly modify it, than starting two different essays simultaneously, adding bits to both now and then, ending up with two randomly written texts.

The same can be applied for Romance languages, though my Anchor language is my native language, which I obviously have a strong base of to begin with…

I do plan to focus on Finnish to be able to make it my anchor language in order to easily learn/understand Estonian. It already helps with absorbing grammar features and some words I have randomly encountered, but to be a proper anchor there is work to do!

Find more language tips & facts on Nordic languages learning on this blog, or check out my free language resources list.

Nordic findings in japan

Nordic culture experienced in Japan: Moomins, Dala horse stationery, Nordic-inspired foods and books about Scandinavia seen by the Japanese.

Chiara's avatar by Chiara

How Nordic are Baltic countries

Are Baltic countries Nordic at all? I explored Latvia and Estonia, noting their ties to Nordic culture, from languages to Rye bread and Midsummer.

Chiara's avatar by Chiara

20+ Mindblowing Icelandic Composed Words

curious Icelandic compound words, from unique Icelandic words as ‘number prophetess’ for computer to ‘light pear’ for lightbulb.

Icelandic, like other languages, has a lot of compound words, expressing a concept with multiple other words.
For new concepts, for example technology-related vocabulary, Iceland has a committee inventing new words for new concepts, by assembling existing Icelandic words. This is to follow the language purism policy, and avoid just adapting foreign words or using loanwords.

Here are some Icelandic compound words I like. Can you guess the meaning by looking at the literal translation?

words unique to Icelandic:

  1. a classic example is tölva – Number-Prophetess (tala+völva): computer
  2. ljósmóðir – light-mother: midwife
  3. bergmál –rocks-language: echo
  4. spékoppar – naughty cups: cheek dimples
  5. tónlist – sound-art: music
  6. hugmynd – mind-picture: idea
  7. ástfanginn – Love-captured: be in love. This one is probably my favourite!!
  8. hugfanginn – mind-captured: fascinated
  9. sálfræði – soul-study: psychology. Most academic subjects have their own icelandic name, as málfræði – language-study: grammar.
  10. ratljóst – know/find the way (rata)-light: enough light to wander. This is however not widely used.
  11. Viðskiptavinur – business-friend: customer
  12. Mörgæs – Fat-Goose: penguin
  13. smokkfiskur – condom-fish: squid: it might be that smokk comes from smock, however, smokkur means condom, and that would somehow makes sense…

Compound words that also exist in other languages

Icelandic also took words that are jut adaptions of the original Greek words, literally translating into Icelandic, and shares quite a few with other (Germanic) languages, which are still curious if you are not a speaker of any of them.

  1. eldfjall – fire-mountain: volcano (just like 火山 in Japanese)
  2. Reikistjarna – wandering-star: planet. (what Planet originally means in Greek)
  3. rafmagn – amber-power: electricity (as electricity originally comes from Greek ēlektron meaning amber)
  4. flóðhestur – river-horse: hippo. (As in Scandinavian languages flodhe/äst or ‘Nile-horse’ in German and Dutch Nipferd/nijlpaard, it is just the literal translation of Greek hippopotamos). Nashyrningur – nose-horn: rhino. See above literal translation of rhinocerus, as Noshörning, neshorn, Nashorn, Neushoorn.
  5. Legkaka – Womb-Cake: placenta. (As Scandinavian mo(de)rkake, ‘mother cake’…)
  6. Gæsalappir – Goose-Feet: Quotation Marks (besides Anführungszeichen, German also has Gänsefüßchen)
  7. Ljósapera – Light-Pear: Lightbulb (as Glühbirne in German, and lyspære in Norwegian)
  8. Innblástur – In-Breeze: inspiration…(yes, you’re welcome)
  9. vínber – wine-berry: grapes (also exists in Estonian viinamarjad)

sources:

Article by Silvia Cosimini on Passenger Islanda, Iperborea.
Reddit thread: /r/linguisticshumor/comments/17k5ivl/whats_the_most_ridiculous_example_of_semantic/
guidetoiceland.is ‘s Icelandic Language iverview

Guide to finding penpals to practice languages

Snailmail is a great way to practice languages at your own pace, make friends and get creative at the same time!

I have been into penpalling/snailmail since my early teenage years, and I started using this hobby more recently as a way to practice languages.

I actually started learning Danish and Norwegian by writing letters in them. I spoke decent Swedish already and could read them, but had to look for a lot of words and correct grammar forms, and that was a boost, learning actively while having fun and being creative! At the moment, I am actively using my Finnish and Japanese with my penpals from Finland and Japan.

How to find penpals: hashtags, communities, websites

scandinavian stamps
Pretty stamps from Scandinavia!
From a Finnish penpal

One of the ways to find other people interested in penpalling is searching with the right hashtags on social media as instagram and tiktok. For example #penpalswanted , #lookingforpenpal, etc. In some cases snailmail accounts give a chance to comment and introduce themselves under a post to those looking for a penpal.

There are also websites made for people looking for a penpal, for example Global Penfriends, interpals.net... Here you can select a country and age to find your future penpals! Other websites are country-specific as Pen friends clubs of Japan.

introduce youself with a video or post adding the hashtags above, or interact and send messages to other penpal-wannabes. Talk about your interests, your aesthetic, show your letters and. No creativity, special things you’d send as stickers, postcards..

Get creative: material you need & ideas. pinterest board

Some of my snailmail material: washi tapes, stamps and pretty sticky notes

There are no right or wrong things to include in a letter, but usually, the more things you include in it, the nicer it is for your penpal receiving it!

In this Pinterest board I add inspirational pictures for my letters. Some ideas:

  • washi samples, stickers
  • memo notes
  • postcards
  • cutouts (pictures from magazines..)
  • Questions for your penpal
  • songs

Similar the length of your letter is up to you. When practicing languages, the longer the more space to improve! It can be as personal as you want it to.

fun fact: When writing to a new penpal, I always write/doodle about things I like or know about the other person’s country, copying illustrations from books I had as a child among others 🙂

Stick to the language

As I mentioned in my blog post about practicing a language spoken in a country with high English proficiency, it is important to find a space whee you force yourself to use that language no matter what – and writing letters is a perfect solution for that. It is a relaxed, fun way to practice taking your time, both when reading others’ letters and writing your own. You can look up words, and exercise writing in other scripts too if needed! Just handwriting å, æ or ð feels quite satisfaying to me.

letter for Japanese penpal
For a Japanese penpal
Letter for Danish penpal
For a Danish penpal

Penpal etiquette

  • If you are the one asking to become penpals and get a yes – write first. It is also possible to do swaps – one-shot mail exchanges where you send more things than in an ordinary penpal letter. In that case, sending it at the same time would be a fair option if you inform yourselves about what the other person likes to begin with.
  • In the first letter, introduce yourself and your interests, what you like/dislike..
  • Try to put similar effort in letters as your penpals do, or ask them what they’d like to receive – it would be a bit unfair if someone uses a lot of materials, decorations and small gifts while you send a half empty sheet in a blank envelope.
  • If you do not feel like continuing writing to a penpal – that’s totally okay, but let the penpal know.

Nordic books to read and study in 2025

Novels, non-fiction and coursebooks to learn Nordic languages I plan to or might use this year, from Swedish to Icelandic.

I already had these books in 2024, started some of them during the year but still have some to begin yet:

  • Story of Scandinavia, Stein Ringen – detailed history of Sweden, Denmark and Norway from Viking Age to Present!
  • Sprog, Mikkel Wallentin – a booklet about language as a way to communicate and its peculiarities, part of the series Tænkepauser by Aarhus University.

Started (and already finished) in 2025:

  • New Finnish Grammar (Nuova Grammatica Finlandese), Diego Marani – novel about a soldier found in an italian harbour without any memory of his past and believed to be Finnish, he will be brought to Finland to re-learn his language and culture.

A few novels I still have to start:

  • Straff, Ann-Helen Laestadius – Sami kids taken away from their families to a Sami-hostile environment, who meet again 30 years later.
  • Allting växer, Lyra Koli – dystopic novel about a Scandinavian girl set in a post- world war and climate catastrophe world.

Language books

This year I want to begin by focusing on Japanese, but also Finnish, continuing the coursebook by Hoepli (from Italian).

I am looking forward to improve my Danish a little with the German Assimil edition. Other books, as Swedish assimil and Short Stories in Icelandic, were started in the past and I might continue (for Icelandic) or review (for Swedish) them later.

That was pretty much all for now.. Let’s hope 2025 continues better than how it started, for me by being sick…

Tips to Practice the Local Language where everybody speaks English

4 tips to practice a language as Swedish and Dutch, where most people are fluent in English and foreigners struggle to improve the local language.

You are learning a language and would be eager to use it when you are in the country where it is spoken. But what if everybody switches to English the second they hear you are not from there?

This is a typical problem in Holland and Scandinavia, where most people speak English well, and the fact that English will simply always work better and be the easiest option prevents you from attempting at speaking anything else.

I have had experiences with Dutch, Swedes, Swedes and Norwegians in various contexts and with the given language being at various levels at different times, and these are a few tips to exercise the language if you are not (or do not feel) fluent yet:

1. important information in English, smalltalk and chitchat in local language

Sometimes you just have to be sure you know what is going on and what you need to do, other times you can miss some parts of a dialogue without causing yourself any damage – in the latter give a go at your target language, you’ll never understand 100% anyway if you never practice.

example: Last time I was in Denmark, I heard a confusing announcement on the train. As i wanted to be 100% sure my train would reach my destination, I first asked that in English to the person sitting next to me, to switch to Danish right after having received that piece of information, (saying that I actually did speak Danish) and had a nice conversation in it.

If your level is still basic, do make sure to (be able to) say small things like hi/thanks/sorry/excuse me/good evening etc. You’ll get those small expression stuck in your head, and give yourself and others the feeling you do speak the language, which is a better start than not using it at all.

3. Prepare what you want to say in advance, or fake it until you make it.

Sometimes you can look up how to properly say something in advance, as in shops and restaurants – things like ‘do you have a free table’ ‘i would like to this and that’, or even look up some extra vocabulary for a conversation of which you already know the topic.

Also: in given contexts like shops the things you get asked tend to be standard, as ‘do you want a bag?/receipt..’ , so you know what words might be pronounced, anticipating what you’ll be asked, and be less scared you will not understand.

example: I had to talk to a Norwegian client on the phone, so I wrote down what I would say, and looked up vocabulary I needed: that means learning new words and getting to practice with them!

3. Find ‘comfort zones’ and people with whom you stick to the language

If your level in a language is not very high, you might not dare making attempts with strangers. I am a quite shy person myself, other than a perfectionist, so I know that feeling well. But you learn a language by practicing it (and making mistakes), and as soon as you have someone or somewhere to freely practice -no matter how off your grammar is, how many gaps you have in your vocabulary, how many times you ask for repetitions – do it. Having active conversations is also important to absorb the language yourself and learn from your language partner.

With strangers you can stick to English if you feel uncomfortable otherwise, but it is good to have a situation in which you’ll always stick to the language (This counts also when chatting online!). Or at least often enough that your default language is Swedish, Finnish, etc. You learn to swim by swimming – but it does not have to be in the open sea from moment one.

Other options if you do not know anybody, you can use find tandem partners on apps such as hellotalk, tandem etc. and give yourself the rule to rather use translators, but never use English. Events as language cafés are also great occasions to practice if you find any!

keypoint: sometimes it is a matter of self-confidence more than language level

The thing with Swedish, Dutch, Danish etc. is, you might be pretty good at them, but if you are a bit insecure, allowing yourself to use them language over English will be hard. In countries where the average level of English is poor, that is of course completely different.

So you’ll just exercise your Italian, Japanese, Spanish, etc. without thinking much about whether you are good enough at it. You might barely know how to order a drink in Italian or Japanese, but still, you’ll do it, because they will understand it better than in English, even with bad pronunciation or grammar. Maybe they will be relieved they can use their language with you, while the Dutch either want to help you by using a language you are more fluent in or just want to have a smooth communication.

It does take some self-confidence to stick to a language if the counterpart easily switches to English! Even if it does not necessarily mean you are bad at it. It is all about finding contexts and people to use the language, broadening them gradually as you get more comfortable or fluent enough to use it for everything.

How I have done it: First I would use Dutch only in written form and with given people, then I got to the point I’d dare using it with strangers, in shops, but not at an airport desk, then I started using it even for formal things like registering at the municipality , but I did not switch back to Dutch if people switched to English. Now i stick to Dutch, always. With Danish I am in the phase where I could use it in formal context but do not always dare due to fear of not understanding. But I did ask for information in Danish at a museum desk, which I did not do one year ago.

Idioms with berries in Nordic languages

idioms in Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and Danish with berries

Berries are a big thing in Nordic countries, and you can hear that in their languages as well! So I have collected a few sayings and idioms involving them in Swedish, Norwegian Finnish and Danish.

Swedish

  • Smultronstället – Place of wild strawberries – a special place discovered, treasured, returned to for solace and relaxation; a personal idyll free from stress or sadness
  • Blott Sverige svenska krusbär har – Only Sweden has Swedish gooseberries – There’s no place like home… Originally a quote by writer Carl Jonas Love Almqvist (1793-1866)
  • Hej hopp i blåbärsskogen! / Hej svejs i lingonskogen tjosan hoppsan hej! – hey hey in the blueberry/lingonberry wood hey hey: a funny surprised expression Swedes may use in a joking way

Norwegian

  • Det er bare blåbær – It’s just blueberries: it’s not a big deal/it’s a piece of cake
  • Være på bærtur – To be picking berries: being completely lost/wrong.

Finnish

  • Oma maa mansikka, muu maa mustikka – our land strawberry, other land blueberry: No place like home, here too 🙂
  • he ovat kuin kaksi marjaa – they are like two berries: they look very much alike
  • se maksaa mansikoita – it costs strawberries: very expensive
  • and last but not least paskanmarjat – sh*t berries: bullsh*t

Danish

  • stikkelsbærben – gooseberry legs: pale, skinny, and hairy legs
  • et surt ribs – a sour redcurrant: a grumpy person
  • at give (eller få) en på bærret: to give (or get) one on the berry: to hit or get hit on the face

sources: Københavns sprogcentret

Feel free to comment if you know more!

My experience at the Polyglot Gathering in Prague

I joined the polyglot gathering in Prague, an event for language lovers with lectures and activities

First of all, to be updated about language events you can follow me on instagram at @ chiaraspeaksnordic

In May 2024 i went to the Polyglot Gathering – an event I had been dreaming about for a while, but did not know if I would never manage to join. However, after stumbling upon its existence not too long before it would take place, In the course of a few days I figured out I could actually make it! Here is my experience at it.

Sign-up, info Pre-gathering and visiting Prague

After checking out programs of past editions, info and such on the Polyglot Gathering website, I signed up a couple weeks before the event would take place. By signing up early on you would get discounts, so next time I’ll try to do this asap. The main thing to be sure about was getting there, and turns out there is a European Sleeper train to Prague.

I attempted at studying Czech before leaving..
Saxonian Switzerland from the train

I arrived there around 11am and had planned to just walk around on Saturday as it would have been a pity to just stay inside a building (and pay for an entire day of activities) while I had a brand new city and country to explore. I also tried the most touristy street food, the Trdelník (chimney). BUT of course, without ice cream, unlike everybody. I had lunch at the Havelska Koruna, budget authentic Czech food restaurant.

A challenge related to the Gathering was learning Czech. Having to start from scratch, I tried to focus on practical stuff as food vocabulary in the little time I had, and didn’t manage to go much further than memorizing words for apples and potatoes.

having to look up stuff slowed down my deciding process… That was frustrating! This was my first time in a country with a language I do not understand at all, last time I was 13… One thing I really look forward to if next year’s gathering will still be in Czechia, will be improving my Czech skills, if anything to navigate these things more efficiently.

Sunday: The Gathering

Anyway, I was ready to join the Gathering on Sunday, the last day of it. I met two Italian girls walking just outside the University building where the event took place, so I didn’t have to figure out myself how to exactly come in, as it was not super clear. As I registered I was given a tote bag with a notebook, a pen, few pins, a bottle of water and of course my language tag that I had filled in while signing up for the Polyglot Gathering! And, a t-shirt, that I had added to my registration.

tote bag, notebook, pin and tshirt
name tag polyglot gathering with languages you speak
A few people were actually curious about the Lombard and Frisian flags

I announced on social media I’d go, and found out a (Swedish-speaking) friend would be there. So I ended up speaking a lot of Swedish which on its turn attracted fellow Scandinavians hearing us..

I could already see the program (see below for the last day) shortly before the Gathering started, so i knew more or less what lectures I wanted to join.

Besides lectures there were also activities as language practice rooms (and a “no English Zone”), talent shows, quizzes, workshops, tasting international snacks.. But that will be for another time …I eventually picked these lectures:

  • How Kinship systems shape your worldview and reality: cross-cultural anecdotes, by Israel Lai
  • Polish crash course (1/2 of it) by Zuzanna Yevtushyk
  • Characteristics of major language families (mainly Romance, Germanic, Slavic and facts about further ones), by Adam Raelson
  • Brain computer interfaces are coming- Why we now need to aim to C3 level
  • Esperanto and the other languages (slides in French and lecture in Esperanto)- by Michael Boris Mandirola
  • The Power of the Hour – Swedish in 6 months by Krisztina Féher
polyglot gathering 2024 language lectures

one time slot had multiple interesting courses, others not as much, but most lectures were definitely interesting! I would have gone to a Chinese lecture instead of another one about competing with AI intelligence if I had to do this again, but for the rest I was satisfied with my choices. It was also a pity I had to leave the Polish Crash Course halfway through to go to the Languages Families lecture. Although I must say my brain cells were getting tired, the Czech I had learned wasn’t helpful beyond the first three sentences.

I’d say my favourites were the one about language families and hearing about the strategies used to learn Swedish one hour a day – the way she tracked it was quite inspiring and gave me good insights. Learning about different ways different languages name family members was also pretty cool! See some slides below.

Polyglot gathering lecture language challenge Swedish one hour a day

Breaks

Between each lecture there was a break, and you could get coffee or tea. and there were stands selling books, gadgets and stuff.

One was mostly just about Esperanto though – seems to be pretty big at language nerds events. I got a book explaining German idioms, and a tiny tourist phrasebook for Czech. Might be handy for another time!

The main break was of course lunch, a couple hours. You had the option to get lunch either everyday or not at all at the canteen, and it was available in 3 versions: meaty, vegetarian and vegan. Here too, you had to choose one and stick to it for all the days you’d stay there.

The best thing would be having the menu to begin with and freely deciding which version to pick, but I understand that’s for organisational reasons.

I was there only one day so I did not have to stick to only meat or only vegan dishes for 5 days. And I knew I would eat typical Czech food with meat outside anyway, so it was okay. On Sunday the vegetarian version was curry rice, the vegan couscous, the meaty schnitzel. And of course I got soup as side dish, typical Czech.

Closing ceremony & Final Evening

As it was the last day, the final ceremony took place at the end of the lectures, and it was a sum up of the event, organisational effort of the team behind it, Slovakian Edukácia@Internet as main party, thanking all partners and sponsors. and insights about where the Gathering will be next here. Which might be Prague again. Or somewhere in central Europe. Sorry, non-Europeans…

Once the Gathering was over, we still had the possibility to meetup with other polyglots at the beer garden in the evening. As I had only been there that day, I had not had the chance to really chat a lot with others yet. It was quite fun and got to talk to quite a few people – notably a person I am a mutual follower of on tiktok, it was quite amazing to see her in real life – unexpectedly!! I also got Polish chocolates :). Afterwards some people went to pubs – I had a bit trouble switching from Swedish to norwegian after a drink, I must say.

Though English stayed in most contexts as the lingua franca, I still got to speak quite a few languages. I look forward to the next time I will be able to join it, hopefully for longer than just one day!

Finnish homonyms in Italian and Japanese

Identical words with different meanings that Finnish, Japanese, Italian share.

Homonyms are words with the same sound (homophones) or spelling (homographs), but differ in meaning.

Finnish is totally unrelated to Japanese and Italian, but it has quite a few curious homonyms with them because of featured they share:

  • Consonant/vowel alternation
  • Words frequently ending in a vowel
  • A common trait is also double consonants (alternated by vowels)

This results in completely unrelated words being identical! What is a noun in one language, can be an adjective or a verb in another though. Other times it’s surprisigly words in the same domain (see me/te in Finnish and Italian!)

  • tori: market square (Finnish), bulls (italian), bird(s) (Japanese)
  • me: we (Finnish), me (Italian), eye(s) (Japanese)
  • te: plural you (Finnish), you (complement pronoun, Italian), hand (Japanese)

Finnish and Japanese both use (or Japanese is transcripted with) a K for the esact same sound Italian uses C for:

  • kani/cani: bunny (Finnish), dogs (Italian), crab(s) (Japanese) – here surprisingly all animal names!
  • kasa/casa: pile (Finnish), house (Italian), umbrella (Japanese)

Sometimes the same word is actually very similar in other languages, but the way Finnish, Japanese and Italian adapt it is very similar or ends up looking identical to other words:

  • poro: reindeer (Finnish), pore (Italian), the polo game (Japanese)
  • shokki: shock (Finnish), tableware (Japanese)
  • kokki: cook (Finnish), national flag (Japanese)

Finnish – Japanese

  • ase: weapon (Finnish) – sweat (Japanese:汗)
  • haka: hook (Finnish) – grave (Japanese)
  • hana: tap/faucet (Finnish) – flower, nose (Japanese:花／鼻)
  • haku: search (Finnish), vomit (Japanese:吐く)
  • himo: lust (Finnish) – ribbon (Japanese:綬)
  • kanki: wood/metal bar +slang for bon..r – ventilation (Japanese:換気)
  • koe: test/exam (Finnish) – voice, sound (Japanese:声)
  • koko: size, entire (Finnish) – here (Japanese:ここ)
  • kumi: rubber (Finnish) – group (Japanese組み)
  • kura: mud (Finnish) – saddle (Japanese:鞍)
  • kuri: discipline (Finnish) – chestnut (Japanese:栗)
  • kutsu: invitation (Finnish) – shoe (Japanese:靴下)
  • mono: ski boot (Finnish) – object, item (Japanese:靴)
  • naku: naked (Finnish) – cry (Japanese:泣く）
  • uni: dream (Finnish) – sea urchin (Japanese:うに)

(Many found through finland-japan-blog tumblr blog)

Finnish – Italian

  • lama: recession (Finnish) blade (Italian)
  • lampo: heat (Finnish), lightning (Italian)
  • lato: barn (Finnish), angle (Italian)
  • lima: mucus (Finnish), a [nail] file (Italian)
  • lumi: snow (Finnish), lumens/lamps (Italian)
  • matto: carpet (Finnish), crazy (Italian)
  • multa: mold (Finnish), fine [as financial penalty] (Italian)
  • vino: crooked (Finnish), wine (Italian) 
  • nero: genius (Finnish), black (Italian)
  • palo: a fire (Finnish), pole (Italian)  
  • pala: piece (Finnish), shovel (Italian)
  • panna: to put (Finnish), whipped cream (Italian)
  • peli: game (Finnish), body hair (Italian)
  • pelle: clown (Finnish), skin (Italian)
  • sana: word (Finnish), healthy [f] (Italian)
  • suola: salt (Finnish), loam (Italian)
  • suora: straight (Finnish), nun (Italian)
  • pieni: small (Finnish), full [pl] (Italian)
  • tutti: pacifier (Finnish), everybody (Italian) 
  • eri: different (Finnish), [you] were (Italian)
  • pino: stack (Finnish, pine tree +a name (Italian)
  • tuo: those (Finnish), your(s) (Italian)

You also have pöllö, meaning owl in Finnish while pollo is chicken in Italian, while töpö is bug in Finnish and topo mouse in Italian

Other words of Italian/latin origin that also exist in English have a different meaning in English: Villa is wool, lava is platform

Do you know more homonyms like these? comment with them!