Celebrities in Swedish: YouTube's finest
Any student of the Swedish language can tell you that it's not the world’s easiest to pronounce.
What with funny looking letters like ä, ö, and å (of which two are common words too, we might add), and some words so long you almost need to stop for a breather halfway through, it’s understandable how the following people didn’t quite get it right.
But, without wanting to ever laugh at someone who’s trying, we’ve decided to provide The Local’s list of celebrities trying their hands at Swedish – even if it might not always sound like it...
Hoppas att ni förstår – sometimes even WE didn’t!
Charlie Sheen seems to enjoy the most obvious advantages of getting your tongue around Swedish, although his pronunciation gets a 3/10 from us!
American actor and singer Zac Efron seems to struggle with that pesky little ä sound… in fact, he seems to struggle with the whole thing! 1/10 here.
Sometimes, TV shows take the "funny Swedish accent" approach, and here's one that raised eyebrows here at The Local, direct from popular show Family Guy:
Visiting musicians often try to give their live shows that little extra touch with a few words in Swedish, which was attempted here by American Gwen Stefani (still not entirely sure what she says here)… 5/10 though, just for the thought.
Sometimes, however, musicians have a more exact grasp, like Cat Stevens in his 2011 Stockholm concert, with a stunning 9/10 effort here, in song form: (we should add, Stevens, aka Yusuf Islam, has a Swedish mother and admits he can still remember a little Swedish from his childhood in Gävle).
And in case you were feeling like your own Swedish trumps all of the above efforts, there are animals out there reportedly speaking up to 250 Swedish words, such as this charming little parrot. 10/10 here, especially considering he's bird-brained.
So if you don't already speak Swedish, now you know what you're up against! Good luck (or should we say "Lycka till"!)
Oliver Gee
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What with funny looking letters like ä, ö, and å (of which two are common words too, we might add), and some words so long you almost need to stop for a breather halfway through, it’s understandable how the following people didn’t quite get it right.
But, without wanting to ever laugh at someone who’s trying, we’ve decided to provide The Local’s list of celebrities trying their hands at Swedish – even if it might not always sound like it...
Hoppas att ni förstår – sometimes even WE didn’t!
Charlie Sheen seems to enjoy the most obvious advantages of getting your tongue around Swedish, although his pronunciation gets a 3/10 from us!
American actor and singer Zac Efron seems to struggle with that pesky little ä sound… in fact, he seems to struggle with the whole thing! 1/10 here.
Sometimes, TV shows take the "funny Swedish accent" approach, and here's one that raised eyebrows here at The Local, direct from popular show Family Guy:
Visiting musicians often try to give their live shows that little extra touch with a few words in Swedish, which was attempted here by American Gwen Stefani (still not entirely sure what she says here)… 5/10 though, just for the thought.
Sometimes, however, musicians have a more exact grasp, like Cat Stevens in his 2011 Stockholm concert, with a stunning 9/10 effort here, in song form: (we should add, Stevens, aka Yusuf Islam, has a Swedish mother and admits he can still remember a little Swedish from his childhood in Gävle).
And in case you were feeling like your own Swedish trumps all of the above efforts, there are animals out there reportedly speaking up to 250 Swedish words, such as this charming little parrot. 10/10 here, especially considering he's bird-brained.
So if you don't already speak Swedish, now you know what you're up against! Good luck (or should we say "Lycka till"!)
Oliver Gee
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