I Speak My Mind

Posted by Martin R on December 22, 2010
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Dear Reader, are you of such a bent that you are not content with reading what I write in English? Is your inclination also to hear me speak in Swedish? Is that what you want, now? Is it? Say it! Is it?

Let’s be frank. I think we both know what sort of pleasure-seeking little beast you are.

So head on over to Skeptikerpodden and hear their long interview with me about the Swedish Skeptics Society, ending with some views on archaeology.

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Comments

  1. #1 Bob Carlson
    December 22, 2010

    Given that your written English is superior to mine as well as being as good or better than that of most English language bloggers, I would be more curious about your spoken English. Also, it would be interesting to know what proportion of the membership of the Swedish Skeptics Society would have had no difficulty comprehending your talk if you had spoken in English rather than Swedish.

  2. #2 Martin R
    December 22, 2010

    Thank you, Sir!

    Here’s an interview in English.

    http://www.theskepticsguide.org/archive/podcastinfo.aspx?mid=1&pid=147

  3. #3 Gingerspark
    December 22, 2010

    Your written English is better than mine, and English is the only language I can write in. Sad but true.

    I can speak a few, read even fewer, but I can only write in English – but the use of puncuation is beyond me.

    I love languages, I love hearing other languages, and I really love people’s accents when they speak English. ;-)

  4. #4 Pierre
    December 22, 2010

    Link doesn´t work for me…. Anyone else got problems with it or is it just my computer?

  5. #5 Martin R
    December 22, 2010

    They’ve had some trouble with their site today, possibly because they have so many listeners now that the bandwidth isn’t enough.

  6. #6 Bob Carlson
    December 22, 2010

    Here’s an interview in English.

    Bascically American English, without the usual Swedish accent, such as the “yust” for just that I hear from an old Swedish friend who worked in the US for a long time. You alluded to time spent in the US, so I gather it was a matter of being young enough then for your English to be quickly Americanized. Interesting remark concerning your father’s belief that chiropractic had cured his pollen allergy. What with your wife being Chinese, do you need to invoke your skepticism with respect to acupuncture?

  7. #7 Martin R
    December 23, 2010

    I lived in Connecticut for two years when I was a little kid. But my accent is chameleonic — in the UK I sound a little different.

    My wife is pretty skeptical too, but she does take this Chinese herbal remedy containing ginseng when she has a cold. We call it “the magic powder”, and not because it has any astonishing effect. (-;

  8. #8 Bob Carlson
    December 23, 2010

    My grandfather moved to Connecticut when he was 27 and lived there for about 30 years, but he, nevertheless, had very strong Swedish accent. Among the 78 rpm records we had when I was a kid was Yogi Jorgenson’s Yingle Bells. I can’t help thinking my father’s delight with this was how much it reminded him of his childhood in a Swedish community in Connecticut. Perhaps the flip side of that recording was I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas.

  9. #9 Martin R
    December 23, 2010

    Haha, great stuff! Many Swedes also have trouble with V and W in English, not to mention often being unable to say TH in “the” and “thing”, and never knowing whether an S is pronounced “s” or “z”.

    I am wery pleasssed yust to be here talking about de fing.

  10. #10 Bob Carlson
    December 23, 2010

    There’s a ditty covering the W but not the V:

    My name is Yohn Yohnson,
    I come from Visconsin,
    I Verk for the lumberyard there.
    Ven I Valk down the street,
    All the peoples I meet,
    They say Vhat’s your name, I say…

    My name is Yohn Yohnson …