There are plenty of ways to use Wikipedia to improve your Swedish language skills. Here are three specific ways to do just that:

1. Read in Swedish. Interested in learning more about Petra Mede who hosted the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest? There’s a Wikipedia page about her. Love the Swedish national hockey team? There’s a Wikipedia page about Tre kronorna. Curious about Husby, Stockholm? There’s a Wikipedia page about the suburb. Wikipedia might not be to a point where it is trusted as a cited source in research papers, but it most definitely is a great place to start. To pick up a few new facts. To practice reading your Swedish!
2. Learn vocabulary. Quick, what’s the word for Sandhill Crane in Swedish? Don’t worry, I didn’t have the slightest clue either. Know what I did? Went to the Sandhill Crane Wikipedia page and then just clicked on the link to the left that reads “Svenska.” (It’s prärietrana by the way.) It seems silly. Sometimes it is. But Wikipedia allows you to bounce around, clicking your way into a fun oblivion of new Swedish words. You can switch back and forth between your native language and Swedish or you can just work your way through the page reading and coming up with your own translation. Try it. It’s surprisingly entertaining. Plus, you learn a bunch of things you really don’t need to know.
3. Edit Wikipedia pages. Notice that the date of an obscure battle that you happen to be an expert on is wrong in the Swedish Wikipedia entry? Fix it. Realize that there is no Swedish entry about Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s play Invasion!? Write one. Disappointed that there is no English entry about your favorite Swedish astronomer, Jesper Sollerman? Translate it from Swedish into your native language. You get the idea. If you’re confident enough in your Swedish abilities, want to practice writing or even translating, Wikipedia is a great way to add to the democratization of information and learn some Swedish while you’re doing it. Of course, make sure your Swedish is at a level where you can create something that other people will be reading. If you’re not entirely comfortable using Wikipedia to edit, head over to sandlådan (the sandbox) where you can practice a bit.

Don’t limit yourself to just one strategy when learning a language. Using online sources to learn Swedish (or any language really) can be incredibly helpful. From online translators to newspapers to Wikipedia. You’ll be amazed at what you can find. And of course, Transparent Language has several different options to improve your Swedish and to test yourself. Good luck!

And seriously… someone needs to write a good Wikipedia entry about Khemiri’s play Invasion!

Strindberg was in fact an author, photographer, amateur scientist, journalist, director and even a librarian at the royal library at one point. Many others know him because of how he has expressed his hate for women in his plays.

Simple facts about the guy:

This man was born in Stockholm 1849 and was one of eight children.

Both his parents worked and didn’t have much time for him.

Strindberg was also very known for voicing his thoughts on all matters. This made things difficult for him when he decided to study medicine at Uppsala University. After many differences of opinion with his teachers he finally left the university and became a journalist for a newspaper called Dagens Nyheter. While he was writing for them he was also working as a librarian. His father did not approve of these career choices leading to a never resolved conflict between them. Strindberg died from stomach cancer in 1910. It is also to be mentioned that that was after arousing a huge debate between Swedish authors all around the country. He started this by yet again sharply criticizing a man called Heidenstam.

What Strindberg is most famous for are his plays and books, amongst others the famous Miss Julie, Röda rummet and Hemsöborna. He was born and grew up during the naturalistic period, together with many other famous authors and directors such as Zola, Guy de Maupassant and Ibsen, though it doesn’t seem like he was on such good terms with them either.

Strindberg’s plays were very liberal in the sense that he introduced never before preformed topics. Ones of the lives of the poor, giving one of two leading roles to a servant. He also let many of his plays be performed on a stage missing the fouth wall. For example a kitchen, with the audience looking onto the happenings, which had been private until then.

As for the rest of society, apart from the methods used on stage, well Strindberg had a lot to say about them too. He criticized the army, the royal family as well as Swedish academy and made many enemies as a result.

Nevertheless, many of his plays have been done over and over again, and are still appreciated today. He is a known face out into the international world of literature and drama, a person Sweden is proud to export.

But what happens when you see this: bl.a. or d.v.s. or m.m. or maybe even t.o.m.? Abbreviations. The bane of any language learner. I can hardly keep English abbreviations straight. Now there are Swedish ones floating around my head too. Awesome. Don’t worry. While there are a plenty of abbreviations to go around, there are a few that are just a bit more important than others. Below you’ll find a few of those common abbreviations, what they mean written out in Swedish, and an English translation. Good luck!

People grow up with milk, from the time they were toddlers they just keep on drinking it, even when they move away from home and have their own family. But not only is drinking milk a part of Swedish culture, the whole idea of cows and farmers is quite an important part of elementary school.

Many classes get taken on tours of cow farms, they get to make their own cheese and butter as well as learning about how the cow works. Fun facts about the members of the cow family as well as how cows have four stomachs.

Dairy companies have worked very hard to engage the Swedish population in milk. Lots of events are organized in the springtime when the cows get let out to graze. In Swedish that is called Kosläppet. Cow in Swedish is called ko and släppa ut means to let out. The dairy companies give out free glasses of milk and sometimes even free cinnamon buns. All through may these kosläpp take place.

It isn’t uncommon for the back of milk cartons to be very educative, with themes of everything from outer space to 3 signs that spring is coming. The following pictures are of some of the milk cartons this spring. Practice that Swedish!

But within those useful terms are some things that can be tricky, like frequency terms and the word for every other, varannan. Depending on what we are talking about, that word will change. Let’s say that you call your mom every other day, so:
I call my mom every other day = Jag ringer min mamma varannan dag.

Let’s say though that you have poor cell phone service and only call your mom every other year.
I call my mom every other year = Jag ringer min mamma vartannat år.

So what happened? Varannan became vartannat. Just like so many other things in Swedish, en and ett dictate what form various words will take. So if we are using an ett word, ett år for example, we use vartannat. If we are using an en word, en dag for example, we use varannan.

The same thing happens if we want to describe something happening less frequently, maybe every seventh time for example. Maybe you eat candy every seventh day, on Saturday for example (lördagsgodis!).
I eat candy every seventh day. = Jag äter godis var sjunde dag.

Maybe you’re a stickler for good dental hygiene though and you only allow yourself to eat candy every seventh year.
I eat candy every seventh year. = Jag äter godis vart sjunde år.

Just like with varannan and vartannat, we get var and vart depending on whether the word is an en word (en dag) or an ett word (ett år).

You can do the same if you want to describe that every other car is black (varannan bil är svart). Or that every third house is red (vart tredje hus är rött). Pretty simple, right? The only slight exception to this is that if you want to say every day or every year or every car or every house, you use the word varje: varje dag, varje år, varje bil, varje hus. Below you’ll find a short list of some of the words you’ll need, a few examples, and a quick practice prompt. Good luck!

T.ex.:
Jag äter frukost varje dag.
Jag ser mina föräldrar varannan månad.
Jag åker till Sverige vart tredje år.

Now it’s your turn in the comments section: Skriv två saker du gör. Använd varje (eller var tredje eller var femte eller…).

**Some feedback from our readers reminded me that I forgot to include the word(s) var(t)enda, which means “every single.”**