I found an excellent Swedish language tutorial/study guide over at the Stockholm School of Economics (See Introduction to Swedish), which contains phrases, pronunciations, word lists, and other resources. Skimming through the word various vocabulary, I was surprised to see how many were French derivatives, or at least were comparable to French ( FYI: I studied French for 4 academic years). Sometimes I can’t really tell when English/French/Swedish were like this: May/Mai/Maj. What I did find interesting is its relation to Old English – language that survived the Viking Ages? Modern English/Old English/Swedish: Bloody/Blodig/Blodig.

As for pronunciation, I don’t believe my language training in English, Mandarin-Chinese or French provide too much help; it may only provide a pronunciation reference. Swedish has a distinctive pitch and rhythm. English and Mandarin seem relatively flat, comparably. Furthermore, I believe the sounds are formed mainly at the tip of the tongue, contrasting the Swedish formation. French have some letters that are similar-sounding (French/Swedish: eu/ö) but the rhythm is dissimilar. While French words actually have accents applied (i.e. accent grave/acute) as ‘hints’, Swedish have strange spellings like ’sj’, ’stj’, ‘kj’ on top of ‘j’ ‘k’, ‘z’ that have re-worked sounds, so you’re really left with, “How do you say that?”

Next up, I’ll let you know about my progress with the rolling ‘r’s. Right now my throat is sore and I sound like a tiger or a shrieking little animal.

While I understand the “gender-consciousness”, I feel it’s excessive to insert gendered symbols on what I consider gender-neutral territory: the crosswalk sign. The sign could, hypothetically, be modeled after the male figure. Even so, I believe it has become a present-day universal symbol that is not meant to be gendered; it is not a mark of female or male identity, but more of a people identity. That aside, I do appreciate a re-design of these symbolic signs – just not necessarily in a gendered way. For example, Taiwan introduced an animated crosswalk sign. (See the AP story, “Sweden plans to introduce female crosswalk signs“)

So I wonder then, could these symbols ever be unlabeled, or are we always categorizing? Could representative human graphics ever be gender-less or race-less? Ask my old boss who decided my pixel people graphics were too “white”, and that I should make them “colored”.

Summer travelers, beware! Suspiciously, fees are being applied at around the same time – during this month of May. ( See: “You’re charging me for what?!” by Kate Hamman – SmarterTravel.com)

I remember feeling appalled last year when I made the move to New York from California after learning that Virgin America charges extra ($10) for a second baggage. Weren’t travelers always allowed two complementary baggage spaces? For someone who is moving across the country, being limited to one is considerably restrictive. Thinking back, I could have shelled out extra (after all, it was only $10) and saved my new roommate and me a lot of sweat and pain lugging that 60-pound piece up 4 flights of stairs – if only I knew the trend, the standard, now: extra fees for that second bag. According to SmarterTravel.com, major airlines including United, American, Continental and Delta are charging up to $25. Virgin America is also hiking it up to $25. At least JetBlue’s fees are only $20?

Personally, I figure as long as the air fares are not dramatically increased, second-baggage fees are no big deal. Yet, we find out that airlines are not making profit due to sky-high fuel prices, except Southwest. We can certainly expect fuel surcharges like Delta’s. A month ago, I was weeping over high fares for New York/California flights. Now I feel that I should be content that I nabbed a round-trip for $339 via Priceline on American (for late June-July). But, compare that to my round-trip to Sweden for merely $514 in mid-February. I might as well give myself another vacation abroad.