Hallå där! I'm making a vain attempt to add something to THIS thread in Culture Café. Many, many, MANY years ago someone taught me a Swedish tongue twister, but I've forgotten it. The person who taught it to me was born and raised in the US, but his parents were native Swedes, and he spoke Swedish to them as he was growing up. What I remember is as follows: 1. Most, if not all of the words started with the same sound - something like "tsa" or "tsu", and I believe one of the words had the sound at the end. I'll guess it had about 15 words in it. 2. When translated to English it has something to do with "Seven thousand seven hundred seventy seven Swedish sisters (nurses) blah blah blah. 3. My bad try "Sjutusen sjuhundra sjuttio syv sjuksköterska svenska ...." Do any of our Swedish experts know of this tongue-twister? Tack!
Hi Tim, Was it one of these: Sju skönsjungande sjuksköterskor skötte sjuttiosju sjösjuka sjömän på skeppet Shanghai. Sju sjuka sjuksköterskor tvättade sina skitiga stjärtar i rosa champagne. Sju sjösjuka sjömän på skeppet Shanghai, sköljde sju skjortor i sjön. Sju sköna sjösjuka sjuksköterskor på skeppet Shanghai. .. taken from here.
Hey Alex! Small world! It's only 1,240 miles from Rome to Stockholm! I'm not sure I remember "Shanghai" being in the phrase. I'm pretty sure it starts with 7,777 Swedish Nurses...
Hi Tim, I think it’s the green one then, sju is Swedish for 7 and sjuksköterska is the word for nurse (sosjuksköterskor would be the plural, nurses), seems to fit the bill. Does the champagne part ring a bell??
I found this: Sjutusensjuhundrasjuttiosju sköna, sjösjuka sjuksköterskor sköter sjuttontusensjuhundrasjuttiosju sjösjuka sjömän, skönt skönmålande de sköna sköterskornas skötande av sjömännen.
There are so many different versions of this tongue twister, and non-native speakers always cry bitterly when trying to produce so many repetitions of the unpronounceable Swedish 'sh' sound.
