General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Are You Dumber than an American? [View all]DFW
(53,934 posts)If it were as practical for residents of North America as Spanish, we'd all speak it fluently.
"av" has both the functions of the English "of" and the German "ab." It can be used, depending on context, to mean "of," "from," or "starting with"
"vid" is one of those all-purpose prepositions that drive foreigners nuts until you just get a feel for when to use it. "opposite from" or "at" are two of many uses. It could also be used, as in the case, to mean "as opposed to."
Ibland blir man lite rädd för USA.
Inte för att landet har kärnvapen eller något i den stilen, utan för att många amerikaner, vid sidan av den briljanta eliten, framstår som så - oförnuftiga.
Sometimes one gets a little afraid of the USA (Swedish uses "afraid before--rädd för" where we just say "afraid of"
Not because the country has nuclear weapons or anything like that (literally "something in that style"-- in Swedish "något" or "någonting" can mean "something" or "anything" , but rather ("utan" is literally translated as "without," but can be correctly used in context to mean "rather than," much like the German "sondern" because many Americans, as opposed to the brilliant elite, come across as so--not sensible.
Swedish and German have this great word förnuftig (vernünftig in German) which basically means "having common sense." The negative, oförnuftig (unvernünftig in German), means "lacking common sense." We don't really have one word that encompasses the meaning.