Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[GSlite]

Love that photo of Walter doing metal work. Heavy gloves but no safety glasses/goggles. Safety second I always say

As for the continuing adventures of this report…

[azorat]

Originally Posted by ROD CURRIE

... I'm guilty too as I only learned a few words of Russian and the alphabet before I went.

Borscht????
(You might need to work a bit more on the pronunciation, or you might get somebody else's order.)

Rod and everybody: great RR - Thanx.

[Brunssd]

[QUOTE=GSlite;20518277]Love that photo of Walter doing metal work. Heavy gloves but no safety glasses/goggles. Safety second I always say



But he is giving a grand demonstration of the "safety squint" as practised the world over.

[AirDrive]

"Boris" has a really BIG watch. Is he a pilot?

[sion]

Are those Walter's sunglasses that "Boris" is wearing? "Boris" must be really special to rate such an honor.

[KustomizingKid]

This thred just gets better and better!

[Frey Bentos]

Originally Posted by ROD CURRIE

Hey FB.
Just reading your Scotland for the Brave report.

I'm trying not to guffaw out loud (did but told wifey I was sneezing) as wifey is sitting behind me and thinks I'm doing her Mum's birthday card on Moonpig...

sshhhh...

yay!

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by Viking

Agree with the above except the Norwegians, Swedes and Danes pretty much speaks the same language and will understand each other. Most Finns also speaks Swedish. They all pretty much manage in English, German and French.
Great thread btw....

I agree Norwegians Danes and Swedes will often understand each other ... but I know loads of examples that show that Swedish as the lingua franca of the Nordic countries is a dying historical concept, and they prefer to speak English or to kinda understand each other while talking their own languages rather than actually all speaking Swedish.

My ex wife was Finnish (Swedish Finn, so was fluent in both Swedish and Finnish) and I met her when she was at University in Oslo. Until she learned to speak Norwegian bokmal, when she first arrived in Oslo, she would speak English to the Norwegians. Once she learned Norsk, she spoke sometimes Norsk, sometimes English. Never Svensk.

In an extreme case of the use of English in scandinavia, I know one young Swedish computer programmer from regional Sweden who says he understands his regional dialect of swedish, and Stockholm swedish, but finds other dialects of swedish so hard to understand that he often communicates in english to people from regions of Sweden other than Stockholm or his own. That one shocked me ... A swede who often preferred speaking english to other swedes, subject to dialect. '

Many young Norwegians or Finns I know (dont know about Danes so much) think speaking swedish is old fashioned, uncool and even politically charged - Sweden was a former occupier / ruler of their countries. So hate doing it. If you want to annoy a Norwegian, the easiest and surest way I have found is to call him a swede. Swedes seem to be the number one ethnic victim of Norwegian or Finnish jokes. Both Norway and Finland still have a chip on their shoulder about the swedes standing by and not helping them in WWII as well. I think Swedes loved the idea of their language being the lingua franca of the Nordics, but the other Nordics never did so much - it implied Swedish leadership or primacy - which admittedly was probably the political and economic reality in the past (pre 1990), but definitely not anymore. These days, Swedes are the poor men of the North. Having English as the language of communication between Nordics seems much more neutral and carries less political baggage.

EtronX can chime in here, but I would think a Norwegian speaking to a Swede or Dane would often, these days, speak in English. I imagine most Norwegians understand 90% of Swedish, but for a number of reasons may still prefer to speak English. The average Finn, speaking to a Swede, Norwegian or a Dane will probably speak in English.

I think its a generational thing ... This move to English seems much more pronounced with the young. Older generations of Finns or Norwegians may still prefer inter-Nordic communication in Swedish. But from what I have seen it seems to be a fading habit, not at all popular with the young. The use of English up there is increasing, Swedish decreasing.

There is a good sample of answers from Swedes Danes and Norwegians to a similar topic regarding understanding each other here:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...1083105AAbXxgN

One of the answers quotes a detailed survey of language understanding by Scandinavian nationality ... in every single case (apart from Faroe Islanders), English came out as the best understood language after their mother tongue. (see results below) And in every single nationality without exception, English was a better understood 2nd language than Swedish.

- - -

Interestingly because of the education system they all understood English better as a common language. On a avge language comprehension scale out of 10 the results were:-

Languages ... D = Danish, S = Swedish, N = Norwegian, E = English

Danes - E 6.08, N 4.25, S 3.67
Swedes - E 7.55, N 5.24, D 4.26
Norwegians - E 7.22, S 6.76, D 6.55
Swedish Finns - E 7.66, N 4.76, D 3.64
Finnish Finns - E 5.94, S 3.24, N 1.64, D 1.54
Färoyislanders - D 8.28, E 7.60, N 7.00, S 5.75
Iceland - E 7.17, D 5.36, N 3.40, S 3.34
.

[EtronX]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

I really dont agree with this. I know way too many examples that show that Swedish as the lingua franca of the Nordic countries is a dying historical concept.

My ex wife was Finnish (Swedish Finnish) and I met her when she was at University in Oslo. Until she learned to speak Norwegian, when she first arrived in Oslo, she would speak English. Once she learned Norsk, she spoke sometimes Norsk, sometimes English. Never Svensk.

In an extreme case of the use of English in scandinavia, I know one young Swedish computer programmer from regional Sweden who says he understands his regional dialect of swedish, and Stockholm swedish, but finds other dialects of swedish so hard to understand that he often communicates in english to people from regions of Sweden other than Stockholm or his own. That one shocked me ... A swede who often preferred speaking english to other swedes, subject to dialect. '

Many young Norwegians or Finns I know (dont know about Danes so much) think speaking swedish is old fashioned, uncool and politically charged - Sweden was a former occupier / ruler of their countries. So hate doing it. If you want to annoy a Norwegian, the easiest and surest way I have found is to call him a swede. I think Swedes loved the idea of their language being the lingua franca of the Nordics, but the other Nordics never did - it implied Swedish leadership of the Nordics. Having English as the language of communication between Nordics is much more neutral and carries less political baggage.

EtronX can chime in here, but I would think a Norwegian speaking to a Swede or Dane would usually, these days, speak in English. I imagine most Norwegians understand 90% of Swedish, but for a number of reasons may still prefer to speak English. The average Finn, speaking to a Swede, Norwegian or a Dane will almost surely speak in English.

I think its a generational thing ... This move to English is much more pronounced with the young. Older generations of Finns or Norwegians may still prefer inter-Nordic communication in Swedish. But from what I have seen it seems to be a fading habit, not at all popular with the young.

Well Terry

Up north here we all speak our own language. Except when speaking to the FInns. That's a complete different language and we have to use english. Due to the work situation and the wages in Sweden we get a lot of young people coming to Norway for work. They all speak their native language.

Usually what we say is that it is a bit more easy to understand the Swedes when they talk, but easier to read Danish.

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by EtronX

Due to the work situation and the wages in Sweden we get a lot of young people coming to Norway for work.

Those low income Swedes crossing the border again looking for cash?

I guess someone has to do the street sweeping and toilet cleaning right?

[ciedema]

Originally Posted by Eldezento

so there is no wondering that people from eastern Europe a often speaking english much better then Germans or Austrians, like me:

Do you mean Germans or Australians? Most Australians struggle to string two words together (and before I cop it I am one).

I have to say growing up with Dutch parents I hold it against a little that they never taught us Dutch as kids (or my father Friesian for that matter).

When I eventually get home, I fully intend to expand my 50 words or so in Russian a lot further and after that Spanish.

Edit: Oh and all Hollywood movies are dubbed on Russian TV.

[EtronX]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

We got drunk most nights while singing the Norwegian national anthem..

The crazy part is that Erik of HotRod actually knew the Norwegian national anthem by heart He'd learnt it in school some 20 odd years ago

Thanks for the great hospitality Erik Good times

[Big Daddy D]

Prutser and Beemster, bedankt! Thanks for telling your story and enriching it with beautiful pictures!

Same goes for you Rod! Love the way you perform the art of story-telling. Make sure you write up the return leg of the trip!

Welcome Vikings! Off to a great start already...

And now we wait for W to return from hauling parts in Moscow. Save some for future visits!

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by GSlite

But he is giving a grand demonstration of the "safety squint" as practised the world over.

Yes ... Its quicker

[K88]

Now that the Bongo hysteria has died down, I thought y'all might want to learn a bit more about the beast.
Wikipedia.