Malin Akerman Teaches Us How to Speak Swedish

We tried it! Malin Akerman stopped by Us Weekly’s New York City headquarters to teach a few staffers how to speak Swedish, which you might not know is the actress’ first language. Watch Us give it a go the video above. | Subscribe for more: bit.ly/1NGkzM1

[@noamias4897]

Nobody says Tjena Mors unironically anymore

[@musicmakesyoustrong]

NO ONE is saying Tjena mors to say "how's it going" here in Sweden haha! That would be so cringy!

[@a.ramawand9954]

hahahah jag tänkte precis kommentera det

[@Bensinkvitto]

Haha.. I totally agree!

[@shallowlord]

Visserligen flyttade hon till Kanada när hon var 2 år.. så hon är lite ursäktad.

[@mattb-iq3iv]

how do you say that?

[@musicmakesyoustrong]

matt 1910b "Hej, hur är det?" Would be alot better

[@Egobyte83]

"Tjena mors"...... -.- really? You could like basically do ANY greeting phrase and you choose "tjena mors"? .. not even my boss who is born and raised on Söder says that anymore.. XD I dont even...

[@DoesAngelsHaveWings]

MetallSwede Eller hur! tänkte samma sak :P

[@danielesudintaite6957]

I go to school in Söder and haven’t heard it EVER!!! Like is anyone even using it anymore?

[@kollabrock]

Tjena mors! cracked me up. Not very common expression in Sweden nowadays, but it was fun hearing Malin use it. I always say "Hej på `re...tjockis!" ;-)

[@gustav5359]

She should have told them that the first sentence was more of a slang rather than english to swedish translation :P

[@jimmykarlsson2567]

Det heter. Hej hur är det

[@ellielindstrom6348]

vem fan säger tjena mors

[@antonbarkland2194]

:D

[@danielesudintaite6957]

Literally thought the same exact thing

[@peterevans6480]

Min morfar

[@vincentwurmbock]

Hahahah alltså jag skäms! Tjena mors alltså va fan

[@notreallytommy3470]

gamla människor hahah

[@sakseter89]

Tjena Mors? i threw up in my mouth....cringed so hard.

[@MISSskalman89]

Tjena mors??????

[@mashtali1]

I think her folks are from a different village than your village... (no offence)

[@Anvanderej123]

Masht Ali you don't say "mors" at the end....never.

[@gaboltl]

What does "mors" mean?

[@MISSskalman89]

Lodbrok the word ''mors' itself doesn't mean anything, it only mean something when used with 'tjena'

[@gaboltl]

But based on what I´ve read here if I say tjena mors in Sweden I´ll come across as an idiot, right?

[@Neophema]

I was wondering how I as a Norwegian had never heard of the expression "tjena mors" before.. Guess the comment section answered that for me. :p

[@hilbertferreira5343]

Valkyries do exist. Malin's the living proof.

[@knugenavswarje734]

Idag lärde jag mig att jag tydligen är så aspig att jag inte bör befinna mig i allmänna utrymmen eftersom jag semiregelbundet använder mig av uttrycket "tjena mors".

[@herrfriberger5]

Maahlinn Ackermenn :)

[@Viktoriskane91]

WTF... Always fucking Helan går with this one. Can't she just... sing the National Anthem or a Gyllene Tider song or just any fucking ABBA song in Swedish.

[@robotikempire]

What is she talking about "not a simple language" ? If you know English it's super easy.

[@JohnRyder-]

Maybe shes thinking of all Americans asking about the language and most of them having trouble with pronounciation

[@lisahuhtala945]

No, Swedish is actually one of the hardest languages to learn because of how we pronounce things!

[@lisahuhtala945]

I'm Swedish btw

[@gaboltl]

Lisa Huhtala Not at all, I'm fluent in Swedish but I studied it for a while and girl it isn't hard, maybe the pronunciation is a little tricky but nothing impossible and the grammar is quite simple, try Spanish and then tell me :)

[@lisahuhtala945]

Lodbrok I do actually study Spanish! I meant to write that I've heard Swedish is hard!

[@wellIdiditagain]

Love this lady.

[@JoeShopper]

What does she mean the Swedish Chef form The Muppets "ATTEMPTED" it?

[@Bleckman666]

In English the snapsvisa "Helan Går" sounds something like this: "Hell and gore, Chung hop father Allan ley, Hell and gore, Chung hop father Allan ley, Oh handsome in the hell and tar, hand hell are in the half and four, Hell and gore, Chung hop father Allan ley!"

[@dakkefernet8585]

Viking queen

[@emmdeee]

Garibaldi has the best missionary face

[@akeke1]

How's going is Läget? (läge = place or situation)

[@MrEddeham]

I just know IKEA

[@lmao2351]

None says tjena morsh in Sweden anymore

[@judyogriobhan5762]

Helan Går is a swedish drinking song. Another phrase you hear VERY often in Sweden is Allahu Akbar!!

[@WXIWXI]

Good swedish!

[@roaringviking5693]

"Tjena mors"? I have no idea why she chose such a phrase, because it sounds like something someone would say in a Swedish slapstick movie from the 1940's. lol

[@Mimi-fr8gf]

WTF HAHAHA!!! I am Swedish, even tho I moved from Sweden over 10 years ago I certainly haven't forgot how to speak Swedish, she clearly has! "Hi, how's it going" is NOT "Tjena mors" you say "Hej, hur gar det" which is the exact translation or you can say "Hej hur ar laget" which has the same meaning. "Girl bye" is NOT "sluta" sluta means STOP. You say "hejdå tjejen". "Girl bye" isn't something we say in Sweden The only thing She got right was how to say "i love you"

[@musicmakesyoustrong]

Mimi Boo Very true!!

[@Casa917758]

Mimi Boo Hej! vart flytta du någonstans? funderar själv på att flytta men vet ej Vart. skulle uppskatta ett svar :)

[@elingabert658]

Jag tror hon gjorde det med mening😑 så att det skulle vara mycket lättare för dom andra...

[@earlgreystoke3324]

Mimi Boo Malin Ackerman isn't Swedish, she's an American whose knowledge of Sweden & Swedish is frozen in time.

[@surfkillen]

@@earlgreystoke3324 Naa, she is swedish, but shes also moore canadian than american.

[@fisklars3579]

Är inte "tjenare mors" ett slang från göteborg?

[@ivanleanderteves6134]

harregud! för helvete...

[@aIesssandra]

1:47 Wow that girl said it with an absolute perfect accent.

[@s_apienza]

-jag kommer ju från sverige

[@hjalmarfellbom6267]

Vem fan säger "Tjena mors"??

[@elonalatifi]

okej men vem fan säger tjena mors

[@asteroidminer1095]

”Tjena mors”

[@JJJ111JJJ]

Roligt att alla skriver på engelska när det bara är svenskar som ser och kommenterar såna här videos.

[@gailfawcett5555]

Of course she speaks Swedish, she is Swedish 🤣🤣

[@StrawberryCream78]

Men är hennes mamma svensk trodde hennes mamma var från kanada och pappa svensk

[@johanbogg9158]

Pia Sundström och Magnus Åkerman låter inte riktigt som kanadensare :P Alltså, båda föräldrarna är svenska ;) (Därav att hon tar Pia som exempel i denna video också)

[@ianpeden2906]

Tjena mors = Hey, mother.

[@elingabert658]

It doesn’t mean that at all!! Hey Mother = hej mamma, tjena morsan But ”mors” is a abbreviation of ”morsning” which is a another meaning of hello

[@bloomoggi]

Swedish is actually so similar to English in many ways.

[@keving8631]

The Word windo comes from the swedish Word vindöga which was used by the Vikings but not anymore

[@justinjohnson1766]

No it isn't, at all. English is so much harder than Svenska 🤣.

[@bloomoggi]

@@keving8631 yes in modern danish it is vindue meaning "wind -eye"

[@bloomoggi]

@@justinjohnson1766 i'm English and have studied swedish in Stockholm and it is, in less obivious at first ways, - e.g. -prata is linked to prattle, egga is to egg someone on, hitta is to hit upon something (find)

[@justinjohnson1766]

@@bloomoggi Agreed. I just started learning Svenska (pronounciation is a little tricky but I am 40% almost majority Swedish, so I am grasping the back tongue vocal technique) about a few months ago. And it is soooo much easier then New English or old (standard) English haha.

[@julianleiflundgren290]

how the fuck is tjena mors "hi hos is it going?"

[@orestes67]

Tjena mors: Serve mother?

[@legb02]

Tjena mors? Simpelt hej, tja eller tjabba ska det ju vara

[@leilah9885]

This is way to cringy

[@babbischristos8275]

BS! I'm fluent in swedish... The other three people are foreign students in Sweden that already know some swedish... SLUTA means END IT! or Finish it, Forget it... and Åkerman pronounced Wolkerman means Walker like Jonny Walker. Åker is a verb like Go or go to. Åkerman (the going man).

[@titan7758]

Just FYI, "åker" can also refer to a field (as in arable land), which would make her surname translate to something like "field-man/farmer-man" which to me as a native Swedish speaker makes way more sense. Not to be picky or anything man =P

[@babbischristos8275]

Takar för svar med info! Thanks! Xie Xie! Shoukran Shoukran! etc.

[@ClipRant]

"Takar för svar " ? Do you mean "tackar för svaret?" Xie Xie should be Xiexie.

[@SwedishTourist]

1:46 that's incredibly good :)

[@swedishlittlegirl6824]

Det lät ju typ svenskt

[@Egobyte83]

"Tjena mors"...... -.- really? You could like basically do ANY greeting phrase and you choose "tjena mors"? .. not even my boss who is born and raised on Söder says that anymore.. XD I dont even...

[@JohnRyder-]

I guess thats what happens when people emigrates to other countries. The evolution of their native language kind of stops.

[@elingabert658]

Jag tror att hon valde den frasen så att det dels skulle bli lättare för dem andra och för att hon skulle vara lite ”stereotypisk svensk”

[@Doglover-qc1uo]

Nah, her Swedish is out-dated

[@RogueSeraph]

"Hi, we are here with Malin Akermann, who was born in Sweden, has Swedish parents and in case you don't know...SHE CAN ACTUALLY SPEAK SWEDISH!!!" NO SHIT, I THOUGHT HER MOTHER LANGUAGE WAS PORTUGUESE. Why would you be surprised if a person who has swedish parents and was born in Sweden could speak swedish?

[@Doglover-qc1uo]

Rogue Seraph yeah, however it’s very out-dated Swedish, hehehe 😂

[@nordscan9043]

@@Doglover-qc1uo Hur så?

[@redevilrrr]

Well the US Weekly is an American show and they have to cater to average American. Average American TV viewer. Not saying to "dumb it down" but you get the idea.

[@dekadenser]

Hahah vadå tjena mors :D

[@pridden76]

No one ever says TJENA MORS in Sweden! Maybe in back the seventies, but definitely not these days! lol

[@user-hh9ct1zr78h]

"tjena mors" jag kmr dö

[@orestes67]

Holy shit. She’s even hotter when she speaks Swedish.

[@mashtali1]

She's stunningly beautiful.

[@maja2197]

She looks like a Swedish mom

[@mashtali1]

@@maja2197 a lot of Swedish moms are beautiful

[@Thepomafame]

She's been living in Canada all her life so she might not speak Swedish right

[@heckincat1406]

Yeah i got it.

[@mattiaspettersson2025]

She has living in Sweden for 2y. She has a Swedish and American ( from 2018) passport. After the parents' divorce, the father returned to Sweden. 😀

[@syriana9575]

did u miss the part where malin said they spoke swedish at home with her family basically

[@elisabethvonosterreich-ung9659]

Tjena mors? Oh God... Thats the most cringy way of saying "whatsup" no one uses it.

[@stinawallquist6112]

Im from Sweden and that she said was not exactly. Hi, how's it going: Hej, hur går det? or Hej, hur är det? Girl, bye: Hejdå tjejen! Jag älskar dig was right Malin have a fantastic swedish four not live in Sweden that long and the words she said was good answers but not just on your questions just my opinion who has live in Sweden my whole life❤

[@johanbogg9158]

Fast nu är det väl så att hon inte översätter ordagrant utan mer innebörden i det. "How's it going?" är lite "Hur är läget?" som hälsningsfras, så "Tjena Mors" som hälsningsfras är ju inte helt fel, sen att hon väljer "Tjena mors" istället för något annat lär ju ha att göra med att hon väljer någots om är lite svåruttalat för en amerikan för att jävlas lite. Sen säger hon ju också att hon väljer en mening som är mer "Get out of here!" som just i humoristiskt "Håll käften" eller "Nä men sluta!". Tror snarare det är du som är lite ute och cyklar när du väljer att se de ordagranna betydelserna av det hon översätter och inte hur det används i språk. Det är lite som "dra alla över en kam", du kan inte översätta det till "pull everyone over a comb" på engelska utan då blir det "Tar everyone with the same brush" som på svenska skulle betyda "Tjära alla med samma borste". Eller "Fy fan" som blir typ "Boo satan", medan det snarare ska översättas till "Holy Shit" eller liknande (om man ska bibehålla religiösa undertonen). Ska vi i sin tur översätta Holy shit till svenska så blir det Helig skit, vilket ju inte riktigt blir samma sak. Samma sak här med de här fraserna, hon tar de som är mer eller mindre "matchande" på svenska med underbetydelsen av meningen, inte det som det är ordagrant...

[@mashtali1]

Swedish looks really hard to learn.

[@Kjellegren]

"girl bye" is a fuck you girl kinda act,

[@Ginovolkers1]

Stina Wallquist haha almost the same as the netherlands its hoe gaat het

[@RZAJW]

Vad fan är det för fel att säga tjena mors ?

[@Doglover-qc1uo]

RZAJW gammalt uttryck. Klassisk 70-talsslang, typ. Vissa använder inte det längre, medan andra fortfarande gör det. Min mormor kallar tex fortfarande föräldrar för päron. Det är lite olika, men generellt tror jag det kanske kan vara en lite yngre publik som tittar. De är kanske mer vana att mormor/farmor eller farfar/morfar säger såna, eller liknande, saker/uttryck. Men det är bara min tanke. 🤔 Du får ha en fortsatt trevlig dag iaf. ☺️☺️ kram från Doglover (frivillig, inget måste att ta emot, men ah, kram om du vill) 🤗🤗😊😊 👍👍

[@sweiland75]

Does Malin speak English with an American or Canadian accent?

[@MightyForSure]

Nobody says tjena mors..

[@calbackk]

It’s Åkerman, not Akerman. Big difference . Does she not know her own name?

[@Nekotaku_TV]

So lazy how they can't even google the letter and copy paste it...

[@BeckVMH]

If that is not correct, what is the alternative phase? Edit: disregard, saw answer below…. “Laget.” I don’t get why her term was so offensive even if it’s old fashioned. Just curious.

[@Lauren_MUFC16]

I can’t believe how much Malin and Aleksander Skarsgaard sound American, but were born and raised in Sweden.

[@MrBurkistan]

OMG Malin sluta med att missrepresentera den svenska kulturen/språket, trodde din Late Night intervju var cringe. ”Tjena mors” really, girl? REALLY?

[@Mycenaea]

Woman on the left was definitely the best at pronounciation of the three of them.

[@letusreason2039]

All transgendets in this vid. Sad but nevertheless true.

[@neverland850]

Gurl!! Det är Malin åkerman

[@Ixcez]

Somehow the Swedish drinking song got a whole new meaning in english xD. Basically if you would directly translate the Swedish song it would be something like Helan går (the whole is walking). Which doesn't really work to be honest. But in short the song is telling you that you need to drink the whole glass/empty your glass and your not allowed to drink less, since unless you empty your glass your not allowed to drink from it. So translating it as drinking the first makes no sense for me at least. Then again I am Swedish so there might be something I am missing here.

[@nordscan9043]

Helan går betyder 'the whole thing goes' på Engelska.

[@Ixcez]

@@nordscan9043 Jag är faktiskt något osäker på det då goes eller go betyder en hel del olika saker. Ramsan som jag är van vid är "Helan går och halvan åker radiobil" eller bara "helan går". Sen är översättningen the whole is walking inte helt fel då grund ordet gå betyder både go, walk osv på engelska. beror dock på sammanhanget. Men igen sången jag är van vid poängterar att Helan "går" alltså walking men goes är ett väldigt brett ord med många olika betydelser när de översätts. Sen tycker jag att walking låter roligare än goes. Många säger dock att de ska översättas som "the whole goes (down)". Att addera "thing" är inte heller rätt även om jag håller med att det kanske borde adderas i översättningen men då borde den egentligen vara "the whole thing goes down" det förstör dock något av ramsan.

[@nordscan9043]

@@Ixcez Okej.

[@Hilariumosis]

"Tjena mors!" is slang with a different meaning and context. "Hej, hur går det?" is the correct translation.

[@shallowlord]

Helan går is the national anthem of Sweden.. haha..

[@danielg2294]

Why Swedes are good at English: Swedish is a natural language which means it's the easiest for the tounge to pronounce natually, which gives Swedes the ability to easily adapt other accents using different parts of the mouth/tounge to pronounce words with. And also the Swedish education system involves really high levels of Swedish compared to most other countries.

[@morriskaller3549]

What the fuck are you going on about? The reason why Swedes are good at English is not some magical psudeo-linguistic property of Swedish but a high level of education, daily exposure to English, and a English and Swedish both being Germanic languages with a large shared vocabulary and similar grammar.

[@christopherh2563]

You've obviously never met anyone from Skåne 😅

[@Nekotaku_TV]

The biggest reason is that we don't have shitty dubbing for everything and so much media in English, even Swedish commercials and songs by Swedish artists are in English.