The world is my shopping-mall
Francis has suggested (via my guestbook; sign it today and make a simple pig very happy!) that I should try reading something by Astrid Lindgren as a first easy Swedish book. Easier than Moomin books, apparently.
In fact I've been using (reading would be too strong a word) Farlig midsommar/Moominsummer Madness for a while now. I got the English book, the Swedish book and a Swedish audio-book version of it last summer. At the time reading it was entirely beyond me, but I liked to listen to the tapes and "read" along in the book, just taking in the sounds and matching them with the letters.
Now I can start to see the outlines of a meaning behind the Swedish text, and reading it together with the English, and only occasional use of the dictionary is becoming fun. But easy is good, and easier is better, so Astrid Lindgrom here I come!
Hello, bol.se ! Will you sell me a book? Apparently not:
Fr�ga: Kan bol.com leverera till utlandet?
Svar: Svenska bol.com kan endast leverera inom Sverige. Du m�ste allts� ha en adress i Sverige f�r att kunna handla p� v�r sajt.
Last year I had to struggle through that word-by-word with a dictionary. This year I can read it straight, but I still don't understand it. BOL is an international operation. It has sort-of-localised branches in a wide variety of countries. But the Swedish version won't ship abroad, even to people who can navigate the (Swedish-only) interface? Boggle!
This is how I came to make the acquaintance of the less fastidious internetbokhandeln. They will ship to foreign customers, at a price; you may find it cheaper to go to Sweden in person.
Meanwhile, Jill/txt contemplates a kinder and saner world:
[I]magine, walking in and asking for The Age or Le Monde or some tiny Nepalese or West-Norwegian newspaper anywhere in the world and they just press a button and print it for you.
Oh, but imagine!