Swedish

Known as Swedishblocks (Swedish: Svenskablocken)

#### SOSR's design

* W/w: Unlike the other English Alphablocks, W is the only Swedishblock who looks different from its English counterpart. Although he looks the same as it, he has V's stripes and no water in his cap.
* Å/å: Same as O, but with a bandage.
* Ä/ä: Same as E, but with a bandage.
* Ö/ö: Reddish-orange stripes.

##### Single letter sounds

* A: Its long sound is the open back unrounded vowel sound of "ah" as in "bath". Its short sound is the open front unrounded vowel sound of "a".
* K: He makes the voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant fricative sound (Ghanaian "sh") before E, I, Y, Ä, and Ö.
* W: Same sound as the English V.
* Z: Nearly same sound as the English S.

##### Digraphs

* CH: Similar digraph as in the English Alphablocks.
* DJ: Same sound as the English J.
* GJ: Same sound as the English J.
* GN: As in "gnu".
* HJ: Same sound as the English J.
* KJ: English K sound before A, O, U, and Å, otherwise Ghanaian "sh".
* LJ: Same sound as the English J.
* NG: Similar digraph as in the English Alphablocks.
* SJ: Its own Swedish-exclusive sound.
* SK: A letter blend before A, O, U, and Å, otherwise "sj".
* TJ: Ghanaian "sh".
* SKJ: Swedish "sj".
* STJ: Swedish "sj".

#### ISNorden's design

(from: https://numberblocks.fandom.com/wiki/User\_blog:ISNorden/Alfaklossar:\_how\_to\_localize\_those\_%27%27other%27%27\_blocks\_for\_Swedish%3F)

As a Learningblocks fan and a linguist with a degree in Scandinavian studies, I've wondered how to combine the two sometimes. Swedish (like all modern Nordic languages) uses an extended version of the Latin alphabet. Adapting Alphablock canon, then, looked simple on the surface -- until I ran into two kinds of problems.

##### Lost in Translation

Direct references to English words and sounds; some words don't contain the right sound to keep their original keywords and personas. For instance --

* Outright puns on the *name* of a letter (as opposed to its sound) should usually be dropped or changed. Associating the letter I with egotism, J with a type of bird, and R with pirates? To a Swede in *förskolan* (pre-school, too young for English classes), none of those connections work. The Swedish word for X-rays doesn't contain an X at all; and the British superhero "X" (who inspired his namesake Alphablock) never became popular in Scandinavia. Of all the personalities that play on a letter's name, only T (the most thoroughly English of the bunch) travels well: "T" and *te* are still homophones in Swedish.

* Since English and Swedish are both Germanic languages (with many sounds in common and many direct cognates), several of the official Alphablocks can keep their personas. The sounds [f], [g], [h], [l], [m], [n], [p], [s], and [v] are all similar enough to keep the corresponding blocks as-is; on the TV show, those characters often associate their sounds with use *outside* a word. (Gulping [g], out-of-breath [h], food-tasting [m] and so forth still make sense in Sweden.) Even though the *sound* [z] isn't used in their language, the *letter* is still part of the Swedish alphabet -- used mainly in foreign words and names, but also to represent comic-strip snoring. With that in mind, I'd add Alphablock Z to the list of "(almost) unchanged imports".

* On the other hand, some Swedish Alphablocks would need new visual gimmicks *in spite of* the sounds they share with an English counterpart: the word for "drum" doesn't begin with [d], and the word for "kick" doesn't begin with [k]. Alphablock X has this problem on top of the British superhero reference: to a Swede, [ks] is the sound people make to call over their pet cat (the equivalent of "Here, kitty kitty kitty!"). Auntie X, the Cat Lady, might amuse toddlers' parents but provoke mockery from the toddlers themselves!

##### Sound Check

* A few shared letters spell radically different sounds in English and Swedish. This happens mostly to the vowel letters (Swedish has nine of them!), but occasionally to consonants too: even though Swedish W is usually limited to foreign words and names, it typically sounds like English [v]. Not very much like crying at all...so the W-block in Sweden needs a new visual gimmick. The most familiar one that came to mind would be making him a computer geek with an American accent: kids watch online videos younger and younger now, so they'd spot "WWW" in Web addresses and make the connection. What letter, if any, would assume the old crybaby persona? I'd nominate U; *uhu* is a fairly close equivalent of "boo-hoo". Similar switches could be made for other major pronunciation differences.

##### Changes

* A: A doctor with a tongue depressor telling patients to say 'ahh'
* C: A circus clown (cirkusclown). Speaks with a British accent. (Outside of a few digraphs, used mainly in foreign words/proper names.)
* D: Visually the same as Angloblock D, but plays the accordion (dragspel).
* I: A male athlete (idrottsman), interested in winter sports like ice hockey (ishockey).
* J: A gyrfalcon (jaktfalk). Heroic personality, flying in to the rescue.
* K: A martial arts (kampsport) master with a black belt.
* N: Visually the same as Angloblock N, but plays the keyed fiddle (nyckelharpa).
* O: Similar to Angloblock U, since o- is the Swedish equivalent of the English un- prefix.
* Q: Visually the same as Angloblock Q, but speaks with a British accent. (Used only in foreign words/proper names.)
* R: A shaggy fox (rufsig räv), growls 'rrrrr'.
* U: A weepy child like Angloblock W, cries 'uhu' but retains his vowel stripes.
* W: A Web geek, wearing glasses and a pocket protector. Speaks with an American accent (used only in foreign words/proper names).
* X: A detective (because of the X-Files). He is fond of crossing items off lists, and keeps a cat named Sphinx (Swedes use the sound /ks/ to call cats).
* Y: Resembles Angloblock Y, but has vowel stripes. School-aged girl prone to mood swings -- fron pitifully frightenred (ynkrygg) to boisterous and zany (yster yrhätta).
* Z: Visually the same as Angloblock Z, but speaks with a British accent. (Used only in foreign words/proper names; the letter's Swedish name, *zäta,* resembles Zed more than Zee.)
* Å/å: Looks and speaks much like Angloblock O.
* Ä/ä: Accident-prone apple-lover, similar to Angloblock A; says "Äsch!" (Ugh!) when hurt.
* Ö/ö: A male explorer and sea captain, known for island-hopping (since his name is a one-letter word for "island"). Resembles Angloblock R, but has vowel stripes and no eyepatch.

## Gallery

SoSR's Swedish AlphablocksComic #1ISNorden's Swedish Alphablocks, Joint design project by JiaGbon1234, Coeur de Loupe, and ISNorden