Jag talar inte bra svenska.

I found a new blog to enjoy the other day, and I just have to share it with you all. It's called "In Deme Jare Cristi". Beautiful handwoven cloth and handstitched clothing; it's really delightful. Please go take a look!

It seems a lot of the medieval reenactment blogs I find are from Nordic people. I follow Historisk Garderob and Renikas anachronistic adventures, which are both Swedish, there's Hibernaatiopesäke, which is Finnish, and and I notice that my "Feedjit" sidebar that tracks my visitors here is often full of Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish flags.

And all these talented ladies write their blogs with English either as the main language or in addition to their own national language. Perhaps they're just using a translation application like Google Translate, but I remember my family had a Finnish exchange student living with us for my senior year of high school and his English was perfect (with a slight accent that was quite attractive!). He led us to understand that having English as a second language was not unusual in Finland.

Now, I have taken five years of high school and college German, a semester of French, self-studied Italian for a few months, taught myself Ancient Homeric Greek for two years, and went through a phase where I listened and repeated along with a Teach Yourself Swedish cassette in the car for about a year.  I suppose German was the closest I ever came to being somewhat fluent in another language, but that was over 20 years ago and it's very rusty now. Greek was the most intense, and I can read (or sound out) words but my translation skills are not terrific and as for speaking, well... not so much. The Swedish I have retained consists mostly of asking to go to the movies and the usual polite standards: please, thanks, hello, etc. As Dave says, it's just enough to make me very irritating at Ikea.  

I can't imagine writing my blog in anything other than English, though I would love to be as accommodating to my Nordic guests as they are to me and the rest of the English-speaking world. So let's try this...

Tack för att du besöker min sida och titta på de saker jag gör. Jag uppskattar ditt intresse och det gläder mig att i denna värld där vi bor så långt ifrån varandra, kan vi fortfarande gå samman för att dela kreativ tid tillsammans. Vänligen kom tillbaka igen och se vad jag har varit upp till, och om du har en blogg där du delar dina kreativa idéer, gärna länka till den i kommentarerna i detta inlägg!

Takk for at du besøker min side og ser på de tingene jeg gjør. Jeg setter pris på din interesse og det gleder meg at i denne verden hvor vi bor så langt fra hverandre, kan vi fortsatt gå sammen for å dele kreativ tid sammen. Vennligst komme tilbake igjen og se hva jeg har vært opp til, og hvis du har en blogg hvor du deler dine kreative ideer, gjerne linke til det i kommentarfeltet i dette innlegget!

Kiitos kun tulit sivulle ja katsot asioita teen. Arvostan kiinnostusta ja se miellyttää minua, että tässä maailmassa, jossa elämme niin kaukana toisistaan​​, voimme silti liittyä yhteen jakamaan luovaa aikaa yhdessä. Tule takaisin ja katso, mitä olen puuhaillut, ja jos sinulla on blogi, jossa voit jakaa luovia ideoita, vapaasti linkittää se kommentteja osassa tämä viesti!