2022, Foreign Languages Alice . 2022, Foreign Languages Alice .

Ungefär

Today I struggle with the Swedish word ungefär, when translated to English, means “approximately.” I was struggling whether it implies för mer än (more than) or för mindre än (less than).

I was trying to answer the question of when the first ice cream truck came to Sweden […]

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2022, Personal Projects Alice . 2022, Personal Projects Alice .

Do It Now

I stole the above quote from The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson.

Travel—don’t wait. Move (country)—don’t wait. Change (work)—don’t wait. On hindsight, I’m super glad I did all of that before COVID came and made itself a more of less permanent part of our lives. Now I get to […]

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2022, Personal Projects Alice . 2022, Personal Projects Alice .

Desirable Difficulty

Short-term pain for long-term gain. Reading is hard work. Practicing is hard work. Working out can be quite a struggle, but yes, the reward comes after the struggle. I look better and feel better. Because of that, I read even more voraciously and have more stamina to practice (my Swedish).

I’ve always loved reading (still do), and […]

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2022, Foreign Languages Alice . 2022, Foreign Languages Alice .

Svenska – hur svårt kan det va?

I debatten är det många som tycker att det tar för lång tid för nya svenskar att lära sig språket. Men svenska är allt annat än enkelt. Och att behärska svenskan efter bara två års studier blir därför ett nästan omöjligt krav. —Sandra Vilppala, språkkonsultstudent vid Stockholms universitet.

Sandra Vilppala is a Swedish Language Consultancy Programme student at Stockholm University. In this Språktidningen blog post Vilppala writes about how hard could the Swedish language be: hur svårt kan det va?

Apparently, it probably takes about two years to complete the SFI levels A to D, with level D comparable to […]

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2022, Personal Projects Alice . 2022, Personal Projects Alice .

Leverage

The above quote from The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson is super important. It’s super important because this is how we differentiate. We get paid (very well) for our unique knowledge and demonstrated judgment.

We may be salaried workers or business owners—to me, it doesn’t matter […]

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2022, Personal Projects Alice . 2022, Personal Projects Alice .

The Best in the World

To be the best in the world means that someone with options and information will choose you. Because your version of “best” matches what they seek, and because you’re in their consideration set (their world). —Seth Godin

So, what this means is that it does NOT mean I’m the best by every measure. It also does not mean […]

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2022, Personal Projects Alice . 2022, Personal Projects Alice .

Identifying Marks

Harry Potter books. Star Wars movies. Indiana Jones. They have all one thing in common: the peculiarity is specific and consistent. Quoting Godin again:

It’s not duplicative or repetitive. But it rhymes. Just about every frame shows the fingerprints (and idiosyncrasy) of its creators.

I’ve been marinating on this today to identify my own […]

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