We had a discussion in class today about what the proper English word is for the following
dagis, daghem, socialbidrag, personnummer.
The answer is – there is no one word which works in all situations.
Dagis
– in Sweden you would call it dagis if you were speaking to an English speaker living in Sweden who knows the system
– in Sweden you would call it pre-school in a formal or correct context. This I would use as the preferred term.
– talking to Americans you would say kindergarten
– talking to Brits or similar you can say nursery school or creche
Socialbidrag
– other countries use benefit, welfare, social welfare in informal contexts but it tends to be perjorative so be careful with this one
– in Sweden it is now called försörjningsstöd so the translation is income support or financial assistance
Personnummer
– good translations are
- ID number
- identity number
- personal identity number (PIN)
- civil registration number
If you are talking to an American, the closest equivalent is Social Security Number
If you are talking to someone from the UK the closes equivalent is the National Insurance (NI) Number
