With a grand opening, the Language Museum will open its Room for Language on November 10, with artistic installations on site that will make it – literally – buzz with words.
The giant “Lyrograph” forms sentences and words that light up on a screen, a kind of random refrigerator poetry, based on how visitors choose to sit on the different benches included in the installation.
It has taken several years of work for the museum to become a reality, notes Patrik Hadenius, who also started Språktidningen.
It's not without being a little moved. The museum exists to increase knowledge about languages and raise the status of languages.
Meeting place about language
Even the author David Lagercrantz, who sits on the museum's board, is enthusiastic.
"Language is our identity, with language we conquer the world. It's wonderful that we now have a museum, a meeting place where you can talk about language," he says.
The program includes popular science lectures on the birth of languages, how tombstones and obituaries reveal how we view death, and how AI can be used to decipher texts whose meaning has been shrouded in mystery.
Language caretakers on duty are another feature.
Language guardians from the Language Council will sit at their desks and answer questions about everything between heaven and earth. Maybe you want to know more about a word your grandmother uses, or write an essay but don't know how to start. Then you can get help with that, says Patrik Hadenius.
Language quiz and rhyme house
Or visitors can form teams and take part in a language quiz with AW under the leadership of Språktidningen's editor-in-chief Anders Svensson.
Nuseet is also aimed at those who do not have Swedish as their first language. In easy Swedish, author and linguist Sara Lövestam explains what the old-fashioned words in Christmas carols really mean, such as "the night goes on heavy".
Last but not least, there will be a rhyme workshop in December, where you can get help with rhymes for your presents.
