Sju skönsjungande sjuksköterskor skötte sjuttiosju sjösjuka sjömän på skeppet Shanghai

You knew it was coming. This is the bane of every non-Scandinavian-learning-a-Scandinavian-language's existence, and the best way to poke fun at utlänningar. I'm speaking, of course, about the diphthongs sj, kj, and sk.

When I first heard the letter 7 a shiver shot right down my spine. "How do these two letters make that sound," I thought, rethinking my passion for Sweden. A conversation with a Swede went like this (imagine Me bastardizing the word beyond recognition):

Me: Sju
Swede: No
M: Sju
S: No
M: sju
S: Ssssjjjjjjuuu
M: sju
S: sju
M: sju
s: sju
M: I give up.
S: Good.

I'm sure anyone who has asked a Swede about those letters had the same conversation. Left with a sense of despair, I would repeat, what I would name, "Satan's Sound" nonstop until I got tired. When I would read something in Swedish out loud and see the sj, kj, sk I would regard it with a look of contempt and skip it. I grumble and curse the language!

But alas! There is hope! During one of those nights when I can't sleep, I decided to do some research on the sound. Then I found this website. It's amazing. It gives you the English sh sound, then the Swedish sj/sk/kj/skj etc etc sound. I listened to the girl say, "Shoe, sju," about 80 different times. Now it's my mantra. I often lay around saying, "Shoe, sju. Shoe, sju. Sju shoe!" While my Korean housemate gives me a funny look and skurries off to the bathroom.
http://www2.hhs.se/isa/swedish/chap9.htm#sjsound

I hope that site helps any learners out there. Keep strong my brothers and sisters. We'll pull through! We just have to stick together!

Adjö

p.s. If a Swedish reader can record them saying the tongue twister in the title, please post it online so that I can put a link to it on my blog. I think we'd all get a kick out of it.