In English, a house is a home, usually for one family and with a ground floor and one or two upper storeys. A house with only a ground floor is called a bungalow.
In Swedish, hus can apply to various types of buildings and homes, such as enfamiljshus, single family home; parhus, semi-detached house; småhus, house for one or two families; enplanshus, single storey building; flerfamiljshus, block of flats, apartment building, literally house for several families; höghus, high-rise building; radhus, terraced house; hyreshus, tenement building; husbil, mobile home; husvagn, caravan; varuhus, department store.
House and hus probably come from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning to cover or hide.
A house?
An Englishman was invited to a Swedish family, who told him they lived in the third house on the left in Skolgatan (School Street). They waited in vain for him to turn up for dinner, and when they finally got in touch, he told them that he had not seen any houses in Skolgatan – there were only buildings.
Connotations are associations and feelings that a word evokes. They can be positive, negative, or neutral. Connotations are shaped by culture and context and may differ from person to person.
The difference in connotations between two languages must, of course, be taken into consideration by those communicating in the two languages.
Connotations can be shared by many people. The English word house to most people has a neutral connotation – it means a type of residential building, especially a one-family dwelling. The word home, on the other hand, has positive connotations of warmth, security, and family life.
Connotations may differ also between languages. While the Swedish word hem has the same connotations as the English home, Swedish hus has wider connotations than English house and may refer to any residential building irrespective of size, such as a block of flats.
Another example of a word with different connotations in English and Swedish is villa. In English, a villa is a large and luxurious country house, especially in continental Europe. In the UK it is a large, detached house in a residential area, especially from Edwardian or Victorian time. Villa can also refer to a large country house of Roman times with farm and residential buildings around a courtyard. The Latin word villa meant manor, country estate.
In Swedish, a villa is a one-family house or a bungalow. The main goals in life of medelsvensson, the average Swede, are said to be villa, Volvo, vovve, a house, a Volvo, a doggie.
To make things more complicated, the Swedish word villa can also mean illusion or delusion.
A city in English refers to a large town. In Swedish, city has the connotation of downtown.
An amusing, and arguably misleading, example is North American restroom, a euphemism for lavatory or toilet. To non-native speakers the connotation with the verb rest, relax, will be natural. In my book about English–Swedish false friends I relate a story about an American who was picking up his Swedish friend at an airport. When they got in the car, the American said, ”Perhaps you need to go to the restroom?”, and without hesitation, the Swede answered, ”No, I can do that in the car”.
Restroom?
To recognize connotations is crucial in localization, by which a product is adapted to a specific market. You can read more about it here.
Finally, a denotation is the dictionary definition of a word, the objective meaning of the word.
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