You have to watch the movies in their original Swedish to hear how they’re pronounced. “Mi-ka-el Bloomquist” is how I heard the character’s name in the movie.

Mee-kah-el Bloom-kvist

or sometimes by his nick name Mee-keh

Watch the movies! Have fun!

Posted by Kim in Minneapolis ,

I’d like to know how to pronounce Bjurman.

Posted by T in Seattle ,

“Bjurman” is pronounced “B’YURR man”

Posted by Scott in Minneapolis ,

Or probably better . . . “B’YURR mahn”

Posted by Scott in Minneapolis ,

How does one say Lisander in Swedish?

Posted by Mae in Fay, NC ,

Lis.Anda

Posted by Ian in York ,

I have been listening to the trilogy on CD and therefore do not have the written words. What is the word they use to address Lizbeth formally. Sounds like Frueka.

Posted by Karen GTrame in Florence, KY ,

Karen, the word you hear as “Frueka” is spelled “Froken” in the book (with two dots above the ‘o’). It’s a title, like “Miss” in English.

Posted by KrisBee in Anaheim, CA ,

The “ö/ø” in “fröken”, the Swedish title equal to Miss, is pronounced with the same vowel sound as “early”, “earn” or “burn”.

Mikael Blomkvist: Mee-ka’l Bl’uhmm-kvyst

Lisbeth Salander: Lee’sbet Salanda

Henrik Vanger: Hen’rik Vanga (soft g)

Hans-Erik Wennerström: Han’s-Eereek Venner-strum

Gottfried Vanger: Gott-freed Vanga (soft g)

Harriet Vanger: Har-ree’t Vanga (soft g)

Martin Vanger: Mat’een Vanga (soft g)

Holger Palmgren: Hul’ga Pa’lmgren

Nils Bjurman: Neels B’yua-mann

Cecilia Vanger: Ca-ceeleea Vanga (soft g)

Erika Berger: Eereekah Bawa

Dirch Frode: Deerk Fro-the

Dragan Armansky: Draa-gan Amanskee

Christer Malm: Kreester Malm

Gustaf Morell: Gostaf Morell

Isabella Vanger: Eesah-bellah Vanga (soft g)

Posted by Marie~ in Copenhagen, Denmark ,

Actually, Salander is prounounced Salander, Vanger is Vanger, Holger is Holger (“hard” g) and Christer is Christer, pretty well the same way they are spelled. Cecilia is prounounced like the English Cecile, but with the ia at the end, Harriet is pronounced pretty well the same in Swedish as in English. Of course these name will sound a little different with the Swedish intonation. As for any names with a W, W is prounounced as V in Swedish. The name Berger is pronounced “Behryer”.

what about kalle? How does that sound?

Marie’s post of Fro-the instead of Frod-e er pur dansk

Posted by George in Pa, USA ,

The “ö” in Swedish is like the “u” in the English word “hurt”.

The “ä” in Swedish is like the “e” in the English word “fern”.

The “å” in Swedish is like the “o” in the English word “boat”

Bjurman is BEYOOR-mahn

Kalle (nickname) is KALL-eh

Lisander is LEES-ahn-dairr (the “r” is kind of “rolled”, like in Spanish)

Don’t listen to Marie, she is translating into Danish – which Swedes can barely understand.

Posted by Veronica in Södra Ängby ,

Here’s how I heard names pronounced in the movie:

Salander: emphasis on the first syllable (SAL-ander)

Micke: MEEK-eh

Vanger: VAN-yehr

Those are the ones I think of right off the bat. It’s been awhile since I saw the movies.

Posted by Linnea in Minneapolis, MN ,

Anita has double stress

Posted by Gabriela ,

What about pronunciations for the cities? A friend of mine read the book and told me she had a hard time pronouncing the cities names

Posted by Bella in New York, New York ,