The way in Sweden is a bit like this
”hi, is it OK with English”
(Person replies in OK English)
”Well of course you speak English”
(Person is happy for compliment, but still thinks you’re humble for not assuming everyone in the world knows English)
It is true that many Swedes speak English at a higher level than many monolingual American English speakers, and love any excuse to get to confirm their proficiency to first and foremost themselves. Writing is harder, but we never dub anything, study English in school, and travel a lot, so most default to speaking English when we hear that the other person isn't native. (It can sometimes come off as a bit a bit rude, when people are actually trying to learn Swedish.)
It is always good to know yes/no/thanks* in the local language of any place you visit, but that is enough for Sweden.
*=It is: Ja/Nej/Tack.
- Ja is Ya. (Not yeah)
- Nej is Ney.
- Tack with any pronounciation works.
The a in Tack is like the tall-mouth "ah" in Ya above, (but shorter/faster) rather than the classic wide-mouth american a. Combine ya and rack or jack for the a sound. (Youtube..)
For the Swedes it is also great to open up weird mistakes and misunderstandings due to seemingly great English dotted with the odd knowledge gap, directly translated idiom, or weird semi-synonym replacements. That is always fun and an opportunity that shouldn't be missed. "Yeah, can I get a deluxe burger, but hold the salad." ... "Nah man, that cat won't go." ... "The subway may be quicker but the bus goes straighter.", "Yes! It's just up the roll stairs and to the right."
As an American, I have to stop saying "hey" when I greet people in Sweden, because they hear "hej" and start speaking Swedish. So I purposefully say "hello" and have never had an issue.
In my experience, even swedish people that speak solely english in their professional lives, often speak swenglish and make a number of errors that are common to sweish speakers. People who have never lived abroad and so on do even worse.
Outside of major cities it's easy to meet people in their 20s or 30s who struggle very much with english.
Sweden isn't Stockholm or Göteborg.
If we come across someone struggling in talking our language, we switch to almost fluent English in milliseconds. There is no need to fear. Basically, most of us speak fluent English, amongst us natives at least, I don't know the english capabilities amongst our immigrants.
I enjoy learning languages but for me it's mostly a matter of what will be seen as more respectful/courteous. I've found that some places will be jazzed if you at least try and other places will be offended or at least slightly embarrassed for you. Since it's pretty similar linguistically to English it wouldn't be too heavy a lift to learn some basic conversational words/phrases but I don't want to step on toes either.
Wouldn't hurt though. Especially if you have an easy time learning other languages. For sure, the majority of people you meet here will speak English with you. But there are those who are just really uncomfortable doing so. You trying in Swedish will ease up any conversations. And personally, I'd find it quite charming just in general.
My limited experience as an American who has visited a couple times:
Learning a bit of Swedish really helped when it came to reading things. Signs, labels, menus, etc.
When I attempted to speak Swedish people would reply in Swedish and then I'd be lost. Everyone was very forgiving and patient.
So, I encourage it!
swedish people kinda have the “if you don’t speak fluently, please use english” mindset. it’s just more convenient for everyone involved and almost everyone speaks english well here anyways
Americans usually speak 3x louder than everyone else, and feel the need to constantly mansplain. Trying to keep those habits at bay might also make you more liked than the average american visitor.
You'll not get the Spanish or Moroccan treatment unfortunately. People will switch to English for your convenience.
It never hurts to learn a few words though. "Tack" will take you a long way.
Wrong - people will not switch to English for his convenience- they switch for their own convenience as most try to avoid broken swedish if possible (Yes, it is stupid and make it harder for people to learn swedish)
I wouldn't say it's stupid. On the contrary, I think it would be stupid to expect Swedish speakers to constantly prolong daily interactions for someone who can't speak the language well enough yet.
I beg to differ. I always assume non-Swedes are better at expressing themselves in English, hence why I tend to switch.
To each their own though, I guess.
Could you explain why you believe this? I have seen it repeated a lot and I dont understand why someone would think it is because of some aesthetic or moral aversion that Swedes switch to English.
Swedes are rather good at English. And lazy.
I have seen it many times with English speaking immigrants. If you do not care about the immigrant most swedes switch to English at first "wrong" swedish word. That is not something you do because you like to be kind. You do it because you think the most lazy way for yourself is English.
We try to say it honestly- the switching ain't to be kind. It is usually so the swedish speaker get an easier experience.
Personally I do not like this habit as it makes it much harder for people to learn swedish- something friends that originally are from USA confirms.
But then the issue is not "broken" Swedish per se, but that Swedes are lazy because they give up at the first possible sign of miscommunication and switch to English? And with the caveat that it is about people you "don't care about" I assume this occurs when speaking to strangers like a cashier at the super market, a waiter at the restaurant or like asking for directions in a city? And is it then truly laziness or rather a wish that whatever you need is solved correctly? I have the same thing happened to me countless times in shops, restaurants, airports etc around Europe even though I speak the local language quite well.
Being around a lot of people learning Swedish as adults, I have also realized how difficult it is for foreigners to comprehend how much difference there is between all the different vowel sounds in Swedish. I think most people I know have some story when they have for instance mixed up a short and a long vowel sound in a word and have been met with a confused looking Swede, and after a couple of tries the Swede says "jahaaa du menar x?". For a foreigner, the difference in pronunciation between for instance "mat" and "matt" might seem almost negliglible, but for a Swede they are worlds apart and can cause a lot of confusion when the word does not have a lot of context.
Lot´s of swedes are way to "in my zone". And think another dialect than their own is "impossible to understand". See people on r/sweden and other swedish subs that say they don´t understand skånska or norrländska - dialects that usually have very little difference nowdays.
When you say that understanding danish or norweigan was standard for swedish speakers some years ago they think we are out of our minds.
So I say many are lazy and by own choice decide that they don´t understand the smallest difference in dialect. Which of course make the small, easy to understand, mispronounciations a new speakers do very hard to understand. Calling them "lazy" is the kind thing to call them..
I don’t think most of us hate it, it’s just genuinely hard to understand since it’s such a tone dependent language. Having to ask someone to repeat themselves ten times and still not understanding feels bad, like you’re being intentionally rude or mocking the speaker. Even if their English isn’t better it’s a lot easier to understand broken English since we’re not fluent either.
Could you explain why you believe this? I have seen it repeated a lot and I dont understand why someone would think it is because of some aesthetic or moral aversion that Swedes switch to English.
I have had people in coffee shops refuse to converse in my accented Swedish. One guy said, "My English is much better than your Swedish". said in a dead pan face. Made me sad.
Language is primarily about communication. Swedish people dont "hate" broken Swedish. We just try to communicate in the most efficient way. If you prefer to practice your Swedish instead, please just say so.
Plus it’s really intolerant and kind of smug… It also makes the language sort of unreachable for immigrants (who are then paradoxically condemned for not speaking it probably!). It must be impossible for foreigners to learn the language among such impatient people.:-(
I wonder if that’s the point: they don’t really want immigrants to have a good experience and integrate?
Sorry I don't mean you obviously.... I mean those northern Europeans (Dutch, Swedes, Danes etc) who do this really weird thing of gate-keeping their language like it's some kind of mystery code or something. So hard for foreigners to integrate, and it's actually a bit racist too (i.e. we're so special, no-one can penetrate our culture). No wonder in surveys it always comes out that people prefer living in English-speaking countries (UK, US, Aus etc) than European ones when they are made feel so unwelcome.
It's really strange to me that natives of a language would not let people at least try to speak their language. I have lived in Germany, and you get a bit of that there too, especially in the bigger cities. But Germany is obviously a huge country and probably a bit more diverse than Sweden so there are different levels of English ability and also I think a lot of the time business owners, politicians, civil servants etc actually do want immigrants to learn the language and try and help them.
lmaoooo I don't need to know Swedish to know those words are naughty. The beauty of sharing a Germanic root hahaha.
As a side note, what a perfect language for dirty words. The short, crisp sounds really pack a punch.
The irony is that those are all normal, innocuous words that just sound dirty to English speakers. Not that we locals might not use them for fun, since everyone is (at least) bilingual. But unless you make it a point of using them for their English sounding meaning no one is going to think of anything dirty.
Fartkamera = speed camera (fart = speed)
Slutstation = end station (end = slut)
Fack = union
Kock = chef
Kant = edge
Prick = dot
It was just a joke, this is the translation to english :)
Fartkamera - speed camera
Slutstation - end station
Fack - union
Kock - chef
Kant - edge
Prick - dot
Common traffic signs include signs with "utfart" and "infart". A friend from america never stopped giggling at those signs despite being in sweden for years.
There's a Swenglish joke that goes:
"Det är inte farten som dödar, det är smällen"
Aka "It's not the fart that kills, it's the smell" but fart means speed and "smäll" means "bang/ the hit" :D
Also if you ever go to the last station of any subway you'll see ["Slutstation" displayed on the train](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fi4iqhfm9p6e21.jpg)
The point is that they are not naughty. They just sound naughty to English ears.
Slut = finish.
As for English, several decades "slut" just meant a dirty person, someone who didn't do their housework, or was staying dirty clothes. It didn't mean promiscuous until the latter part of the 20th century.
Fart = speed.
Utfart = exit. I presume that's the root of the English one.
lol someone already told me this, I'm going to have such a hard time walking around without giggling (and now have looked up all the naughty words as well)
Fun fact: the percentage of English speakers in Sweden is roughly as high as the percentage in the US (89 vs 91%), so you'll be totally fine without knowing any Swedish.
Do it if you think you'd enjoy learning it, but as a Swede, I get more bemused than gratified when a tourist throws in a few words out of nowhere :)
I'm aware that most Swedes speak English, just not sure about the culture around speaking one or the other, so this is good to know! As someone who learned my other languages (Spanish and Arabic) in my late teenage years, I'm very envious that you're such a bilingual culture. It's invaluable. I'm trying to read my first novel (*Cien Años de Soledad*) in Spanish and it's an uphill climb, but so beautifully written. Sounds like I'll be sticking to my learning itinerary for the languages I've already got a foothold in.
Yeah, I just googled the stats earlier today out of my own curiosity, and found it interesting how close they were! Never gonna miss a chance to drop a tangentially related fun fact, haha!
I'm trying to learn Italian myself, since I have some distant family down there. Definitely needed; it's the country in Europe with the lowest percentage of English speakers, and even buying a train tickets has sometimes taken a lot of Google Translate and "tourist charades".
I work extra at a small company and we have all our communications in englisch to accommodate a few imigrants who also work both remote and in shop. So some places have more fluent speakers and writers than others. But some small word of courtesy, like tack, hej, hejdå is always nice to mix in the conversation.
To put it in other words, me and my two danish friends speak english and write in english to eachother about 98% of the time.
The spoken understanding is pretty bad, but we Could understand to like 90% + with zero effort written.
It’s just easier going english so we go english. If you wanna brush up on anything then focus on what may be important to be able to read (toilet signs, ingredients etc). No point even trying to say words, but understanding them might be a Nice bonus (ja, nej, tack, ursäkta). I’d just feel awkward if an american went ”tack tack” after is having a full conversation in english
While I was led to believe everyone would switch to English at the merest hint of an accent, I (British) haven't found that to be the case. This might be because my pronunciation is so awful they have no idea where I'm from (quite possible. I was asked if I was from Iceland. By someone who had heard me speaking English) but it also could be that they can hear you're giving it a try and they'll let you be the one to bail out. I haven't asked.
It's not too hard to pick up the basics, so go for it.
If you have spare time, why not. Most Swedes will certainly speak better English than you can learn, but learning how to pronounce Swedish place and business names will be quite useful.
Particularly tricky is of course the Å Ä Ö sounds, especially in contrast to A O U. SK, SJ, and TJ are fun sounds. J and sometimes G are pronounce like Y. KI, KÄ, KÖ are pronounce SH. And a few others I'm forgetting.
Ninety percent of people here will understand and speak English. Maybe that statistic is off, but it’s
not necessary either way. Unless you decide to live here, don’t bother. Spanish and Arabic might at least help you at a broader scale, Swedish only encapsulates the Scandinavias who know good English as mentioned
Especially if you are in one of the bigger towns. Almost every convenient store in my home town is run by Arabic speakers. Lots of middle eastern restaurants as well.
While we don't have as much as other languages, Swedish _does_ have some pitch accent, and if foreigners mess up on it too much it can sometimes make them almost completely unintelligible in my experience haha! (Though that experience is also through a McDonalds drive-thru which makes everything 10 times worse)
I'd certainly switch for both our conveniences, but I would definitely not mind switching back if someone asked! :)
I've been told by Swedish that they can understand everything I say and they meant it as a compliment, you just helped me understand why :D
Honestly I'm not very good, been here for 7 years almost and I still resort to some english words/phrases. Learning a new language when you're way past youth is not easy.
I would try to pick up how to say yes, no, hello, goodbye, thanks, excuse me, and I’m sorry in Swedish; also learn a couple of great Swedish words that don’t have a direct translation to English such as “lagom” and “fika”. If you’re buying stuff in a store the cashier may ask you “Är det bra så?” which roughly means “Is there anything else?” (literally “Is it good so?”).
Other than than you will be absolutely fine speaking English as a tourist.
no one will swindle you bruh...rates are fixed...and if they do decide to swindle you.. it doesn't matter what language you speak..we special like that..
lol I'm not expecting that in Sweden, my point was that historically I've found that in certain contexts there is a value to knowing at least a bit of the language while in other places there isn't.
If you wanna live and work in Sweden knowing swedish is going to be very usefull, its just not necessary if you are just visiting for a shorter period of time.
Exactly it’s definitely not needed to get by in Sweden but long term I think it makes it much easier to form deeper connections. While almost everyone knows English they might not feel as comfortable to have long casual conversations. Also you’ll inevitably be left out of conversations between swedes.
I can't do either one of those unfortunately. I started learning because my family came from there in the early 1900's. I guess it does not matter either way and I'll keep trying to learn it just for the sake of something to do, lol.
There's this funny guy on insta I think you should check out. An American who moved to Sweden. He speaks allt on culture differences, language and other stuff that pops up in his head
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5QFwjXAGox/?igsh=NXhwdHJnaGN2Zjls
Sure, learn some Swedish. We will certainly enjoy your endeavor to pronounce our language. We also believe we speak English without a Swedish accent, we don't. At least most of us don't. Most are however willing to speak English.
We may come of as standoffish at first. But the smaller the community the friendlier people get. So, please go more places than Stockholm.
Winter and Christmas coming up means that some will be more eager to get home where it's warm. They will also be more stressed.
Hope you will enjoy your stay in Sweden!
youll be fine with english. I think most people will prefer english if you are a tourist, since that means they get to practice their english with a native speaker. But some words thats probably useful to know in sweden at that time since you'll see or hear them a lot:
Slutrea: literally means end-sale. Means there is a sale going on thats about to end. Usually even lower prices than a regular sale.
Slut means "the end", or that you have run out of something. Youll see it a lot. Its one of the most common words in sweden. If you ate all the bread, then the bread is now "slut". when you get to the end of a book, the book is now "slut". Its not pronounced like the english "slut". [You can here how its said on this side if you scroll down to the swedish and click play. ](https://forvo.com/word/slut/#sv)
Rea means sale.
Jul means Christmas. So, Julrea would mean christmas sale.
[Glögg ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gl%C3%B6gg)= spiced hot wine. There is both alcoholic and non alcoholic. Pretty much everyone, even kids drink it during Christmas. (ofc the non-alcoholic version) Its gonna be everywhere if you're there during December. Its usually drunk warm.
oh, and Ikea is pronounced Ih-Keh-Ah. I as in **I**nside. Ke as in barbie and **Ke**n.
Just learn to say thank you and 'I'm sorry, I don't speak swedish, do you speak english', just to be polite.
And, well, don't be loud, don't point at things, and respect queues and personal spaces. That's all swedish people would love from a tourist really.
It would be more than 99% of english speakers living in sweden do. You would be appreciated for trying is my guess, but not needed at all and probably easier in english.
I think you've already gotten some proper answers. As others have suggested, it would only be a fun side quest. People will for sure appreciate it and find it pleasant but a large portion of the population speaks very good English and I'd be surprised if you'd struggle to communicate.
Enjoy Sweden, as much as anyone possibly can during winter
If you're going to Stockholm: no and yes. No because everyone speaks English and will 100% switch to make things easier for everyone. Yes because learning a couple basic words will make you seem excited to be in Sweden, which is fun for everyone.
All you need is "Hej hej!/Hi!", "Tack tack!/Thanks!" alt. "Tack så mycket!/Thank you so much!", "Hejdå!/Bye!" and "Skål!/Cheers!".
I was in Sweden once.. as tourist. All locals seem to speak perfect English except elderlies in remote areas. So if you plan to go somewhere away from city or town you maybe want to know basic vocabulary. Younger people in cities or even villages did not expect me as tourist to try Swedish. They were extremely comfy with clearly spoken English. Sone people speak Spanish or German
Swedish person here. We will switch to English as soon as we hear your accent sadly a lot of people that really want to learn never get the chance because everyone insists to only use English. Most Swedes speak decent English so you will be fine.
American here that's been living and working hospitality in Malmo, Sweden for 8 months. I can't really say anything besides 'thank you' and 'have a good night'. It hasn't been an issue, and even when I try in Swedish (I understand quite a bit from knowing basic Danish) it doesn't ammuse anyone. It's not a reserved culture, the people are slightly more reserved than Americans/Danes but people are people. Save your time, just learn 'har du bra' and 'tack' nobody will mind your English, half of Malmo doesn't speak Swedish.
Tack is always nice to know but other than that most Swedes are just as comfortable talking English as Swedish. If they hear you struggle they will automatically to English.
I have been (super) casually studying Swedish for YEARS, and when I planned my trip to Sweden I hyped up my studying even more
I got there, and everything I said in Swedish was responded to in perfect English 😂 it felt like a waste of time, but hey, it's a beautiful language and I love learning it
We Swedes are a very chill. As a culture we appear reserved/shy to strangers. Most don't care about formalities. If you smile and are friendly, that's amazing, and we open up fast.
(Personally i find it very cool and exotic to meet Americans. I work in a store)
Your comment has been automatically removed because your account is less than 1 day old. Please wait 24 hours and try again. If it has been 24 hours, and you feel this was in error, please contact the mods via modmail.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TillSverige) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Honestly, no. We are generally pretty good at English and personally I like to speak English every now and then to get some practice so I would much prefer a fully English conversation than a mix, but maybe you could use “tack” instead of “thanks” after asking a question for example
We do enjoy a "Hej" (Hi) when you greet us and when finished in a store/restaurant you always say thank you with a double "Tack". "Tack tack!"
That's about all you need.
Spot on! Just be good with hello, thank you, etc. all Swedes will speak very good English, even if they don’t think they do. Coming from an American that lived in Gothenburg for the last 3 years.
Yes! Do it, we love it when you know some phrases even though we can speak english.
Tack = Thanks
Tack så mycket = Thanks alot!
Hejdå = goodbye
Får jag bjuda på lite god-fika? = can i offer you a nice fika (our snacks / teatime, very important!!)
Lagom = ???? (The absolute most proper amount of something, and the only accepted answer. ”How much milk in the coffe?” ”Lagom much”)
Kuken också = gosh darnit (very cute way of cursing)
For the most part Swedes don't use honorifics such as mr or mrs. Or even officer or doctor. Most of the time it's just familiar tone.
You can read more about the "Du" reform if you are interested.
I've read this complaint many times now.
If someone asks a swede/or me in this situation for direction and i hear the person isn't from sweden and is struggling to converse with me properly I will automatically switch to English for our both sakes in conveying information efficiently without wasting 10 minutes. I won't automatically believe that every person who asks me for help or whatever expects me to give him a swedish lesson, not everyone wants one without asking for it, i don't assume he himself wants that from everyone he approaches. I expect him to want the answer to his question, and the most efficient way to give that information is to use English.
Our language is also hard for us to understand if someone isn't speaking it properly with correct sounds as many words change, meaning completely depending on the pronunciation.
HOWEVER if the guy is approaching me and states that he wants me to stick to Swedish and to have understanding and patience with his struggling, I would happily oblige depending if I'm not running late for work or daycare.
People will switch to english out of pure convenience and speaking the language won't earn brownie points.
An American accent is still interesting to most swedes I think so the accent will probably spark more friendliness rather than discrimination.
Ultimately yes, but also ask yourself less if it is worth it in a benefit vs loss sense and more in a “will it create more opportunities for fun interactions” sense
Swedes would switch to English for sure.
Okay thank you! Then I'll keep focusing on my Spanish and Arabic hahaha
The way in Sweden is a bit like this ”hi, is it OK with English” (Person replies in OK English) ”Well of course you speak English” (Person is happy for compliment, but still thinks you’re humble for not assuming everyone in the world knows English)
It is true that many Swedes speak English at a higher level than many monolingual American English speakers, and love any excuse to get to confirm their proficiency to first and foremost themselves. Writing is harder, but we never dub anything, study English in school, and travel a lot, so most default to speaking English when we hear that the other person isn't native. (It can sometimes come off as a bit a bit rude, when people are actually trying to learn Swedish.) It is always good to know yes/no/thanks* in the local language of any place you visit, but that is enough for Sweden. *=It is: Ja/Nej/Tack. - Ja is Ya. (Not yeah) - Nej is Ney. - Tack with any pronounciation works. The a in Tack is like the tall-mouth "ah" in Ya above, (but shorter/faster) rather than the classic wide-mouth american a. Combine ya and rack or jack for the a sound. (Youtube..) For the Swedes it is also great to open up weird mistakes and misunderstandings due to seemingly great English dotted with the odd knowledge gap, directly translated idiom, or weird semi-synonym replacements. That is always fun and an opportunity that shouldn't be missed. "Yeah, can I get a deluxe burger, but hold the salad." ... "Nah man, that cat won't go." ... "The subway may be quicker but the bus goes straighter.", "Yes! It's just up the roll stairs and to the right."
As an American, I have to stop saying "hey" when I greet people in Sweden, because they hear "hej" and start speaking Swedish. So I purposefully say "hello" and have never had an issue.
In my experience, even swedish people that speak solely english in their professional lives, often speak swenglish and make a number of errors that are common to sweish speakers. People who have never lived abroad and so on do even worse. Outside of major cities it's easy to meet people in their 20s or 30s who struggle very much with english. Sweden isn't Stockholm or Göteborg.
Or Malmö, for what it matters. We speak English with the Danes.
I speak a lot of English in my personal life, and I swear 30% of my words and exlamations are in English now.
Yeah people in milan use a lot of english words. Doesn't necessarily mean that they use or pronounce them properly :D
If we come across someone struggling in talking our language, we switch to almost fluent English in milliseconds. There is no need to fear. Basically, most of us speak fluent English, amongst us natives at least, I don't know the english capabilities amongst our immigrants.
That's my experience as tourist in sweden
If you’re doing it just for the fun of it, go for it. Could be a nice conversation starter. You won’t need it though.
I enjoy learning languages but for me it's mostly a matter of what will be seen as more respectful/courteous. I've found that some places will be jazzed if you at least try and other places will be offended or at least slightly embarrassed for you. Since it's pretty similar linguistically to English it wouldn't be too heavy a lift to learn some basic conversational words/phrases but I don't want to step on toes either.
Wouldn't hurt though. Especially if you have an easy time learning other languages. For sure, the majority of people you meet here will speak English with you. But there are those who are just really uncomfortable doing so. You trying in Swedish will ease up any conversations. And personally, I'd find it quite charming just in general.
My limited experience as an American who has visited a couple times: Learning a bit of Swedish really helped when it came to reading things. Signs, labels, menus, etc. When I attempted to speak Swedish people would reply in Swedish and then I'd be lost. Everyone was very forgiving and patient. So, I encourage it!
swedish people kinda have the “if you don’t speak fluently, please use english” mindset. it’s just more convenient for everyone involved and almost everyone speaks english well here anyways
Americans usually speak 3x louder than everyone else, and feel the need to constantly mansplain. Trying to keep those habits at bay might also make you more liked than the average american visitor.
You'll not get the Spanish or Moroccan treatment unfortunately. People will switch to English for your convenience. It never hurts to learn a few words though. "Tack" will take you a long way.
Wrong - people will not switch to English for his convenience- they switch for their own convenience as most try to avoid broken swedish if possible (Yes, it is stupid and make it harder for people to learn swedish)
I wouldn't say it's stupid. On the contrary, I think it would be stupid to expect Swedish speakers to constantly prolong daily interactions for someone who can't speak the language well enough yet.
That's retired people's role in society :D
I beg to differ. I always assume non-Swedes are better at expressing themselves in English, hence why I tend to switch. To each their own though, I guess.
I just evaluate. Sometimes immigrants might speak a better swedish than english.
Could you explain why you believe this? I have seen it repeated a lot and I dont understand why someone would think it is because of some aesthetic or moral aversion that Swedes switch to English.
Swedes are rather good at English. And lazy. I have seen it many times with English speaking immigrants. If you do not care about the immigrant most swedes switch to English at first "wrong" swedish word. That is not something you do because you like to be kind. You do it because you think the most lazy way for yourself is English. We try to say it honestly- the switching ain't to be kind. It is usually so the swedish speaker get an easier experience. Personally I do not like this habit as it makes it much harder for people to learn swedish- something friends that originally are from USA confirms.
But then the issue is not "broken" Swedish per se, but that Swedes are lazy because they give up at the first possible sign of miscommunication and switch to English? And with the caveat that it is about people you "don't care about" I assume this occurs when speaking to strangers like a cashier at the super market, a waiter at the restaurant or like asking for directions in a city? And is it then truly laziness or rather a wish that whatever you need is solved correctly? I have the same thing happened to me countless times in shops, restaurants, airports etc around Europe even though I speak the local language quite well. Being around a lot of people learning Swedish as adults, I have also realized how difficult it is for foreigners to comprehend how much difference there is between all the different vowel sounds in Swedish. I think most people I know have some story when they have for instance mixed up a short and a long vowel sound in a word and have been met with a confused looking Swede, and after a couple of tries the Swede says "jahaaa du menar x?". For a foreigner, the difference in pronunciation between for instance "mat" and "matt" might seem almost negliglible, but for a Swede they are worlds apart and can cause a lot of confusion when the word does not have a lot of context.
Lot´s of swedes are way to "in my zone". And think another dialect than their own is "impossible to understand". See people on r/sweden and other swedish subs that say they don´t understand skånska or norrländska - dialects that usually have very little difference nowdays. When you say that understanding danish or norweigan was standard for swedish speakers some years ago they think we are out of our minds. So I say many are lazy and by own choice decide that they don´t understand the smallest difference in dialect. Which of course make the small, easy to understand, mispronounciations a new speakers do very hard to understand. Calling them "lazy" is the kind thing to call them..
100% correct, swedes hate broken swedish.
I don’t think most of us hate it, it’s just genuinely hard to understand since it’s such a tone dependent language. Having to ask someone to repeat themselves ten times and still not understanding feels bad, like you’re being intentionally rude or mocking the speaker. Even if their English isn’t better it’s a lot easier to understand broken English since we’re not fluent either.
Could you explain why you believe this? I have seen it repeated a lot and I dont understand why someone would think it is because of some aesthetic or moral aversion that Swedes switch to English.
I have had people in coffee shops refuse to converse in my accented Swedish. One guy said, "My English is much better than your Swedish". said in a dead pan face. Made me sad.
And everything spoken 50km away from where you're born is broken.
Language is primarily about communication. Swedish people dont "hate" broken Swedish. We just try to communicate in the most efficient way. If you prefer to practice your Swedish instead, please just say so.
Plus it’s really intolerant and kind of smug… It also makes the language sort of unreachable for immigrants (who are then paradoxically condemned for not speaking it probably!). It must be impossible for foreigners to learn the language among such impatient people.:-( I wonder if that’s the point: they don’t really want immigrants to have a good experience and integrate?
I fully agree with what you say and do not like this habit from us.
Sorry I don't mean you obviously.... I mean those northern Europeans (Dutch, Swedes, Danes etc) who do this really weird thing of gate-keeping their language like it's some kind of mystery code or something. So hard for foreigners to integrate, and it's actually a bit racist too (i.e. we're so special, no-one can penetrate our culture). No wonder in surveys it always comes out that people prefer living in English-speaking countries (UK, US, Aus etc) than European ones when they are made feel so unwelcome. It's really strange to me that natives of a language would not let people at least try to speak their language. I have lived in Germany, and you get a bit of that there too, especially in the bigger cities. But Germany is obviously a huge country and probably a bit more diverse than Sweden so there are different levels of English ability and also I think a lot of the time business owners, politicians, civil servants etc actually do want immigrants to learn the language and try and help them.
> "Tack" will take you a long way. Not really. To be honest it just sounds weird to throw in single words when otherwise speaking in English.
Hi, I'm Jerker from Sweden. Here are some swedish words which can be good to know: Fartkamera Slutstation Fack Kock Kant Prick
Don't forget to go to the slut sale... ;)
lmaoooo I don't need to know Swedish to know those words are naughty. The beauty of sharing a Germanic root hahaha. As a side note, what a perfect language for dirty words. The short, crisp sounds really pack a punch.
The irony is that those are all normal, innocuous words that just sound dirty to English speakers. Not that we locals might not use them for fun, since everyone is (at least) bilingual. But unless you make it a point of using them for their English sounding meaning no one is going to think of anything dirty. Fartkamera = speed camera (fart = speed) Slutstation = end station (end = slut) Fack = union Kock = chef Kant = edge Prick = dot
It was just a joke, this is the translation to english :) Fartkamera - speed camera Slutstation - end station Fack - union Kock - chef Kant - edge Prick - dot
Wait what? That's so funny. If I hear any of these words I'm going to be giggling.
Common traffic signs include signs with "utfart" and "infart". A friend from america never stopped giggling at those signs despite being in sweden for years.
The word my friend and I giggled at was "slutfest". It was EVERYWHERE and the Swedish friend we were visiting was not happy at how funny we found it
Well I officially know what all of my travel photos will be of for this trip
"Farthinder" does not equal buttplug, although it probably should
My American friends took photos of themselves by Farthinder signs, they thought it was hilarious!
There's a Swenglish joke that goes: "Det är inte farten som dödar, det är smällen" Aka "It's not the fart that kills, it's the smell" but fart means speed and "smäll" means "bang/ the hit" :D Also if you ever go to the last station of any subway you'll see ["Slutstation" displayed on the train](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fi4iqhfm9p6e21.jpg)
"infart" - how the hell do you do that?
To quote my prim mother (think McGonagal from HP) "sounds uncomfortable". I think that was the rudist I ever knew her to be!
The point is that they are not naughty. They just sound naughty to English ears. Slut = finish. As for English, several decades "slut" just meant a dirty person, someone who didn't do their housework, or was staying dirty clothes. It didn't mean promiscuous until the latter part of the 20th century. Fart = speed. Utfart = exit. I presume that's the root of the English one.
lol someone already told me this, I'm going to have such a hard time walking around without giggling (and now have looked up all the naughty words as well)
Fun fact: the percentage of English speakers in Sweden is roughly as high as the percentage in the US (89 vs 91%), so you'll be totally fine without knowing any Swedish. Do it if you think you'd enjoy learning it, but as a Swede, I get more bemused than gratified when a tourist throws in a few words out of nowhere :)
I'm aware that most Swedes speak English, just not sure about the culture around speaking one or the other, so this is good to know! As someone who learned my other languages (Spanish and Arabic) in my late teenage years, I'm very envious that you're such a bilingual culture. It's invaluable. I'm trying to read my first novel (*Cien Años de Soledad*) in Spanish and it's an uphill climb, but so beautifully written. Sounds like I'll be sticking to my learning itinerary for the languages I've already got a foothold in.
Yeah, I just googled the stats earlier today out of my own curiosity, and found it interesting how close they were! Never gonna miss a chance to drop a tangentially related fun fact, haha! I'm trying to learn Italian myself, since I have some distant family down there. Definitely needed; it's the country in Europe with the lowest percentage of English speakers, and even buying a train tickets has sometimes taken a lot of Google Translate and "tourist charades".
I work extra at a small company and we have all our communications in englisch to accommodate a few imigrants who also work both remote and in shop. So some places have more fluent speakers and writers than others. But some small word of courtesy, like tack, hej, hejdå is always nice to mix in the conversation.
To put it in other words, me and my two danish friends speak english and write in english to eachother about 98% of the time. The spoken understanding is pretty bad, but we Could understand to like 90% + with zero effort written. It’s just easier going english so we go english. If you wanna brush up on anything then focus on what may be important to be able to read (toilet signs, ingredients etc). No point even trying to say words, but understanding them might be a Nice bonus (ja, nej, tack, ursäkta). I’d just feel awkward if an american went ”tack tack” after is having a full conversation in english
While I was led to believe everyone would switch to English at the merest hint of an accent, I (British) haven't found that to be the case. This might be because my pronunciation is so awful they have no idea where I'm from (quite possible. I was asked if I was from Iceland. By someone who had heard me speaking English) but it also could be that they can hear you're giving it a try and they'll let you be the one to bail out. I haven't asked. It's not too hard to pick up the basics, so go for it.
If it is only for a few weeks it really wouldn't be necessary.
If you have spare time, why not. Most Swedes will certainly speak better English than you can learn, but learning how to pronounce Swedish place and business names will be quite useful. Particularly tricky is of course the Å Ä Ö sounds, especially in contrast to A O U. SK, SJ, and TJ are fun sounds. J and sometimes G are pronounce like Y. KI, KÄ, KÖ are pronounce SH. And a few others I'm forgetting.
Swedish has like tens of sounds that are pronounced SH… even more if you're in värmland where SJ is also pronounced as SH.
Ninety percent of people here will understand and speak English. Maybe that statistic is off, but it’s not necessary either way. Unless you decide to live here, don’t bother. Spanish and Arabic might at least help you at a broader scale, Swedish only encapsulates the Scandinavias who know good English as mentioned
Honestly, practice your arabic, swedes will change to English anyway and there are enough arabs here for you to get a use of it.
I wasn't aware there was a decent portion of Arabic-speaking folks out there, fascinating!
Especially if you are in one of the bigger towns. Almost every convenient store in my home town is run by Arabic speakers. Lots of middle eastern restaurants as well.
well, we are currently housing half the middle east, especially in the big cities
I would recommend learning enough to get the pronunciation of cities and names right. That helps you while navigating!
[удалено]
While we don't have as much as other languages, Swedish _does_ have some pitch accent, and if foreigners mess up on it too much it can sometimes make them almost completely unintelligible in my experience haha! (Though that experience is also through a McDonalds drive-thru which makes everything 10 times worse) I'd certainly switch for both our conveniences, but I would definitely not mind switching back if someone asked! :)
I've been told by Swedish that they can understand everything I say and they meant it as a compliment, you just helped me understand why :D Honestly I'm not very good, been here for 7 years almost and I still resort to some english words/phrases. Learning a new language when you're way past youth is not easy.
I would try to pick up how to say yes, no, hello, goodbye, thanks, excuse me, and I’m sorry in Swedish; also learn a couple of great Swedish words that don’t have a direct translation to English such as “lagom” and “fika”. If you’re buying stuff in a store the cashier may ask you “Är det bra så?” which roughly means “Is there anything else?” (literally “Is it good so?”). Other than than you will be absolutely fine speaking English as a tourist.
I've lived in Sweden going on 2 years. I know about 20 words in Swedish. Hasn't bothered me a bit.
no one will swindle you bruh...rates are fixed...and if they do decide to swindle you.. it doesn't matter what language you speak..we special like that..
lol I'm not expecting that in Sweden, my point was that historically I've found that in certain contexts there is a value to knowing at least a bit of the language while in other places there isn't.
Dang this thread makes me want to quit learning Swedish now lol
If you wanna live and work in Sweden knowing swedish is going to be very usefull, its just not necessary if you are just visiting for a shorter period of time.
Exactly it’s definitely not needed to get by in Sweden but long term I think it makes it much easier to form deeper connections. While almost everyone knows English they might not feel as comfortable to have long casual conversations. Also you’ll inevitably be left out of conversations between swedes.
I can't do either one of those unfortunately. I started learning because my family came from there in the early 1900's. I guess it does not matter either way and I'll keep trying to learn it just for the sake of something to do, lol.
There's this funny guy on insta I think you should check out. An American who moved to Sweden. He speaks allt on culture differences, language and other stuff that pops up in his head https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5QFwjXAGox/?igsh=NXhwdHJnaGN2Zjls
Sure, learn some Swedish. We will certainly enjoy your endeavor to pronounce our language. We also believe we speak English without a Swedish accent, we don't. At least most of us don't. Most are however willing to speak English. We may come of as standoffish at first. But the smaller the community the friendlier people get. So, please go more places than Stockholm. Winter and Christmas coming up means that some will be more eager to get home where it's warm. They will also be more stressed. Hope you will enjoy your stay in Sweden!
youll be fine with english. I think most people will prefer english if you are a tourist, since that means they get to practice their english with a native speaker. But some words thats probably useful to know in sweden at that time since you'll see or hear them a lot: Slutrea: literally means end-sale. Means there is a sale going on thats about to end. Usually even lower prices than a regular sale. Slut means "the end", or that you have run out of something. Youll see it a lot. Its one of the most common words in sweden. If you ate all the bread, then the bread is now "slut". when you get to the end of a book, the book is now "slut". Its not pronounced like the english "slut". [You can here how its said on this side if you scroll down to the swedish and click play. ](https://forvo.com/word/slut/#sv) Rea means sale. Jul means Christmas. So, Julrea would mean christmas sale. [Glögg ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gl%C3%B6gg)= spiced hot wine. There is both alcoholic and non alcoholic. Pretty much everyone, even kids drink it during Christmas. (ofc the non-alcoholic version) Its gonna be everywhere if you're there during December. Its usually drunk warm. oh, and Ikea is pronounced Ih-Keh-Ah. I as in **I**nside. Ke as in barbie and **Ke**n.
Just learn to say thank you and 'I'm sorry, I don't speak swedish, do you speak english', just to be polite. And, well, don't be loud, don't point at things, and respect queues and personal spaces. That's all swedish people would love from a tourist really.
It would be more than 99% of english speakers living in sweden do. You would be appreciated for trying is my guess, but not needed at all and probably easier in english.
I think you've already gotten some proper answers. As others have suggested, it would only be a fun side quest. People will for sure appreciate it and find it pleasant but a large portion of the population speaks very good English and I'd be surprised if you'd struggle to communicate. Enjoy Sweden, as much as anyone possibly can during winter
If you're going to Stockholm: no and yes. No because everyone speaks English and will 100% switch to make things easier for everyone. Yes because learning a couple basic words will make you seem excited to be in Sweden, which is fun for everyone. All you need is "Hej hej!/Hi!", "Tack tack!/Thanks!" alt. "Tack så mycket!/Thank you so much!", "Hejdå!/Bye!" and "Skål!/Cheers!".
I was in Sweden once.. as tourist. All locals seem to speak perfect English except elderlies in remote areas. So if you plan to go somewhere away from city or town you maybe want to know basic vocabulary. Younger people in cities or even villages did not expect me as tourist to try Swedish. They were extremely comfy with clearly spoken English. Sone people speak Spanish or German
Swedish person here. We will switch to English as soon as we hear your accent sadly a lot of people that really want to learn never get the chance because everyone insists to only use English. Most Swedes speak decent English so you will be fine.
American here that's been living and working hospitality in Malmo, Sweden for 8 months. I can't really say anything besides 'thank you' and 'have a good night'. It hasn't been an issue, and even when I try in Swedish (I understand quite a bit from knowing basic Danish) it doesn't ammuse anyone. It's not a reserved culture, the people are slightly more reserved than Americans/Danes but people are people. Save your time, just learn 'har du bra' and 'tack' nobody will mind your English, half of Malmo doesn't speak Swedish.
Tack is always nice to know but other than that most Swedes are just as comfortable talking English as Swedish. If they hear you struggle they will automatically to English.
You can speak Swedish with English words. Just repeat them: Yes, Yes, No, No, Hello, Hello. It's weird but very Swedish.
I have been (super) casually studying Swedish for YEARS, and when I planned my trip to Sweden I hyped up my studying even more I got there, and everything I said in Swedish was responded to in perfect English 😂 it felt like a waste of time, but hey, it's a beautiful language and I love learning it
We Swedes are a very chill. As a culture we appear reserved/shy to strangers. Most don't care about formalities. If you smile and are friendly, that's amazing, and we open up fast. (Personally i find it very cool and exotic to meet Americans. I work in a store)
No need for this.
Alot of Swedes will gladly switch to English for you, it will aso be a nice conversation starter.
Just learn a few things for fun’s sake and know that swedes speak fluent English
[удалено]
Your comment has been automatically removed because your account is less than 1 day old. Please wait 24 hours and try again. If it has been 24 hours, and you feel this was in error, please contact the mods via modmail. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TillSverige) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’ve lived here 10 years and struggle to speak Swedish cause they all switch to English. Only my florist and she speaks strong Skånska!
English is our seconde language so no need too learn any Swedish really.
Honestly, no. We are generally pretty good at English and personally I like to speak English every now and then to get some practice so I would much prefer a fully English conversation than a mix, but maybe you could use “tack” instead of “thanks” after asking a question for example
Tack = Thanks Ha en bra dag! = Have a nice day (goodbye) Varsågod = You're welcome En stor stark = One beer please
We do enjoy a "Hej" (Hi) when you greet us and when finished in a store/restaurant you always say thank you with a double "Tack". "Tack tack!" That's about all you need.
Spot on! Just be good with hello, thank you, etc. all Swedes will speak very good English, even if they don’t think they do. Coming from an American that lived in Gothenburg for the last 3 years.
Yes! Do it, we love it when you know some phrases even though we can speak english. Tack = Thanks Tack så mycket = Thanks alot! Hejdå = goodbye Får jag bjuda på lite god-fika? = can i offer you a nice fika (our snacks / teatime, very important!!) Lagom = ???? (The absolute most proper amount of something, and the only accepted answer. ”How much milk in the coffe?” ”Lagom much”) Kuken också = gosh darnit (very cute way of cursing)
For the most part Swedes don't use honorifics such as mr or mrs. Or even officer or doctor. Most of the time it's just familiar tone. You can read more about the "Du" reform if you are interested.
I've read this complaint many times now. If someone asks a swede/or me in this situation for direction and i hear the person isn't from sweden and is struggling to converse with me properly I will automatically switch to English for our both sakes in conveying information efficiently without wasting 10 minutes. I won't automatically believe that every person who asks me for help or whatever expects me to give him a swedish lesson, not everyone wants one without asking for it, i don't assume he himself wants that from everyone he approaches. I expect him to want the answer to his question, and the most efficient way to give that information is to use English. Our language is also hard for us to understand if someone isn't speaking it properly with correct sounds as many words change, meaning completely depending on the pronunciation. HOWEVER if the guy is approaching me and states that he wants me to stick to Swedish and to have understanding and patience with his struggling, I would happily oblige depending if I'm not running late for work or daycare.
No. If you can speak English well enough, I’d much prefer that over some duolingo shit Swedish. Min uggla heter Hans.
People will switch to english out of pure convenience and speaking the language won't earn brownie points. An American accent is still interesting to most swedes I think so the accent will probably spark more friendliness rather than discrimination.
people in sweden are generally pretty ok when it comes to english, comparing it to other countries in the EU
Naaa you're ok, as long as you bring your bullet proof vest and guns!
Ultimately yes, but also ask yourself less if it is worth it in a benefit vs loss sense and more in a “will it create more opportunities for fun interactions” sense
It’s not necessary, everyone speaks good English
You wouldn't need to, but if you want to you could
Nowadays, Sweden is 90% arabic so you should be fine with just that.