Learning the language: A surprising challenge
From talking to other internationals living in Sweden, we’ve found that one of the things that surprised them the most about moving to Sweden was how hard learning the language turned out to be. So we thought we would share our own language learning experiences, as well as offer some tips and tricks to avoid making the same mistakes we made.
Julia’s experience
I came to Sweden in 2017 after having already lived abroad. The process of picking up Spanish in Spain, Mexico, and Chile was rather straightforward, I was able to learn Spanish pretty quickly and feel confident using it to converse with natives.
I thought this would also be the case when I moved to Sweden, but my Swedish learning process turned out to be much different.
The Swedish language
Swedish is actually not considered to be a very difficult language to learn, the Foreign Service Institute in the US considers Swedish to be a category 1 language, meaning that it is generally easier for no natives to learn than other languages. It is also rather easy for English speakers in particular to learn as both English and Swedish are Germanic languages.
I had access to free Swedish courses, was surrounded by Swedish classmates, living in Sweden, and exposed to the language on a daily basis — so I was quite surprised how much of a struggle learning Swedish proved to be. And after reflecting on years of learning Swedish, I think there are a few key factors why I personally struggled to learn the language.
Excellent English
Swedes speak great English, that was not the case in Chile, so I needed to learn out of necessity.
Knowing that I couldn’t rely on English forced me to prepare for Spanish interactions. If I was going to the nail salon, I would review nail salon vocabulary. If I had a doctor’s appointment, I would look up translations for symptoms beforehand. These preparation sessions, combined with real-world experience, gave me the confidence to communicate.
I noticed that I didn’t adopt the same approach in Sweden, since switching to English was always an option, and it wasn’t until I took my original approach that I began to see real improvement in my fluency.
Poor pronunciation
One of the most frustrating things about speaking Swedish with a native Swede is that they do not seem capable of understanding poor pronunciation.
There isn’t really a clear-cut reason why Swedes can’t seem to understand mispronounced Swedish. But I think it may have something to do with the fact that because Swedes can so easily switch to English, they haven’t had to train their ears to understand mispronunciations.
In any case, I found practicing Swedish with non-native Swedish speakers while in the earlier stages of learning the language helpful.
Lack of motivation
When I first arrived in Sweden I thought I was fully committed to learning the language, but that was not entirely true.
I wasn’t certain I wanted to stay in Sweden, and was unsure how useful Swedish would be in the long run. Being from California I never felt that way about Spanish, a language that is spoken widely in my hometown. I always knew that if I returned home to California I would have a use for Spanish, Swedish… not so much.
I remember talking to a friend about why I was struggling with the motivation to learn Swedish, “I just feel like I’m putting all of this work into learning a language that I may never use in the future.”
I thought she would agree, as she had also lived in Sweden and learned Swedish before ultimately moving away, but her response completely changed my perspective, “Learning a language and investing in yourself is never a waste. It’s an exercise that is good for you no matter how useful the language ends up being to you.”
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She’s right. Having the opportunity to learn a language is always good for you and your personal development. You shouldn’t let the usefulness of a language dictate how much effort you put into learning it.
Viviana’s journey
I’m from Mexico City and to be honest… Sweden was never in my plans.
In Mexico, it is normal for people to study English as a second language considering we have the US as a neighbor. Some learn French or Portuguese for fun, as well. Some others, the bravest, study German, to open their possibilities for a future in Europe. But Swedish? Nope.
“Foreign land”
I still remember the phone call from my boyfriend, telling me he got a job in Sweden. He asked me to join him in this foreign land and in a matter of seconds, I made up my mind and agreed. Thoughts of adventure, distance, the cold, and missing my family raced through my head. But one slipped my mind: The fact that I would need to learn a new language at the age of 27. Even at such a relatively young age, our brains don’t grasp and absorb a new language as easily as they did when we were children.
And I won’t lie to you. It sounded pretty far from what I imagined. Swedish is a difficult language. Think about it. There’s a reason why ABBA won Eurovision in 1974 with a song in English and not in Swedish.
At first, it seemed very hard because there are so many unwritten rules that do not have an explanation to support them. They just are. At least for a Mexican, all Swedish sounds and pronunciations felt completely unfamiliar.
SFI
We enrolled in SFI because it was free and because neither YouTube nor Duolingo was doing the job. The building was completely crowded, and among the backpacks, burkas, scarves, the infinite layers of jackets, the snow that had turned into dirty water, and countless languages and cultural backgrounds being exchanged in the air, it felt like Babel 2.0.
“A, B, C, D, E…” the teacher began, and suddenly added the “å,” the “ö,” and the “ä”. Which made absolutely no sense to me.
Stop feeling ridiculous
However, I realized that the secret to learning Swedish (or any language) was to stop being afraid of feeling ridiculous. At least for me, that was the only way. So I started taking breaths in between words, giving them the space and the singing tone they have. And most importantly, I started willing to imitate, to exaggerate if I needed to.
Learning from children
A month after, I got a job as a ballet teacher for little children between the age of 4 and 5 years old. Typically, children of that age are focused on learning their own native language rather than speaking English. So I had no option, but to speak Swedish, at least at the most basic level.
I headed to Jönköpings Stadsbiblioteket and ventured into the children’s section. There, I picked up a book that covered body parts and phrases related to movement. And that’s how I learned the rule of the 80/20.
Besides going to the SFI, the 80/20 rule suggests that if you have a grasp of approximately 20% of a language, you can effectively communicate about 80% of the time. This means that if you learn and understand the words, phrases, and grammar that are used most often, you’ll be able to have conversations in most everyday situations, like when a cashier tells you at the store if you want a “påse” or you need your “kvittot.”
Finding your own pace
After this happened I reached a point when SFI didn’t suit me anymore. Because the system was designed for people who could speak Swedish but had difficulty with reading and writing. My situation was the opposite, I was good at reading and writing, but struggled with speaking the language.
So I made the decision to leave SFI and focus on my studies, while practicing Swedish on my own. And I can tell you, it requires a lot of self-motivation to read books in Swedish, watch movies with Swedish subtitles and listen to podcasts that use a different dialect than the neutral Swedish taught in SFI. But it works.
Today, after almost four years in Sweden, my Swedish is far from perfect. I still make grammar mistakes and I do not know all the vocabulary nor the slang enough to get by. But I live and work comfortably thinking in Spanish, speaking Swedish, and when my brain does not manage, saving myself in English. Swedish today has become less bitter, and the experience of learning is almost sweet, like fika.
by Julia Powanda, Viviana Levet / Riedia
