Swedish -The Language

Its been almost 2 years, time has flown by.

Anyone that has been here for this amount of time on meeting another Swede is invariably asked the cliché question: 'How is your Swedish?'.

Well my answer to that at the point of writing this post is that I have actually picked it up quite well, with the ability to convey what I want to say and to understand most of the conversations going on around me. Im not fluent, not sure if I ever will be but I do make a daily effort to practice and memorize more words. My grammer needs work and basically i just convert what i want to say in english into Swedish directly, which actually doesnt work all the time. Its hard to compare my Swedish level to a Swedes level of english considering they have been learning it in School since grade 4 and are continually bombarded with english programming and advertising everywhere they go.

I think the main problem for me is that its hard to pick up the various dialects that exist in the country. Right now im in the southern part of Sweden: Skåne (pronounced SKOOONE) and they speak much more like the Danish down here. Living in Stockholm first for 18 months helped me pick up a purer and easier to understand form of Swedish.

Also of concern is the oral, I have to really concentrate on what people are saying and i find myself say Vad säger du (what did you say) quite often. Also its difficult to learn Swedish in Sweden becuase everyone speaks such good english and as soon as you stumble people switch over.

One of the best ways i have found to practice my oral and vocabulary is listening to Swedish Schalgar Music, very fun and normally the tunes are quite bubblegum pop and catchy.

One thing for sure however is that daily interactions here are made much easier if you have a base of Swedish.

The Swedish Word of the day is: BRYR SIG OM and it means to CARE ABOUT ONESELF.

Loopholes in the Swedish Immigration System

All countries in the world have conditions that are enforced in order to control the tide emigrants that want to immigrate into yours. Generally these policies work quite well having been developed over many years and the list of loopholes is for the most part nonexistent. One interesting development I have noticed here in Sweden is that the system has one major and glaring loophole.

The red line is people coming into Sweden, and the blue is people leaving over the past 150 years. Click for larger Image.

The loophole involves giving people from any country in the world outside the EU to apply as an international masters student in Sweden thereby being granted an automatic 2 year uppehållstillstånd or Residence Permit on the grounds of studying in Sweden. Now this in itself is nothing exciting, many countries such as mine (Canada) have similar programs in place so that there can be some knowledge sharing occurring between those countries which would be classified as developed to those that are perhaps not classified as such.

The breakdown is not due to migrationsverket (The Migration Authority), but due to the schools in Sweden and how the Social system funds the same. For each international masters student and local students that successfully complete a course in Sweden the University or Högskolan where that students graduates from receives a bidrag (benefit payment) from the government. Think about that for a second: If a course has a 95% pass rate and you have the opportunity to enrol an extra 100 students in the class, this means that the educators will receive payment from the Swedish government for an additional 95 students passing the class.

Ok, what does this all mean?


*All higher education centers in Sweden will want to enrol as many students as possible*





Now, with this permit to study the student can now enter Sweden legally and stay for the duration of their studies but what if the goal of this student is not so much to study but to emigrate away from their home land where opportunities are limited?

They say it’s quite difficult to get a job in Sweden, firstly it’s costly for a company to hire a worker, and secondly there is generally a requirement for fluent conversational Swedish skills. If one has learned English as their second language already, interacting and communicating in yet another language fluently takes quite a bit of work BUT, there are companies here in Sweden that work only in English.

One such company is Marcus Evans, an Events company. They will hire anyone that speaks even a glimmer of English. And unless you make any sales, your guaranteed minimum wage is less than the cost of a student room in Stockholm which means that the company pretty much gets your services for free. Even I was employed by this company for exactly 1 week. I couldn’t morally agree with their modus operandi to which I was exposed during their 3 day training and left but, I do remember someone in my training group. He was an international master’s student from India. He had claimed that he completed his master’s course and was now looking for work in Sweden after having only been in Sweden 6 months. Of course any master’s course in Sweden runs for a minimum of 18 months so this person was lying.

(BACKGROUND: A person NOT from the EU is granted a visa to stay in Sweden for 1 year at a time, to receive the student study extension they must demonstrate the ability to further provide for themselves for the continuing year as well as having shown progress in their studies. Of course there is another type of visa one can obtain once this expires, a worker visa which is granted 2 years at a time and the receiver is bound to the company the visa is issued to.)

And finally we get to the end of the loophole. International student gets into Sweden, start classes, quits said classes and are able to find a job with an 'English speaking' company who vouches for them and enables the person to get a permit based on work.

What is not talked about is that typically, to afford the high cost of living in Sweden, these people must share cramped accommodations and live far from the city all but still earning more for their time then they might be able to do in their home countries. Generally, these people find difficulty integrating into the Swedish culture, learning the language, and therefore are segregated from society as a whole.

Making Friends in Sweden

So you have moved to Sweden or thinking about moving here.

The most common reasons one moves to this country are either due to a relationship or studies. In gereral i have found that it is quite rare for people to move here to work as the taxes are high compared to other countries and wages are gernally lower then what one could make for instance from where i hail Canada. However once you get here, whether or not you have a partner to 'show you the ropes' how do you start to make friends and meet people?

Swedes are gernerally quite a reserved people and on top of that, most foreigners coming here will not be speaking to the Swedes in their native language. Although Swedes are quite good at speaking english in my experience, some are not confident in their speaking abilities (when more often then not they are excellent anyways!). For both of these reasons and maybe more, it might be hard to get to know

Out and About
Speaking to someone on the street is something that I personally have never tried and from my experience its not really done unless copious amounts of alcohol have been consumed beforehand. Although generally speaking this is the case, its certainly not the rule. I was quite surprised the other day while at the gym an older Swede first said something to me in Swedish and then after the typical questions I always receive proceeded to continue talking to me. I was aghast to say the least, in my 20 months here, this has never happened. I think part of my problem is that I am somewhat disapponted in my own abilities to speak Swedish after being here for a while and i feel somewhat like a broken record (LP) when speaking in english and repeating what I have repeated my story like so many times before.

Clubbing
Well of all the places to meet people, this has been the one where i have to say my social circle has expanded the most. People are in a good mood -hey its the weekend- and Swedes have a work hard play hard mentality about work life. Alochol is flowing, the music is playing and the former contributes not only to my Swedish getting better but also to Swedes english-language confidence improving. If you manage to get some contact details gererally you have someone that you will be able to call up again and get to know better.

Private Dinners
Generally a great way to get to know a group better and a more intimate setting where you can actually here whats being said by everyone. the problem here is that you have to know someone to get invited to one of these in the first place.

School
If you come here as an Exchange or Masters Student there is the possiblity to meet Swedes in your class however, generally there are very few Swedes that take the classes your taking and they also generally stick together as a group making it hard to get to know them. From my experience, your generally hanging out with your fellow foreign students and most of these events you rarely see any Swedes participating.

Work
This all depends on the industry your in, if your in a professional industry my experience has been that a lot of your co workers will be older, married, have kids, and their own lives outside the office. A recent 'After Work' event at my place was planned 2 months in advance, VERY spontanious.

The silver lining here is that once you do make some friends here, generally they will be fast and true. You can count on them and bond with them. But until then, Sweden can be a very lonely place.

Work mentally, or is it mentality in Sweden

Things are looking up, depending on your viewpoint of the situation. It seems my experience and background have qualified me for a position here in this great land full of Scandinavians. This got me to thinking about the Swedish Work Ethic.


You see, as several swedes have pointed out to me during my stay here, Sweden is not a very big (based on populous) country. There are roughly 9 million people here and they are spread out in a Country the size of Alberta. There are many companies here, and quite a diversity of companies however due to the nature of how the population is spread out you wont find multiple huge multinationals all co-located in the same area. This occurred to me after having to find another job in my field. In Calgary, if i needed to go somewhere else, there is literally dozens of companies I could apply to, here in Stockholm however, there were 4. One was down and the others were not hiring.

This lead me to a stark realization. Having to find work could quite possibly mean a move. It would be a rare event for me to have to move from one city to another (without of course wanting to do so) in Canada however in talking with Swedes it didnt seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Most were of the opinion that they are 'LUCKY' to even find work and so jump at the opportunity. Quite strange.

On top of all of this, a Swede moving to another city possibly hundreds of KM's away and having to relocate their lives have to go through a probationary period for 6 months. Strange again.

On talking with an early 20-something, another thing made me wonder...people here truly believe that they should be paid on age and while this makes some sense (to coincide with experience) what about ability and function? In Swedish one might say 'Det Spelar ingen Roll' which basically means it doesnt matter. If your young, dont expect to make much, no matter how competent you are or how much you can perform.

Another thing that was somewhat surprising for such a peaceful country that likes to avoid confrontation is the word that backstabbing at the work place to try to get ahead is rampant here in this country. Its almost childish.

Not that its all bad, there are many good things about being here, about being part of this well functioning machine, but that will be left for another post.

Work mentality in Sweden

For a small population Sweden has a very high density of international companies. There are many advantages to locating an international company in Sweden or scandinavia in gernal:

• Everyone speaks english
• the standard of living is very high
• you are very close to the rest of Europe
• Sweden is viewed positively throughout the world
• Child care, medical benefits, sick pay, all entice potential employees

Another thing that I have noticed in my year or so working here is that the stress level at the workplace here in Sweden is almost non-existant. (at least compared to Canada where i used to work)

Swedes like to take fika breaks throughout the day. At all hours spontanious fika breaks will break out in any part of the office. In my current office environment they have chosen to use the 'open office' concept so this does make things a little louder during these times but it also makes it so that others can participate when a fika break is happening near them.

With all these fika breaks you would logically assume that the productivity here in Sweden is lower or sub par to what you would find in other countries but to the contrary, having worked here myself i find myself able to get more accomplished with the clear head and lack of stress that results from these meetings. Also, these informal fika meetings are also a good time to share what is happening in ones' projects and therefore removing the need to have so many formalized meetings to share information.

At least where i work: they dont block facebook or youtube. Your welcome to browse the web during the day and studies have shown this actually boosts productivity -if not satiating our perpetual lack of long term concentration developed over years of television and nintendo.

There is also a great freedom of where work is performed here in Sweden, need to work from home on the third wednesday of the month becuase childcare is not available, no problem. Need to leave a bit early on fridays to catch that plane to Stockholm, not an issue. Need to show up a bit late on Mondays as your still a little bakis from the weekend, sure!

The swedish word of the day is: 'arbetsnarkoman' which means workaholic (havent seen one of those here yet by the way)

Jultid i Sverige! Spännande, Underbart, Vackert

Välkomna till i riktig god jul....the holidays here in Stockholm are a time where the entire city is transformed into a holiday themed zone which Christmas Trees decorated and located throughout the city. Also set up are several Holiday markets that sell holiday themed goods such as handy-crafts, Christmas goodies, etc.

I also love how the city sets up little fireplaces such as the one you see picture here, where you can go to warm your hands and experience the fragrant lumber as it crackles and burns, makes me wish i had some marshmellows!

Personally, I have never seen a Santa (Tomten) as realistic as the one that they have here at the Major Fashion Mall - Nordiska Kompaniet (NK).

I personally love this time of year, the whole atmosphere seems somewhat surreal and you have the feeling that anything magical could happen. I recommend you watch the movie 'Serendipity' circa 2001 if you have the time! Its one move that will definitely get you into the spirit of the season.

This time of year does definitely make one think about the past year, friends, family, reflect on decisions made in the past and try to formulate some semblance of a plan for the future. I have to admit, that being in a foreign country away from all your family and friends back home does bring about some feelings of isolation and longing for those back home.

Something that definitely effects everyones mood here in Sweden is the amount of light they receive in the Winter season. Due to its high latitude, you have the sun rising around 8am and setting at 3pm at the worst of times. You basically live in the dark.

THE SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY IS 'TOMTEN' IT MEANS SANTA CLAUS.

Feel like Starbucks prices everywhere you go? Come to Sweden!

So you have a hankering for a nice cup of freshly brewed coffee or tea? In Canada we have the fortunate luck of being the home of Tim Hortons Coffee. A very reasonably price (about 8 SEK or 1.50 Cad) cup of freshly brewed coffee avaiable at almost every intersection. People literally cue in their vehicles through the drive throughs just to purchase a coffee and the occational donut.

Here, though no shortage of places to purchase a cup of coffee, there is a serious shortage of a reasonably priced, good cup of coffee. The typical price for a Brygg Kaffe (brewed cup of coffee) is 25 SEK which is about 4 dollars. The prices for lattés, capuccinno, espressos, go up from there. Even more ridiculous is that a typical cup of Tea (or Te i svenska) is the same price as a brewed coffee and consists of a cup of hot water and a tea bag.

Its no wonder that Starbucks decided not to locate in the Nordics where they have already learned how to overcharge for a cup of coffee before being able to establish here. I guess its somewhat like the prices of a beer at the bar, you eventually get used to it and dont even realize whats happening.

THE SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY IS 'ÖVERTALER' WHICH MEANS TO CONVINCE