Swedish lessons take off across Europe

An estimated 18,000 students worldwide are taking university lessons in Swedish in the hope of broadening their job horizons to include the Nordic nation.

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While it may be common for people around the world to be learning Spanish or English, the latest trend to start spreading around the globe is learning Swedish.

The biggest interest stems from Germany, where 7,500 people study the language.

"There are more people who study Swedish in Germany than people studying German in Sweden," Monika Wirkkala, department head at the Swedish Institute (SI), told the TT news agency.

One student, Danny Marr, chose Swedish as her main language in her Scandinavian Relations course at Humboldt University in Berlin, and isn't having any troubles either.

"Your grammar is so easy," she trumpeted.

Over 200 universities in a 38 countries offer Swedish classes, with an estimated 18,000 students around the globe learning to get their lips around the ö:s, å:s and ä:s.

And the reason people are lapping up the language? To improve career possibilities in the Nordic nation.

However, the language courses haven’t spread to every corner of the globe, at least not yet.

Wirkkala at SI points out that the lessons have yet to take off in South America or Africa, but that the European market is well-covered.

"It’s only Albania that doesn't have some kind of Swedish course," she said.

TT/The Local/og
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