WE had a visitor today from Iraq. For a minute I thought we were going to be latest witnesses to be interrogated in the ongoing war trial a la Alastair Campbell. Who knows, perhaps those elusive WMD’s had finally shown up buried in the Malmö snow?
Twas not to be. Our guest was a young lady who fled Saddam’s brutal regime 12 years ago to move to Sverige with her family. She told us about her life in Iraq and how she ended up in northern europe where she is now pursuing a teaching career. She speaks fluent Svenska, Arabic, English and German. An impressive woman indeed who was then going to quiz us on our Swedish. Gulp.
Here though is where the (very) mini eureka moment happened. Get this, speaking Swedish to someone who is fluent in the language improves you immensely. Makes sense right? Reminded me of that scene in ‘Fawlty Towers’ where Basil mocks Sybil saying she should be on Mastermind with ‘the bloody obvious’ as her specialist subject.
Our Iraqi guest went round to each group chatting to us all and remarked that our Swedish was excellent given that we’ve only been learning it for three weeks. She told us how she made a narrow escape from a child bomber when she visited her homeland. With some added confidence I asked her, Vad tycker du om George Bush och Tony Blair? The longer we spoke to her the easier it became to communicate with words and phrases just popping into your mind. I guess this is a normal feeling for someone who is used to studying languages but for me it was a brand new experience. A brilliant one at that.
I left the class invigorated and eager to learn more. All of which has convinced me that I must launch (weapons pun intended) myself into speaking the language all the time. With my nearest and dearest’s father I’ve become accustomed to chatting to him in English. Disclaimer alert: He hasn’t spoken the Queen’s brogue regularly in decades and I’ve noticed that he’s improving all the time. Erm, it’s meant to be the other way round.
Must put a stop to it. Our discussions about the finer merits of Sweden’s 1958 World Cup team will never be the same again. No, they’ll be better. That’s the plan anyway…
“I left the class invigorated and eager to learn more”. in my experience learning swedish those words have never been used. I did gain an Irish drinking buddy from my first class. good luck with your studies. what is the hardest for you? reading, speaking or understanding/listening?
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Hej!
Thanks for the encouragement. I understand a lot of Swedish but when it comes to actually speaking it I struggle. I tend to eavesdrop on conversations or flick through the newspapers to pick up new words. At the moment I’m trying to master the grammar which isn’t exactly fun but essential if I want to speak this peculiar language properly. We’ll have to wait and see…
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Hej!
I’m moving to Stockholm and since you’re there, I thought you may help me (pleaseee!)… I dont know where to look for an apartment to rent. Do you know any good websites??
Also, what’s the name of the School where you’re learning swedish?
Thanks a lot!
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@ Mariana There’s a list of websites here: http://www.thelocal.se/6427/20070216/property Good luck!
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Hej Mariana
Thanks for your message. Apologies for the late reply as I was away from the classroom for a while. Your best bet is to log onto http://www.blocket.se/ which has a good range of properties and also (Southern Sweden) http://www.boplatssyd.se/Pages/Start.aspx. Both these sites are in Swedish so you may need some help to find what you’re looking for. If you have any contacts in Stockholm I’d suggest asking them as they would know the city. I’ve been told you can expect a lengthy wait to find the right place as there is huge demand particularly in the capital.
Regarding language lessons you need get a personnummer from your local tax office as soon as you arrive and then register with your local ‘Komvux’ to join the free Swedish course.
Hope this helps
Patrick
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