Swedish Language Blog

Who was this Swede? You probably feel like you have heard his name before, was he an author or perhaps a director? Well, depending on whom you ask in Sweden the reactions you will get will be quite different. Ask a young person and they will most likely know as much as you, but ask somebody a little older and everybody will know the name of this famous author, and for various reasons.

Strindberg was in fact an author, photographer, amateur scientist, journalist, director and even a librarian at the royal library at one point. Many others know him because of how he has expressed his hate for women in his plays.

Simple facts about the guy:

This man was born in Stockholm 1849 and was one of eight children.

Both his parents worked and didn’t have much time for him.

Strindberg was also very known for voicing his thoughts on all matters. This made things difficult for him when he decided to study medicine at Uppsala University. After many differences of opinion with his teachers he finally left the university and became a journalist for a newspaper called Dagens Nyheter. While he was writing for them he was also working as a librarian. His father did not approve of these career choices leading to a never resolved conflict between them. Strindberg died from stomach cancer in 1910. It is also to be mentioned that that was after arousing a huge debate between Swedish authors all around the country. He started this by yet again sharply criticizing a man called Heidenstam.

What Strindberg is most famous for are his plays and books, amongst others the famous Miss Julie, Röda rummet and Hemsöborna. He was born and grew up during the naturalistic period, together with many other famous authors and directors such as Zola, Guy de Maupassant and Ibsen, though it doesn’t seem like he was on such good terms with them either.

Strindberg’s plays were very liberal in the sense that he introduced never before preformed topics. Ones of the lives of the poor, giving one of two leading roles to a servant. He also let many of his plays be performed on a stage missing the fouth wall. For example a kitchen, with the audience looking onto the happenings, which had been private until then.

As for the rest of society, apart from the methods used on stage, well Strindberg had a lot to say about them too. He criticized the army, the royal family as well as Swedish academy and made many enemies as a result.

Nevertheless, many of his plays have been done over and over again, and are still appreciated today. He is a known face out into the international world of literature and drama, a person Sweden is proud to export.

You might have heard strange rumors that everybody in Sweden drinks milk. Even adults. This is actually true. We have cow milk drinkers, soja milk drinkers, rice milk drinkers, oat milk drinkers and many more as well. Most students drink milk with their school lunches, and for the students who are lacto-intolerant there are special alternatives as well. The Swedish word for milk is MJÖLK, not to be confused with the Swedish word mjöl which means flour.

People grow up with milk, from the time they were toddlers they just keep on drinking it, even when they move away from home and have their own family. But not only is drinking milk a part of Swedish culture, the whole idea of cows and farmers is quite an important part of elementary school.

Many classes get taken on tours of cow farms, they get to make their own cheese and butter as well as learning about how the cow works. Fun facts about the members of the cow family as well as how cows have four stomachs.

Dairy companies have worked very hard to engage the Swedish population in milk. Lots of events are organized in the springtime when the cows get let out to graze. In Swedish that is called Kosläppet. Cow in Swedish is called ko and släppa ut means to let out. The dairy companies give out free glasses of milk and sometimes even free cinnamon buns. All through may these kosläpp take place.

It isn’t uncommon for the back of milk cartons to be very educative, with themes of everything from outer space to 3 signs that spring is coming. The following pictures are of some of the milk cartons this spring. Practice that Swedish!

Marcus wrote a great post about IKEA a couple of months ago, check that out here: IKEA furniture – cultural differences? I’d like to continue with a slightly different side to IKEA. First of all, the IKEA concept is an interesting one, very align with the Swedish equality mentality. Everybody should be able to furnish their homes nicely, even if they don’t have a lot of money. I think that idea is a very good one.

As Marcus also mentions in his post, people seem to find reasons to discard of their current living room and refurnish it with the latest fashion, sometimes even every year. This stylish type of home is accessible to almost everybody, and to make it even more easy you can even order a pre-designed living room or kitchen.

Lately quite a few people have started to question the creativity behind IKEA homes. If people follow the yearly home interior fashion, and don’t even pick out the furniture themselves, then how different will the homes all around Sweden actually look?

A lot of young people are therefore finding other, alternative ways to cheap stylish home interior. Second hand stores have become a popular concept, as well as pyssel which is the Swedish word for handy crafts. A lot of people are buying old things and redoing them in different retro styles.

If you are interested in testing your Swedish language skills the following blog might be a fun thing to look at. It is a young Swedish girl in her last year of high school. As her final high school project she started a blog so people could follow her complete make over of an old living room. She’s found old things and remade them herself. There are tips on how to do things yourself as well. Check it out here!

So while IKEA symbolizes Sweden and what Swedish homes look like, it also says a lot about Swedish culture. Aspects like a structured/organized lifestyle, openness to innovation, but at the same time Swedes’ reluctance to stick out and of course equality. All these are some of the factors that I think contribute to IKEA’s success in Sweden at least.

What do you think of IKEA?