What should you do to gain confidence in using your Swedish? Posted by Katja on Feb 28, 2011 in Culture, Swedish Language
Since people in Sweden speak amazingly good English, they love to practice and speak just for fun. This can be really nice if you are on holiday and just want to speak English. But what happens if you go to Sweden to learn or at least practice Swedish? Sweden can be a pretty hard place to gain confidence in, just because people change to English as soon as they hear your accent, however small it is. Swedes will say that they just want to facilitate communication or make the person feel more comfortable, if they see that they are struggling in Swedish.
Frequently people address you in English just because you look foreign. This has nothing to do with if you can actually speak English or not, English is just associated with all foreigners. It is not uncommon for people who have immigrated to Sweden to not speak very good Swedish at all. They might have lived in Sweden for 15-20 years and still barely speak speak at all in Swedish. Frustration, anger, feeling insulted, total lack of confidence and puzzlement are all very common feelings. “Why are people speaking to me in English even though they can see that I am trying so hard to try to learn Swedish??” Do not get discouraged by the fact that people might only want to be friends with you because of your English skills or a chance to use their English.
Earlier on this site I read a couple of stories about people who had, either through first or second hand, experienced this. Every situation is of course different but we can also learn from each other. Getting to know that you are not alone in this sort of situation, that it is definitively NOT anything personal creates better self-confidence. Even better, if you have any advice about how to gain more confidence in your Swedish pronunciation, grammar or just confidence in general, sharing that might prepare or give somebody reinforced strength to keep on trying to improve their Swedish.
Insisting in the start of a new relationship that you definitively want to use Swedish is also a good starting point.
Good luck everybody!!
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Comments:
Darcy:
For some reason, it seems that people don’t switch to English as often when I’m talking on the phone. Either with Ticnet or Skatteverket, for example. So if you need information from a company or agency, try calling!
Martin Flower:
I always say ‘jag måste träna min svenska’ – ‘och jag har inte flyttat till Sverige för att prata engelska’. If someone speaks to me in English I’ll reply in Swedish.
Angela:
I moved to Sweden 3 months ago and people always say to me that it must be so easy for an American because everyone will speak English to me. Not quite. Most of the time there is confusion and frustration on both sides before I finally (and apologetically) ask if they can speak English. I find about 2/3 of the people I ask will speak English.
Of course I am trying to learn Swedish as fast as I can, so hopefully it won’t be a problem for much longer! 🙂
Susan N:
I have found that speaking with young children is an excellent way to practice Swedish. They have no problem correcting your pronunciation!
stevia:
This was such a frustration for me. Everyone thought I copped out and was not speaking swedish but it was because anyone that even had an inkling of an idea I spoke english spoke english to me.
It is true after several sometimes funny attempts at swedish they were so eager to answer me in english and I just let them.
Plus I really didn’t have the confidence. I like what Martin (above) says to the swedish locals too!
Mycket bra!
Kenia:
Well, my experience is just the opposite. At least in Karlstad where I live people DON’T switch to english when they hear my accent, and that has been a surprise for me because i have read several times here on the blog that it’s the other way around. It’s been just a short while since i have made up my mind about trying to communicate in swedish at least when talking to strangers, and my swedish is not good yet, but they hear me struggling and when i can’t find the word in swedish i say it in english, but they keep replying and explaining in Swedish, as long as they notice i understand what they say.
Karen:
When I’m staying with relatives, we agree to speak Swedish for half the day and English for half the day. The older relatives in the family (70 and older) usually speak little or no English, but also usually offer the challenge of a local dialect, so that can be a great challenge too. My Swedish speaking improved tremendously by spending 3 days with one of these older women!
doviende:
For swedish pronunciation, you should really read what Olle Kjellin has to say. He has a great explanation of how the up-and-down tones of the language work, here: http://www.speech.kth.se/prod/publications/files/qpsr/2002/2002_44_1_157-160.pdf
For practical training tips, I’d suggest finding some recordings, and chop them into 1-sentence chunks. Listen to each sentence many many many many times (like 50x), so that it gets stuck in your head like a Michael Jackson song. Now that you can hear that phrase cycling through your head, hit play again and try to say it along with the recording. Keep on practicing along with it while intensely listening to what’s coming out of your own mouth. Sometimes it helps to speak into a microphone and listen to your voice in some headphones, so you can hear it more precisely.
Do the practice at least 50x too, making sure to adjust the way you say it as you go, until it perfectly matches.
I’ve found in several languages (including Swedish) that if you have decent pronunciation, most people are much more willing to keep talking to you without switching back to English. Having a good accent sorta says “I’m really putting some effort into this”, and people will feel more comfortable talking to you, even if you don’t have that much to say yet.
Katja:
Everyone! I think it is fantastic that you shared so many experiences and I really felt that it was a positive atmosphere with advice of all sorts. Keep up the hard work on accents etc. xD