DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE SWEDISH LANGUAGE!
When I moved to Sweden, I thought I will NEVER learn Swedish. It seems so complicated, and my first goal was to learn English. And, to be honest, why would I learn a language that only 10million people speak… ? But life is full with surprised and after 2 years, it turns out that I actually speak Swedish.
First rule: Be motivated.
When you get the golden key (in other words your personal number), you are able to go to SFI (Swedish for Immigrants), I really recommend it! You will meet people, be familiar with Swedish Basics and it is free. Every city offers SFI for immigrants and it gives you the opportunity to be familiar with the language
SFI may have a bad reputation (teachers are changing all the time, we are 45 by class), it depends on the school but usually, they are taking care of students and I had nice teachers!
I have to say I stopped after 4 months because it did not match with my schedule and I have the possibility to speak Swedish at home (but we almost never actually do), anyway I learn Swedish with the method “learning by doing”. The best method and how I learned Swedish fast, I got a job and they decided to speak only Swedish to me.
I have to be honest, and it was really tough! I am talkative and I was not able to understand a single (almost) word! It was super frustating and I felt “this is not gonna work”! But after 3 months, I made it! I was able to explain short stories and actually understand what they were telling me! Today, my level is not fluent but I am able to talk and understand almost everything – including TV!
So, choose the best method that suits you! And dont’t be to hard to yourself! It takes time!
Swedish words that you might want to know:
- Hej : Hello
- Hejdå : Bye
- Tack : Thank you
- Välkommen: Welcome