I have been learning Swedish for a little more than a year and am still a beginner. It is frustrating but I have analyzed this and now I know why. I spent a whole 8 months going through and learning vocabulary and didn't pay complete attention to the grammar and sentence structure. Of course now I know how important this is! So, with a lot of humility, I went back to square one.
But this now brings me to another point. While I was in Stockholm I noticed (and it was so obvious) that the Swedes (hotel staff, bartenders, waiters, pedestrians) spoke perfect English...perfect...no accent or inflection in tone. Nothing. Me being curious I asked about this and was told that Swedes (mostly in high tourist areas) try very hard to sound neutral and can't wait to speak English with anyone that will. Proof to this, I would ask (or at least try to ask) a question in Swedish and receive the answer in English. They sure got a lot of practice speaking English with me!
Then the other day I was reading Swedish Blog and there it was...the explanation. This is very interesting especially the part where it points to the Swedish students knowing more English than their English teachers because of their exuberance and natural ability to excel.
Well this is not surprising really. I've known for months that the big Swedish corporations are making it almost mandatory to learn English and speak it in the work place. I guess English really is now becoming the international language talked about for years.
Still I will continue to pursue my Swedish. It would be silly to stop now after so much time and a great deal has been learned even though English is the language of choice.
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