:: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 ::

Talar du engelska? Javisst!*

One thing that continually amazes me is the pervasiveness of English-language culture here in Sweden. First, virtually everyone, and I mean everyone, speaks English here. And while most Swedes are somewhat shy in speaking English, thinking perhaps that their English isn't very good, nothing could be farther from the truth. They don't know just a few words here and there, but conversational, fluent English. Now this could have something to do with Swedish TV. Unlike many other countries, Sweden does not dub foreign programming, they just subtitle it in Swedish. What this means is that Swedes have daily access to English-language TV all their lives, which can only help their fluency in English. This is the other part of Swedish English-language culture. I can't miss American TV or pop culture, because I see it every day on TV. The Simpsons, Family Guy, Oprah, Scrubs, ER, you name it, they've got it (except the O.C. and Alias, but hey, no country's perfect). And almost every night on TV is an American movie, usually a couple to choose from on separate channels. I don't think Blockbuster would do very well here. Same goes for movies (in the theater) as well - unless it's a kids' movie, it's subtitled not dubbed, so it's really not that different from going to a movie in the States.

So it serves two purposes: it helps the Swedes speak better English (and I mean amazingly so, for what I was expecting in a foreign country), and it makes it incredibly easy for a non-foreign-language-speaking expatriate like me to live here.

In fact, about the only negative thing about it is the fact that it makes it hard to learn Swedish, since you always have English to use as a crutch. (That and the fact that they also have the worst American reality shows here - Fear Factor, For Love or Money, and now I hear, Paradise Hotel is coming too - that's a negative too...)

*Swedish words of the day, meaning "Do you speak English? Yes, of course!"

:: posted by Rob 1:22 AM [+] ::

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