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Why do you want to learn swedish?


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Just curious guys!  I wanted to learn Swedish when I was younger because I really liked everything that had to do with Scandinavia and Norse mythology.  I loved everything about it!  So I wanted to learn it, as well as Norwegian and Icelandic.  Crazy I know. 

Actually when I was 16 or so my main interest was learning as many languages as possible, then life got in the day and didn't do it. I still have interest in languages, but I don't have the time or desire to learn a new language (other than the one I'm already studying out of need).

So... what are your reasons to learn Swedish?

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I have been learning French for last couple of years now put of the need, but I planning to learn Swedish, Spanish and Italian someday. I know it's not an easy feat, but I have more than 50 years of my life ahead of me.

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Yeah, but would you care to tell us the reason behind wanting to learn Swedish?  I mean, isn't a very popular language to learn, mostly because, well... it's only spoken in Sweden and some parts of Finland, so isn't as appealing to some as learning french, Spanish, Chinese or English.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My ex-girlfriend is a Swedish-speaking Finn and I started learning so that I could speak to her and her family in Swedish. I got a bit more serious about it after travelling to Finland and Sweden last December and realising just how little I knew. I got a lot of motivation to study from not wanting to sit in confused silence when other people were talking around me.

We've broken up since then, but I really loved the two countries, Sweden in particular. I'm already quite a way into learning and want to keep going and head back there sometime in the future. For the longest time I've had an interest in Scandinavian (and in general Northern European, especially Germanic) languages and cultures, which had nothing to do with that relationship but has been a good motivation to keep studying and learning more. I also have a few easy books in Swedish that I bought there and still want to be able to read, and some Swedish movies and TV shows that I want to be able to watch and understand.

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That's great. I gather you've read The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson? It's really heavy reading but this literature summed up all the major gods and happening in Norse Mythology. As for me, I'm still stuck trying to learn East Asian languages. Swedish is worth considering (as I myself would want to visit the country). For now, my plate's full.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My ex-girlfriend is a Swedish-speaking Finn and I started learning so that I could speak to her and her family in Swedish. I got a bit more serious about it after travelling to Finland and Sweden last December and realising just how little I knew. I got a lot of motivation to study from not wanting to sit in confused silence when other people were talking around me.

We've broken up since then, but I really loved the two countries, Sweden in particular. I'm already quite a way into learning and want to keep going and head back there sometime in the future. For the longest time I've had an interest in Scandinavian (and in general Northern European, especially Germanic) languages and cultures, which had nothing to do with that relationship but has been a good motivation to keep studying and learning more. I also have a few easy books in Swedish that I bought there and still want to be able to read, and some Swedish movies and TV shows that I want to be able to watch and understand.

I'm so sorry to hear about your relationship being over, but glad to hear you are still learning the language!  I also love Scandinavian countries, I really like Norway and Sweden, those two are my favorite countries!  I was learning Norwegian for a while, I wanted to do the same with Swedish, but life got in the way.  What did you like most about Sweden?

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That's great. I gather you've read The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson? It's really heavy reading but this literature summed up all the major gods and happening in Norse Mythology. As for me, I'm still stuck trying to learn East Asian languages. Swedish is worth considering (as I myself would want to visit the country). For now, my plate's full.

I did it a long time ago :)  It was fascinating!  I just love everything about those countries, I think my fascination started with their mythology tho, even to this day I hold in a very high esteem those countries (specially Norway). I was so lucky to have been to those countries before and I truly hope I can see at least Norway once again.  I'm dying to see the Aurora Borealis.

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I'm so sorry to hear about your relationship being over, but glad to hear you are still learning the language!  I also love Scandinavian countries, I really like Norway and Sweden, those two are my favorite countries!  I was learning Norwegian for a while, I wanted to do the same with Swedish, but life got in the way.  What did you like most about Sweden?

Thanks for that - we're on good terms (given the distance, our relationship had become more like friends than boyfriend/girlfriend anyway). I still occasionally practice my Swedish when we talk/write.

As for my favourite thing about Sweden, that's hard to answer because I was only in Stockholm for two or three days. We stayed in Gamla Stan of course. I was impressed by the beauty of the city, the architecture and the public art (as well as the museums). I knew almost nothing about the city before I went there, and looking at a map of it after leaving I realised there was a lot more to see. Long story short, I'd like to go back to Sweden to see more of the country than that little bite of Stockholm.

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I have a few friends who have migrated to Sweden and I'm slowly learning more and more about their words and language as well as their culture through them so I guess it just happened naturally for me. Because of these small lessons and trivia I am getting I've slowly been gaining more and more interest about the country which I previously would probably never have paid much attention to and now I'm actively trying to learn the language.

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Thanks for that - we're on good terms (given the distance, our relationship had become more like friends than boyfriend/girlfriend anyway). I still occasionally practice my Swedish when we talk/write.

As for my favourite thing about Sweden, that's hard to answer because I was only in Stockholm for two or three days. We stayed in Gamla Stan of course. I was impressed by the beauty of the city, the architecture and the public art (as well as the museums). I knew almost nothing about the city before I went there, and looking at a map of it after leaving I realised there was a lot more to see. Long story short, I'd like to go back to Sweden to see more of the country than that little bite of Stockholm.

Oh, so sorry if I sound nosy... but you were you both on a long distance relationship?  I ask because I used to be in one... those are really hard to keep alive and kicking, unless you both have immediate plants to move in together pretty quick.  I learnt that the hard way, sadly.

As for Sweden... I'm sure you will love to see the rest!  If you have the chance go to Norway, the true beauty can be found in the Finnmark county. If you can check the aurora borealis there... if you are photographer, even an amateur one you will surely love it there...

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I have a few friends who have migrated to Sweden and I'm slowly learning more and more about their words and language as well as their culture through them so I guess it just happened naturally for me. Because of these small lessons and trivia I am getting I've slowly been gaining more and more interest about the country which I previously would probably never have paid much attention to and now I'm actively trying to learn the language.

That's very interesting :)  Are you planning to migrate there as well?  Swedish isn't spoken in many places, only in Sweden and some parts of Finland, but that's it.  I'm guessing you want to go to visit your friends to Sweden and eventually stay there?  I honestly love Sweden, it's waaay cheaper than Norway... if someone manages to live close enough to the Norwegian-Swedish border, (living in the Swedish side) and work in the Norwegian one... it'd be like heaven!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oh, so sorry if I sound nosy... but you were you both on a long distance relationship?  I ask because I used to be in one... those are really hard to keep alive and kicking, unless you both have immediate plants to move in together pretty quick.  I learnt that the hard way, sadly.

As for Sweden... I'm sure you will love to see the rest!  If you have the chance go to Norway, the true beauty can be found in the Finnmark county. If you can check the aurora borealis there... if you are photographer, even an amateur one you will surely love it there...

Not a problem. We met on exchange, studying Japanese together in a university in Japan. We became friends quickly and started going out not too long after. The first 8 or 9 months were great - we both lived on campus and even had classes together. We worked out pretty early on that the distance was going to be hard to deal with but (in hindsight, stupidly) decided to cross that bridge when we came to it. By the time we had to go our separate ways, neither of us were willing to "give up" on the relationship.

We did well to make it last almost a whole year after that. The thing is that since we were both still in school, it was hard to make the plan to move together. My school is one of two in the world that offers the program I am studying (as someone studying translation who doesn't speak Finnish, there's no way I could find a local job anyway), and her specialisation isn't in great demand outside of Finland (beyond that, the costs and risks of moving across the globe to live with me were too much for her - especially since I am still studying too).

If we'd been able to reconcile the issue of living together, perhaps it could have worked. But the distance was a drain on our relationship and neither of us were very willing to make the sacrifices needed to resolve the problem. I've left out, of course, that really either of us could have "made do" - I have another major that I could have probably found work in there, not to mention that I could have found work online, and she could have finished her studies and/or found work here - but neither of us wanted to give up on our dreams or allow the other to do so either. Perhaps, in the end, it was that we loved each other too much that led to it not working out haha.

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I went to Stockholm about a month ago and I quickly became very attached to the city. I don't like the cold, and it was pretty chilly when I went last month, but it was extremely clean and beautiful. I'd like to visit Sweden more often, so I think learning some Swedish would come in handy. When I went into a grocery store at one point during my vacation in Sweden, everything was labelled in Swedish (obviously), and I left the store with only bread, butter, and apple juice :( Whenever I come back to Sweden, I want to be a bit more prepared the next time I go into a grocery store, haha. I'd also love to live in Stockholm, but it's very expensive to live there. It's understandable, since it's a very nice city, but I can dream...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Swedish was my second language ( well 3rd, but I learns English and Norwegian at the same time) to learn. I have always heard it, and read and spoken it over the years, but still struggle with a few dialects, as even Swedes do, but just a few words here and there.

As I also have learned old Norwegian dialects across the country , its not that different to the old and rare dialects of Sweden, but some differences there is to deal with.

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  • 1 year later...

I'd love to learn Swedish because 2 years ago I met Like Torches (a Swedish band) and I liked them a lot! Plus Swedish is similar to German (that I'm already studying), so I'm very interested in learning it! :D

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  • 7 months later...

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