Sweden, Swedish, language learning, culture and the globalised world we live in

“Get me a chocolate muffins,” my Swedish friend says. “I’ll fix a taxi.”  As I stroll into the bakery, I realise that a novice to Sweden might be confused at this point. What exactly did my friend order? How many oversized cupcakes is “a muffins”? The answer is one. Swedes often borrow English...

All new parents are naïve. And so were we, and we believed that we could bring up our children without them tasting the evil combination of sugar and artificial flavouring. But children are smarter than you think, and it didn’t take long for our twin toddlers to put two and two together and understand that their peers were celebrating their weekends in a way that was better than others.

Landing a job in a new country can be tough. Securing work in a field that your trained in and pursuing a meaningful career can often start with an internship. For many, this seems like a backward step and one that might seem counter intuitive. But it might just lead to something bigger and...

Working mothers I often receive emails from people wanting to relocate to Sweden, asking what the situation is for working mothers. Now, I should be able to share some personal experiences here, as I work, and I have two children. That would, from many perspectives, make me a working mother, but I...

A comparative study of the Swedish and the British understanding of uselessness at work Both of them are women. Both of them are useless. None of them are real. Six months ago, Sweden was split in half due to Britt-Marie, a fictional character representing the forty-plus, lazy woman spending time...

Eating and drinking the Swedish way Test yourself and your friends: how Swedish are your eating habits? Download your free Bingo sheet here

Have you noticed the beautiful Swedish concept of förmiddag - "forenoon" as opposed to afternoon, and being the time between early morning and noon? Also, there's the useful concept of dygn, meaning a full 24-hour period, whereas dag refers only to the time you're (supposed to be) awake....

How has your body changed since you moved to Sweden? Let us guess? You have adapted the habit of coughing into the fold of your arm instead of your hand. You have developed some prominent facial muscles in order to pronounce the distinct vowels of Swedish. Your skin is much paler due to the lack...

It's December and wherever you are in Sweden right now, you're most likely not wearing flip-flops when outside. It is also likely that your footwear is affected by the current weather conditions. If it's raining, they're probably wet, and if it's snowing, they're probably wetter (at least after a...

Anywhere you go in this world, there will be certain, but sometimes unwritten, rules about how to deal with the last bits of food you are served. In some countries, you should always leave a bit of food on the plate, to communicate that you are satisfied. In other cultures, it's politer to finish...

We've ALL been there: making that nice cup of coffee (Sweden's all about fika, right?), grabbing a carton of milk, and voilà - what is that? Well, it's called filmjölk, or simply fil, and despite the name, it's not really milk but rather a youghurty kind of substance. It's a fermented milk...

I am often told miracle anecdotes about people who learn fluent Swedish in three months. Apparently, this makes others feel inspired, and it is also concluded that such fast progress is due to motivation. “She really wanted to learn.” I am very sceptical to all of this. First of all, this is not...

The word think, or the equivalent(s) in your language, is conveniently translated into three different words in Swedish: tycker, tänker, tror. Do not believe that you can use these sporadically, as per your own preference, because for any Swede, these three words have very distinct meanings, and...

To celebrate the change of clocks this weekend, please find this guide to help you through the tunnel, that will be the experience of your Swedish life up until mid-April next year. Why? Like most people, I believe that it is not the cold that presents the greatest problem of winter, it is the...

It is late September and the Swedish business crowd is back to business after sealing all the important deals under the pretence of leisure and below birch branches in the summer gardens. You are back to business, too, doing your best to blend into the crowd of painfully fashionable Scandinavians....

Originally, this occasion was to celebrate the winter solstice With the change of calendars in 1753 (from the Julian to the Gregorian), the dates moved backwards. Up until then, December the 13:th marked the winter solstice. As this was the longest night of the year, popular with supernatural...

I lived in Edinburgh for seven years. Homesickness did not strike until the last few months. I started taking walks in the parks, dreaming of Swedish woods and lakes. The air was still somehow not fresh enough, the sky not bright enough. The food was somehow wrong. Swedish milk - mellanmjölk -...

After having lived almost seven years in Scotland, I returned to Sweden in 2008. I was shocked to discover how rude the Swedes are, slamming doors in my face, yawning without covering their mouths, bumping into me without apologising. Later I realised that I was experiencing a reverse culture...

Summer is over, and Swedish business is about to settle back into its slow yet productive rhythm. Perhaps you are starting a new job, or hoping that the new season will bring new possibilities. Perhaps you are hoping to make friends with your colleagues. You are newly arrived in the country and...