by Sofi | 18,06,05 | ARTICLES, FEATURED, NEWS & EVENTS, Swedish Work Culture
The first summer I was about to spend with my then boyfriend, now husband, I was surprised to learn he had very few days of holiday available. I couldn’t figure out how, as he had, apart from a couple of weeks when he had been really sick in the flue, not taken... by Sofi | 18,03,01 | ARTICLES, Language Learning, Pronunciation
1. Not teaching you the right pronunciation Swedish is a rhythmic language. There are many short syllables, and in each sentence, a few long syllables. A long syllable consists of a long vowel and a long consonant. Long means that it takes a long time to say. In glas... by Sofi | 18,02,04 | ARTICLES, Language Learning, Pronunciation, Swedish Language Training
Very recently, I was given a new learner. In order not to reveal anything about their identity, I cannot give you more details than that they needed to improve their Swedish pronunciation drastically, in order to save their career. Pronunciation is a sensitive topic.... 
by Sofi | 17,11,24 | ARTICLES, Language Learning, Pronunciation
Monster or mönster – what is the scariest to you? You know when you want to make that monster really frightening, and you end up calling it a pattern? There must be plenty of post-ignorant expats out there, laughing smugly at their idiotic co-patriots who are... 
by Sofi | 17,11,22 | ARTICLES, Book Reviews, Swedishness
In 2010, I decided to write a book. At that point, I had taught Swedish for two or three years, and also came back to Stockholm after seven years abroad, and I had truly discovered what weird habits Swedish people comply to. I decided to compile one-habit-a-day sort... 
by Sofi | 17,11,03 | ARTICLES, Language Learning, Swedish Language Training
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.” As a teacher of Swedish since the... 
by Sofi | 17,10,30 | ARTICLES, FEATURED
How to survive the dark months in Sweden 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... 
by Sofi | 17,10,25 | ARTICLES, Guest Posts, Language Learning
This is a guest post from Jesse Reyes from the Livefluent blog. When most people say they’d like to learn a foreign language 9 times out of 10 they imagine themselves being able to comfortably hold a conversation with a native speaker. In fact conversational ability... 
by Sofi | 17,10,23 | ARTICLES, Swedishness
Last Saturday, the biannual event of communal cleaning at my BRF (Bostadsrättsförening) took place. If you don’t already own a flat in Sweden, you are probably not familiar with the fact, that in fact, you cannot own a flat a Sweden. Technically speaking, you... 
by Sofi | 17,10,05 | ARTICLES, BEAUTY, Book Reviews, Swedishness
Something rare just happened. An expat writer just published a book about Sweden, adding a welcome perspective to the handful of books available on this admittedly niche subject. Worth mentioning is, published rather recently, Brown’s Fishing in Utopia, that fishing...