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How many languages do Europeans speak | ||
Tags: Europe | Number of Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4520 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes  Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 49 of 66 07 October 2014 at 1:05am | IP Logged | |||||
Different perception though. I don't think Swedes would call their own accent an unpleasant one. They are certainly very much used to their own accent. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 4098 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 50 of 66 07 October 2014 at 8:57am | IP Logged | |||||
In my experience, Swedes who speak English well usually abhor a Swedish accent. On the other hand, my experience is also that Swedes would not expect someone with a darker complexion to learn Swedish if they speak English reasonably well, but with an accent. They'd be mostly relieved to speak a common language in the first place. It is quite rare, in my experience, for people in Sweden of a Middle Eastern background to speak English, though, and not speak it quite well... because if they speak English they were generally well-educated before coming or came via Britain. And unlike Ari, but like Jeff, I've come across plenty of French and German people in Sweden, albeit far more Germans. Like, Jeff, though, I used to live near touristy things crawling with Germans (and occasionally Asian tour buses) in the summer. I suspect Ari didn't live in the south, near popular holidaying spots, or in proximity to a large German corporation (my father worked for one when I was little so "Eine Minute, bitte." was the first foreign words I learned after which I'd run for my father... apparently I also used the same phrase on people from Gothenburg because I couldn't tell the difference between German and the Gothenburgish dialect). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| robarb Nonaglot Senior Member United States languagenpluson Joined 5058 days ago 361 posts - 921 votes Speaks: Portuguese, English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, French Studies: Mandarin, Danish, Russian, Norwegian, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Greek, Latin, Nepali, Modern Hebrew | Message 51 of 66 07 October 2014 at 10:08am | IP Logged | |||||
What? All Swedes I've ever heard speak English have a noticeable Swedish accent. They may abhor a really bad Swedish accent, but even Swedes who speak flawless grammatical English with correct British pronunciation almost invariably have that je ne sais quoi (jag vet inte vad?)that instantly identifies them as Scandinavians. If the grammar and usage is really good and the accent is subtle, I actually prefer to hear this kind of English. It immediately makes the person seem intelligent and well-educated because their command of English is so good despite being obviously non-native. For example, I love listening to the English puns of Swedish singer Jens Lekman. He has a very obvious accent. Edited by robarb on 07 October 2014 at 10:11am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6581 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 52 of 66 07 October 2014 at 10:59am | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, most people have a Swedish accent, but the degree varies and the ideal is unquestionably to not be identifiable as a non-native. The character in a Swedish movie who speaks English with a strong accent is invariably the inexperienced or daft one. See this clip for an example of making fun of the guy with a Swedish accent (though of course his English is terrible regardless of his accent). Remember that we're talking about a country where the word "osvensk" (un-Swedish) is a positive adjective, "patriot" is an insult, and where we are proud of not celebrating our National Day. Swedish nationalism is a set of complicated mental acrobatics that allow us to consider our country to be the best whilst simultaneously being proud of not being proud of our country. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 4098 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 53 of 66 07 October 2014 at 12:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
Never underestimate the Swedish ability to believe themselves as a people to be the best in the world at everything (English as a foreign language, childcare, health care, elder care, education) while simultaneously allowing no individual Swede to be considered better than average at anything. ;) Edited by eyðimörk on 07 October 2014 at 12:32pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4621 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 54 of 66 07 October 2014 at 12:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
Meanwhile, every native English speaker who listens to the speech understands everything without the slightest comprehension problem. If they even give the orator's language skills a second thought it will be to compliment the high level of English involved. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 4098 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 55 of 66 07 October 2014 at 12:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yep! But then again, native anglophones don't live and die by the Jante Law! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| caam_imt Triglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 4861 days ago 232 posts - 357 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, Finnish Studies: German, Swedish | Message 56 of 66 07 October 2014 at 2:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have had similar experiences in Finland about the whole English thing. I can happily
say though, just like Tarvos mentioned, once you are good at the language you rarely get replies in English. But it was damn hard to attain such level! it's like in order to get good in Finnish (and Swedish too I guess) you have to struggle with the language AND the people that don't let you use it. Even though my mother tongue is not English, people just went into some sort of "international" mode when talking to me, assuming that a) I understand English and b) I don't know any Finnish. That mode sometimes continued despite people's more than questionable abilities in English and my desire to speak Finnish. It was (and occasionally still is) the source of a lot of frustration the way people just assume things by the way I look. It's of course perfectly normal from their perspective: what are the odds that a foreigner knows our little language? but simultaneously, that incredulity contributes to a great divide between locals and foreigners who want to integrate. And sadly, due to many annoying experiences here, I have come to almost despise English and everything around it (globalization, marketing, political influences from certain countries, etc.). I just wish some people noticed that English is not the sole way to measure one's education and that knowledge of Finnish were a little more appreciated! And to be not so off-topic, most Finns in my experience tend to speak mostly English as a foreign language. Swedish is compulsory but there are a lot of negative attitudes against it, so I would say less people speak good Swedish than English. Very few speak German and/or French, but the few that do seem to be very passionate about it and speak very well. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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