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English in Scandinavia | ||
Tags: Scandinavia | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5832 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 33 of 36 27 June 2012 at 1:49pm | IP Logged | ||
I have noticed that a lot of rap music in Scandinavia and the Netherlands tends to be in the local language. As rap and hip hop are usually more working class forms of music, that would suggest that the working class musicians aren't so familiar with English, so have to write lyrics in their native language. On the other hand, Dutch and Scandinavian rock and alternative music is almost exclusively in English, and as that type of music tends to be more "Middle Class", it suggests that they are far better at English than the working classes. However, that is just a theory. I could be completely wrong. Edited by COF on 27 June 2012 at 1:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fiolmattias Triglot Groupie Sweden geocities.com/fiolmaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6690 days ago 62 posts - 129 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, Arabic (Written) | Message 34 of 36 27 June 2012 at 3:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just about any opera written during the last 60+ years in sweden has been written in
swedish. Where does that fit in your theory? :) My guess is that rock and alternative musicians hope to get international contracts, and that is why they chose English. If there where such a thing as middleclass music no 1 in sweden it would be be the so called Dansbandsmusik, a sort of swedish country music. and it is with very few exceptions sung in swedish. Swedish Death Metal is sung mostly in english. Edited by fiolmattias on 27 June 2012 at 3:16pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fiolmattias Triglot Groupie Sweden geocities.com/fiolmaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6690 days ago 62 posts - 129 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, Arabic (Written) | Message 35 of 36 27 June 2012 at 3:22pm | IP Logged | ||
I have friends that have lived here for many years and still don't have a functional swedish, so I would say that you probably can live here with just English. There are a few exceptions, and that is our Pizza-shops, but with a few words of arabic you can survive there without swedish as well :) But it is important to remember that while most swedes can handle English just fine, just about all of them are a lot more comfortable in swedish. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tyr Senior Member Sweden Joined 5783 days ago 316 posts - 384 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish | Message 36 of 36 05 July 2012 at 4:39am | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think rap being in the local language is a class thing. Its just what rap is, its the language of the people, of the streets (though even the worst of Scandinavian streets are very very middle class compared to the birth place of rap...and it does tend to be better off kids who indulge in such stuff). Far easier to relate and say what you mean in your own language.
And yep, I'd agree with rock being English its more down to there being international opportunities for good Scandinavian rock bands. Not so much rap. When I lived in Sweden I found it 100% possible to get by in English- which kind of sucked, made it very hard to get a chance to practice my Swedish! And....yeah. Its weird where the non-English speakers are. Quite a few government workers I found struggled in English (just the people you'd expect to be able to speak it...) and often immigrants only knew Swedish and not English (native language being Arabic or Farsi or whathaveyou) 100% agreed on most Scandinavians who speak good English tending to sound American. Though it is a sort of off-American, perhaps....too American to actually be American. Which is a damn shame for me. I think the Swedish accent sounds pretty lovely in English but I knew very few people who spoke like that. Edited by Tyr on 05 July 2012 at 4:41am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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