Welcome to the beauty of Swedish culture, language and landscape! We hope you'll like and eventually feel like home! Sweden is often mistaken for Switzerland and even though Switzerland too is a beautiful country, you won't get very far speaking Swedish there.
Whether you're intrigued by Swedish culture and nature, are moving here for career purposes or are moving countries for other reasons, Sweden is a great place to call home! Now, I might be biased seeing as I am from here. But I have also spent a couple of years studying abroad which made me cherish the characteristics of us Swedes, our society and culture a lot more!
Living abroad also means I have introduced my language to friends whom, before they met me, never heard a Swedish word in their life. And I can confidently say, that learning Swedish may be a tickling experience but it sure isn't impossible!
If you have already moved here, you have probably noticed us Swedes are usually pretty good at communicating in English. This might be convenient for you, as it means you can get by without much problem. But if you are looking to stay here, learning Swedish will always be beneficial in terms of understanding social contexts, growing your social life and gain a better understanding of the culture, history and norms of the Swedes.
In this article we will look into the difficulty in learning Swedish and help you set your goals for learning a new language. Depending on what you want to achieve or gain from learning Swedish, the time it takes will vary. Hopefully this article and some of the articles linked within it, will help you learn Swedish in a fun and engaging way.
And remember, if you want help in your language studies, Superprof offers a wide variety of tutors that will help you learn Swedish!
How hard is Swedish to learn?
So, exactly how hard is it to learn Swedish? First off, the all time classic response. It depends. It's a boring and somewhat blurry answer, but it is true. So what does it depend on then?
Learning Swedish difficulty depends on what language (or languages) you already know, if languages are something you find easy to learn or if it is a challenge for you, how you choose to learn the new language and how dedicated you are.
How hard is Swedish for an English speaker?
How hard is learning Swedish for an English speaker, you may ask? The Swedish language is a Germanic language. This usually means that learning Swedish as an English speaker is relatively easy.
So how hard is Swedish to learn for English speakers?
When you look into the vocabulary of Swedish and English words you will notice a lot of loanwords and cognates. Loanwords are English words that has been adapted to Swedish and are used regularly. Cognates are words in the two languages that sound, look and translates the same.
Some examples of loanwords are 'email', 'chatta' and 'mixer'. And if you look further, at some typical cognates you might see these:
- English: to park, Swedish: parkera
- English: to study, Swedish: studera
- English: pipe, Swedish: pipa
- English: three, Swedish: tre
- English: apple, Swedish: äpple
However, the simplicity in learning useful Swedish words is often balanced with the difficulty in learning the grammar and melodic rhythm of the Swedish language.
There are some typical challenges that people whose native language is English face when learning Swedish. Let us have a quick look at these.
- En or Ett. This grammatical rule is complicated even for native Swedish speakers learning grammar at school as kids. Why is one banana called 'en banan' when one apple is called 'ett äpple'? To then move forward to 'bananen' and 'äpplet'. Basically, when you would say 'a banana' it translates to 'en banan'. But when you say 'the banana' it's 'bananen'. However, when it comes to whether there should be en or ett, the rules are a bit trickier. Learning the how's and why's of that rule takes more than a couple sentences in this article. A Superprof tutor would explain perfectly though!
- It's not pronounced as it is spelled. Us Swedes has a habit of not pronouncing every letter in a word. And to make it worse, different accents or dialects within Sweden do this in different ways. For example, good morning translates to 'god morgon'. But when a Swede says it, it sounds more like 'gomorron'.
- Find the rhythm. Some say that listening to the Swedish language is like listening to a song. Others only picture the Swedish Chef from the Muppets and make no sense of what is being said. A well used advice is to put on your best welch accent when trying to speak Swedish. But most importantly, try and listen to Swedes talking and learn how different words and letters are pronounced until you learn the melody.
- We like to compound words! This may lead to very long words (great when playing Scrabble!) but the beauty is that they're often very easy to split and translate. For example, 'miniplastfläkt' would translate into miniature plastic fan. This language rule is a great advantage for you when you are learning Swedish and you are confused about the meaning behind the word. For example, vegetable is translated to 'grönsak' which literally means 'green thing'.
- Scandinavians don't conjugate verbs! This might be your best news so far! This means that every verb is the same, no matter the person. For example, the English verbs am/are/is all translate to 'är'. Meaning that the sentences I am at home or he is at home, both have the same verb in Swedish 'jag är hemma' and 'han är hemma'.
Learning a new language is always a challenge, but with the proper preparation you will learn Swedish in no time!
If you move here, you will study SFI (Swedish for foreigners) to learn the Swedish language. But if you want to give yourself a head start, or just go all in with your language studies, asking a private tutor for help is a great approach! He or she will be able to help you learn Swedish in a personalized and engaging way where even grammar is fun to learn!
Is learning Swedish hard for other native speakers?
Even though English is one of the world's most spoken languages, it might not be your native language. So is Swedish a difficult language to learn for someone who's not fluent in English?
Many germans experience an ease in learning the Swedish language. If that is down to language similarities, or the fact that many Germans appreciate spending their holidays in Sweden and thereby gain a habit of reading and hearing the Swedish language is debated. Either way, Germans do often find learning Swedish a bit easier than people from other countries.
Same goes for the Dutch native speakers. Which is often explained by the fact that German, Dutch, English and Swedish are all Germanic languages. Generally, knowing two germanic languages makes it easier to learn a third. Meaning that if you are fluent in German and English you will find it a lot easier to learn Swedish than someone who is yet to learn the Germanic languages.
Which Scandinavian language is easiest to learn?
So out of the Scandinavian languages Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, which one is the easiest to learn? As a Swede, there are numerous times I have confused Brits while speaking to a Norwegian or Danish friend in our own languages and understanding each other.
"You speak different languages. But you understand each other?!"
It is usually said that Swedish is the most useful Scandinavian language to learn. By learning to speak and understand Swedish, you will also be able to understand Danish and Norwegian to some degree. Also, Swedish is commonly understood in Finland where a big part of the Finnish population actually learn Swedish in school.
However, many English speakers find Norwegian slightly easier to learn due to their pronunciation being more simple than the one of the Swedish language. At the same time, Norwegian grammar is claimed more difficult than Swedish.
So I guess it's down to personal preference at the end of the day.
How much time does it take to learn Swedish?
So, now that you have decided to learn Swedish and set your expectations. How long to learn Swedish?
Like I said before, it depends. First of all, it depends on you and what languages you are already native or fluent within. If you have grown up speaking both German and English and spent the summer camping in Sweden then of course your Swedish language studies will be shorter than if your native language is Spanish and you have never met a Swedish person in your life.
Furthermore, it depends on what level of language skills you are aiming for and what resources for language learning you implement along the way.
Basic fluency in Swedish
Looking at the recommendations from SFI-schools in Sweden it normally takes between one and five years to learn basic Swedish. That is the level that will get you into Swedish schools and a job. During that time you will learn to cope with everyday situations like grocery shopping, chit chatting with neighbors and get to know colleagues or classmates.
Now, one to five years may seem like a large time scope. But it comes down to your way of studying. If you are attending full time language studies five days a week you will most likely learn faster than if you are taking evening classes or rely on digital resources in your spare time.
Some frame of time and scope to learn Swedish is to dedicate 750 hours into learning the language. So basically, if you spend 12-15 hours a week learning Swedish, you will be fluent within one year.
So what you need to do now, is decide how fast you want to learn and how motivated you are to succeed. What level of fluency are you aiming for, and how long is it going to take you?
- Beginner: If all you want is to get by in everyday life or while traveling to Sweden, aim for beginner level. Dedicate 200 hours of language studies, boiling down to approximately 7 hours a week, you will reach beginner level within six months.
- Intermediate: Carry out simple day-to-day conversations on familiar topics by dedicating around 350 hours. Give your studies 6-7 hours a week and you will reach this level of fluency within one year.
- Advanced: Do you want to be completely fluent in Swedish? In that case you're recommended to dedicate 600 hours of language studies. If you spend 12-15 hours a week to learning Swedish you might become fluent in Swedish within one year.
But aș always, it comes down to your approach to studying. It might take some time before you find a study method that works for you and helps you feel motivated throughout the entire process.
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