^^^^ Aggression...what's your policy?

It was supposedly, like, art.

I dunno. I mean. Yeah. I dunno.

looked like shit to me...

I think it's funny that there exists an organization called the Association for African Swedes.

I AM STARTING A CLUB:

The Association for African Swede Diplomacy Players

Anyone want to join?

Isn't an African swede called a rutabaga?

+1

Yeah, see as much as the Nordic countries are really great in a lot of other ways, the high racial homogeneity does tend to foster ABSURD amounts of casual racism.

Why not call it the African Swede Society for Diplomacy? Members could be known as ASSdippers, for short.

Mafialligator, the racial homogeneity is quickly disappearing. Sweden has had intense immigration, especially refugees since the early 90s. To quote directly from Wikipedia (Sweden has a population of 9 million):

According to Eurostat, in 2010, there were 1.33 million foreign-born residents in Sweden, corresponding to 14.3% of the total population. Of these, 859 000 (9.2%) were born outside the EU and 477 000 (5.1%) were born in another EU Member State.[9][10] The largest groups were:

Finland (172,218)
Former Yugoslavia (152,268)
Iraq (117,919)
Iran (59,922)
Poland (49,518)
Germany (47,803)
Denmark (46,002)
Norway (43,819)
Turkey (40,766)
Somalia (31,734)

I myself live in a part of Stockholm where it's rare to actually hear people speak Swedish when you're out taking a walk. I think that it's wonderful. Finally the ethnic homogeneity, while still strong, is starting to crack. Of course, this makes casual racism float to the surface, and right wing groups pop up to scream about how great ethnic Swedes are. But they aren't too powerful, and we're dealing with the racism. I hope we can overcome it.

"I myself live in a part of Stockholm where it's rare to actually hear people speak Swedish when you're out taking a walk. "

What do people mostly speak, English or something?

This is very rare for a neighborhood that isn't associated with some kind of immigrant population like Chinatown in the US. Is that the case where you live or is it multi-ethnic non-immigrant and yet people don't speak Swedish? If this last is true I will be shocked. It's akin to... actually there's nothing like that anywhere. I was going to say former colonies all speaking the colonial language but that's different because Sweden was not colonized.

Thucy, I live near a university, in the outskirts of Stockholm. The surrounding area has tons of blocks of flats. Some are dedicated to students, the rest are just cheap flats, mostly built in the 60s and 70s to house a growing population cheaply. It's not luxurious in any way but it's no ghetto neither, it's just cheap living, which suits students and recent refugees well. I hear a lot of languages. Arabic, Persian, Somali, Serbo-Croatian, Vietnamese, Korean, etc. etc. Stockholm has some problems with segregation, but it's not along ethnic lines, it's primarily along socio-economic lines. Wealthy people are clustered in the centre or in suburbs with houses, while recent immigrants, students and working class people live in the cheaper areas with blocks of flats.

For inter-ethnic communication, either Swedish or English works, but we tend to default more to English, especially students. Most university courses I've taken in Stockholm have actually been in English. It's rare to have literature in Swedish. And why bother? With our liberal immigration policy and tons of exchange students, and with good English education in our public schools, good literature and experienced international teachers can be integrated seamlessly, making it easier to cooperate with universities and research in other countries. I'd say that my English is better than most Swedes since I've lived in Ireland for a while, but the general level of English is not far from mine.

So mostly you hear people speaking English around you, like at the corner store or whatever?

I assume like you still conduct business in Swedish like when you buy something, right?

Sorry for these dull questions but it fascinates me.

And yeah I'm sure you're aware but Scandinavians are for whatever reason world-renowned for their ability to pick up English like native speakers.

People who have a shop generally know Swedish, maybe not well, but yeah, I usually speak Swedish with them. I don't know what I hear mostly. It's the mix that makes an impression. But I should add that this is also a special case due to so many of the students around here being exchange students, which makes English more common, and a lot of immigrants here came relatively recently, so they haven't picked up the language yet and hang out in their own ethnic group socially. Immigrants tend to start speaking Swedish, often even with their own family to make it easier for their kids etc, once they've learned it well enough. Children of immigrants are usually at least bilingual.

Also, I think the reasons we pick up English so well is a mix of good public education (I had 9 years of English education in school), which is what happens when you actually have taxes, the fact that so much of our entertainment and culture is American, and we don't dub stuff, it's all subtitles, and also Swedish is another Germanic language, so it's not too far from English.

I saw a Scandinavian movie, not made for English speakers I don't think, in which most of the dialogue was in English. Only when the medieval (I think Swedish) hero was at home in his village was the native Scandinavian language spoken. At one point with some monks they speak French for a bit for reasons they failed to explain.

I found all this very interesting. It was as if the use of English was meant to be understood as "a foreign language" (sometimes they are supposed to be speaking Arabic but it's actually English coming from their mouths), but one the audience can still understand.

All very interesting.

Is it Arn? I haven't seen it so I can't comment on it. But that was an international film project and a cooperation of many nations, so I guess English was just the easiest compromise. In general, when a foreign language is supposed to be spoken in Swedish films, that language is actually spoken and there are subtitles. But in most cases, Swedes abroad speak English in film, because that's what a Swede would do abroad in reality, unless (s)he knew the language in question.

"I myself live in a part of Stockholm where it's rare to actually hear people speak Swedish when you're out taking a walk. I think that it's wonderful"

To be honest I find that quite sad. The wonder and variety of the world is slowly but surely being whittled away. It provokes the same kind of empty feeling I first remember getting as a child when reading Lord of the Rings and the elves were leaving over the sea. The future will be like a foriegn country. They do things exactly the same there.

The variety of the world isn't being whittled away, it's being mixed and synthesised into new forms. It's just the nature of history. Concepts, ideas, ideologies, languages, countries rise and fall. They contribute to the next stage and fade away. I see no problem with this. I'm a great fan of the Swedish spoken by children of immigrants, the sound changes, the influences of grammars and semantics of other languages etc. And what's even better, ethnic Swedes are appropriating it, implicitly embracing language change. Mass immigration lets me watch linguistic processes in fast forward. What it means to be Swedish is examined and redefined. Our language is changed. Change gives us the opportunity to grow into what we want to be. I never want society to be dogmatic and static. The wonders of the world aren't just fading, they're being created constantly, if we let them.

Well said, Vaftrudner. And you're just describing reality. After all, we all came from somewhere else. And those who were here before us - Celts, Romans, Germans - left their mark too. Face features may change, but culture lives on.

Well said Octavius.
I actually also live in a multi-culti area in Sweden.
What happens is that the kids in these areas can't really play, because they have none or poor common language. They're down at waving status symbols like candy bags or expensive toys at each other, just shouting inarticulate or the dirtiest words they have learnt.
Exciting variety of cultures?
No culture at all
"Linguistic processes" might be interesting to study at the university, but I don't really think the kids serving as the laboratory animals will call it "interesting" when/if they acquire this word to their vocabulary.
Chaos is not creative. Rootlessness is not empowering to "grow into what we want to be". It is tripping up any attempts to development of character.
When people live in a constant uneasiness about basic communicative codes, as how to behave when you meet new people, there is no foundation for any "exciting" synthetical development of culture.

Since the Swedes are so insipid with a paralyzing inferiority complex the immigrants that arrive meet with no real indigenous people, only evasive shades anxious to behave "correctly" in fear of being accused of being "racists" (or "pedophiles" or "psychopaths" or "fascists" or... "Swedes"... or whatever is the current hot taboo)

I am the only grown-up Swede you'd see in the area who is actually out playing football with the immigrant kids. It is something unique to them.

Being a half-Swede myself, I feel sorry for my Swedish half and the Swedes - such poor identity as they have.
At least we are quite a few that can laugh at the swedish lack of character as I found it in a Swedish YouTube clip subtitled in English.
It is named "How to be a Swedish" and anyone out there in the world who wants to learn this may look it up.

Where do you live, Sylence? Obviously, you have a much different view than mine, I wonder how that's connected to different environments.

"To be honest I find that quite sad. The wonder and variety of the world is slowly but surely being whittled away. It provokes the same kind of empty feeling I first remember getting as a child when reading Lord of the Rings and the elves were leaving over the sea. The future will be like a foriegn country. They do things exactly the same there."

Homogenization is a positive force when done voluntarily.

"I myself live in a part of Stockholm where it's rare to actually hear people speak Swedish when you're out taking a walk."
"It's rare to have literature in Swedish. And why bother?"

Vaft, I have to say I agree with both Thucydides and Octavious. I find the above statements odd and sad.

Whilst you say that homogeneity is disappearing, that should not be at the expense of the Swedish language.

Language preservation is vastly important, especially a language as historic as Swedish.

1. Language is inherently linked to culture. Kill languages and you will inevitably kill culture - which really goes against the idea of multiculturalism.
2. Languages transmits specific knowledge for understanding their respective culture: historical artifacts, literature, oral traditions and other inherited knowledge all rely on languages being kept alive.
3. This is especially important regarding literature written in a native language. You ask "why bother" reading literature in Swedish but I would much rather read Swedish writers in Swedish if I could as opposed to reading them in English.
4. Every language has specificities, idioms, expressions and usages that are unique to that language - this is vastly important for the transmission and creation of ideas

Languages will of course die out as globalisation increases and cultures intermingle but that doesn't mean we should be helping them along their way to do so.

No I agree with Vaft sorry.

Homogenization is a GOOD thing.

As is bilingualism until there is a single language, we should be learning and speaking each others'.

Sargmacher, that's completely out of context. I was talking about course literature in university. Don't think for a second that I advocate making Swedish redundant as a literary language. I write in it myself.

Then you need to be more clear, Vaftrudner.

"Most university courses I've taken in Stockholm have actually been in English. It's rare to have literature in Swedish. And why bother? With our liberal immigration policy and tons of exchange students, and with good English education in our public schools, good literature and experienced international teachers can be integrated seamlessly, making it easier to cooperate with universities and research in other countries"

I thought the context would make it very clear what I meant. Of course languages need to remain intact - which also means changing and evolving but not being replaced.

'It's rare to have foreign literature translated in to Swedish' might have been better.