File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
sweden /trv/

I'm an Amerifag who is going to Gothenburg and then Stockholm in about a month. What can you tell me about these places? Could I get by without knowing any Swedish? (I've heard pretty much all swedes speak english though) How will I get treated as an Amerifag?
>> Anonymous
many swedes speak english, but not all do, by any means.

at least learn some conversational phrases - go to a borders or B+N and get a swedish travel language book.

you'll get treated alright, probably. it depends more who you are.
>> Anonymous
I'm a swede myself, and to judge of my age (17), I speak english fluently (with maybe a few gramar flaws here & there).
You will be alright, but keep in mind that swedes speak their kind of english with a funny accent, but you will be able to understand.
Just take things slow, and enjoy Gothenburg & Stockholm!
>> Anonymous
>>67252
>>67253

OP here. I'm 17 as well and I'm just going there to visit with my older brother, but in the future I'm hoping to study abroad in Sweden for the language and culture and whatnot.

And yeah I'm trying to learn the common phrases right now, I think I'll be okay though.
>> Anonymous
Bad timing to visit sweden. Just rainy and cold right now. As opposed to the winter, where it's just cold... no wait, it's rainy then aswell

You'll get by perfectly without knowing any Swedish. You can keep a somewhat fluent conversation with +- every swede around 15-50. Accent is horribly influenced by American due to telly, but I suppose that suits your purposes.

There are no generalizations in sweden as such - noone is going to look down on you for being from America. Maybe if you're a Jew aswell - bloody nazis whole lot of us
>> Anonymous
Bump. Any other swefag opinions?
>> Anonymous
>>67253
>>67257
UnderagedB&.
Reported.
>> Anonymous
Swefag here.

Don't try to learn the language. Nobody'll understand you over your accent. And you won't understand all of the dialects anyway.

tl;dr Speak english.
>> Anonymous
>>67350

Oh, and about the citites. There's not much you need to know in advance, really.

Just remember, if you start wondering where all the white people have gone, you're in the wrong kind of neighbourhood and should turn around.
>> Anonymous
>>67250

To make some broad generalizations, very few people will actually care you're an American because there are loads of them already there. Swedes of "pure" stock are polite and cool and will warm up to you.

Swedes of Mediterranean origin i.e Greeks and Turks will ignore you.

Swedes of Middle East stock may outright dislike you on principle but there are some cool ones too. All

Americans are like George Bush you see? The latter are easy to pick out because they are hanging out with non-Arabs.

Swedes of African stock will ignore you. Unless you are really into hip hop or really into reggae. They like to buy drinks on your tab so watch it in the pubs there.

They are all racist generalizations but stereotypes exist for a reason.
The younger the Swede, the better his/her English.

Stockholm: Go to the Wasa museum and check out Gamla Stan: they are the two basic tourist things to do if you do nothing else touristy. If you have Swedish friends, you should ask to try "glögg" and "julmust". Nightlife is a lot of fun but you really need a local to take you around. If not, I'd suggest "Debaser" if it's still in business. Been a while.
>> Anonymous
ah fuck, wrote alot of fucking shit, field too long error. back to square one. But a short recap, you'll do fine with english, do not open a conversation with a swedish phrase, it just becomes annoying when we realise that you don't actually speak any swedish, but feel free to say thank you (tack)

WE DO NOT ACCEPT EURO, some tourist traps like old town might but you'll get by without a hitch with VISA/Mastercard, American Express might be harder though. SEK, swedish crowns will get you everywhere though, $100 equals roughly 6-700 crowns and we're the fifth on the big mac index list, enjoy your shitty hamburgers. Starbucks doesn't exist here, but feel free to enjoy the nearest coffeshop.
Drinking age is 18, but you can't buy hard liquor until you're 20 and there's a state monopoly on hard liqour so it can only be bought at "systemet" boutiqes, club age is 21.
Most people don't hate americans, but if you're an asshole we'll hate you regardless.
Meatballs are great and should be eaten, but I don't know if what you eat in the states is the same as we eat.
>> Anonymous
>>67250
Yeah, you'll get by without knowing any Swedish at all.

We've got a Welsh guy at work. He doesn't give a shit about learning Swedish but it's not really a problem since everyone speaks English.
>> Anonymous
>>67250
Fuck sweden, come to Finland. Just post more and i'll give you my address and i will consider giving you a totally free bed for your visit.
>> Anonymous
>>67370
o.o
Can i has free bed?
>> Anonymous
Don't forget to try our http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstr%C3%B6mming (surströmming).
>> Anonymous
>>67430
It's a trap!
But seriously, nothing really happening in Stockholm at the start of November so enjoy the cold or something.
>> Anonymous
Swefag here (Gothenburg)
I think most people in will actually think its really intresting that you're from the big olde
US and A especially people in your age, we do get alot of your TV/films here >_<
Anyways try not to discuss religion, its seen as pretty rude.
As for Gothenburg, there's some great guided toures though most of the city center by boats called "Paddan" they have english speaking guides and all, we don't have any special museums of intrest but if you're here on a weekend you should probably go to Liseberg (Scandinavias biggest funpark, probably small by american standards)
And stay out of the tourist-shops (most of them are in stockholm), fucking Mugs with elks on them or whatever are NOT typical swedish and they're probably made in china as well as anything else you'll find there so try to nail a swedish chick instead (but dont think they're all blondes, there are probably more emos than blondes nowadays).
Anyways while in Stockholm don't forget to check out the Royal Castle (that's where the king lives, they have crown-jewels, and thousand years old swords and stuff like that ^^) The guards there also have shiny helms and walk funny.
>> Anonymous
>>67370
I think the whole point with coming to sweden was that his brother lives here and he will probably get to stay for free with him, so why would he come to finland? Read more please.
>> Anonymous
One question to Swedes from an American already living there. Should I greet someone with "hej", or with "hello". Hello sounds overly formal, but it seems to give the Swedes who are a little less fluent in English time to change gears. Also, when someone starts talking to me in Swedish, I usually just say, "i'm sorry, i don't speak Swedish" as soon as possible to limit the awkwardness. Which seems to work best.
>> Anonymous
>>67488
another american in sweden and I do the same. In reality I dont think they give a fuck, they all speak english and I think they recognize that swedish is just not necessary. so dont worry so much about it...In my opinion. my norwegian and danish friends have said dont bother as we all speak english and dont care.
>> Anonymous
>>67488
just say whatever you want, we dont really care...
>> Anonymous
Indfag here, thought about going to sweden and finland someday. Can someone tell me what id need to get in to both countries(probably land in sweden) and if I can hop between the 2 while im there. How will I be treated, how much $ would I need for close to a month?

PS american citizen.
>> Anonymous
>>67540
You don't need anything to get in if you hold a US passport.
>> Anonymous
>>67540

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_zone
>> Anonymous
>>67540
My guess is that you will probably need $4000-$5000 to live here for a month, the living/food makes up for most of it i guess but ofc lowering your standards equals more money for other stuff : )
>> Anonymous
>>67488
Like I said in>>67355Please start the conversation with the langauge you are going to use throughout it.

This might just be my view but I work in a museum so I get to talk to tourists all day but usually it's 50% swedes, 50% foreigners. So I always start my conversations in Swedish since I can't be sure if someone is swedish or not. But I find it very annoying when someone opens with swedish but then talks english, for like you said, it takes a few seconds to shift gears.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>67540
and the cheapest way to hop between Helsinki and Stockholm is probably the ferry, goes out at 18:00 local time, arrives around 09:00 the next morning. Picture related
>> Anonymous
>>67577
>Picture related

Oh anon, you silly rascal!
>> Anonymous
>>67583
btw, any finnfags here? What do they call those ferries in Finnish? In Sweden we call them "The Finland Ferries" since they go to Finland. But that can't be in Finland right? Do you call them the Sweden ferries?
>> Anonymous
>>67577
What's the cost of passage?
>> Anonymous
>>67585

Yep
>> Anonymous
>>67573
Agreed, I don't think anyone in the countries in OP's picture give a shit whether a tourist or somebody who isn't going to live there speaks the language or not. English on the other hand is expected from most (=civilized) foreigners, regardless of 1st language.

>>67585
"Sweden boat" would probably be closer, "ferry" isn't used that much in everyday speech
>> Anonymous
Easy to get weed in Sweden? In Karlstad
>> Anonymous
OP here, thanks for the answers everone, good stuff.

I have one last question, I'm a big Football (soccer) fan, and I was wondering if it was possible to see an Allsvenskan match when I go to visit? Is the season even active right now? If so, how are ticket prices, and are there any team recommendations.

I don't support any Swedish teams so I'm going there purely for the experience.
>> Anonymous
>>67601
Last games for the season is on 09/11-08 so you're probably out of luck. AIK, Djurgården & Hammarby are the 3 Stockholm teams, IFK Göteborg & GAIS is the teams from Gothenburg. Though a ticket isn't that expensive the last games of the season are probably going to be sold out, but they're still available I believe
>> Anonymous
>>67623

ah, I see. I guess I'll wait until next summer, if I decide to go again.

thanks anon
>> Anonymous
Ausfag here, I plan on moving to Sweden sometime in the next few years, but do y'all know if any of the old progg communes from the '60s/'70s still exist today?
>> Butthole Pleasures !9CwsJm1feI
>>67907
lol, this thread is still alive...


anyone!?
>> Anonymous
Swefag here, but from Vasteras, but I do have a lot of experience in Stockholm. Just go there and if you already know people it's going to be great, it's kind of hard to become friends with pure Swedes since they generally are kind of drawn back.
>> Anonymous
>>67599

Weed is pretty common in the big cities, kinda easy to get if you know a few people. Harder in smaller cities. Karlstad, dunno.
>> Anonymous
finland = balls