“When my father moved to this country, he learned English, because he was in America and in America, we speak English!” I heard this speech countless times from my grandmother, passionately describing her father’s experience moving to America. Fun fact, America has no official language; the land of immigrants speaks many languages, but this helped her justify her own monolingualism. “My father knew English is the language here, so he never taught us German.” The joke is on her. I fell in love with a German and learned German.
Facebook recently fed me an article from Lundagård, the local university newspaper, which reminded me of that scene. The article was about the use – or non-use – of Swedish in the university’s student-led social groups, the nations. The topic of local-language acquisition by outsiders can be a real hornet’s nest, ripe territory for xenophobia on one side and for dismissing heritage and functionality on the other. Predictably, the comments filled with views spanning the spectrum.
Therefore, before we continue, two clear statements: 1) Ease and enjoyment in language learning are different for everyone. Many factors influence language acquisition and outcomes vary. This discussion presumes best case scenarios. 2) Indirect discrimination through language requirements in hiring is a real and relevant part of the broader situation, but it’s not the point of this post.
Something the Lundagård article left out entirely is the question: What are your intentions with this country?
Not learning the local language, in our case, Swedish, is a perfectly legitimate choice in some scenarios. University students arrive with an expected duration of study. Many white-collar workers arrive with fixed-term contracts. Some people come with a plan for how long to stay abroad before repatriating to continue their lives at home. In such cases, learning a foreign language, to be used solely during their limited time in country, would understandably feel like too much. How wonderful that this group of people has access to essential services in English, a thriving international community with schools for their children and social events available and a lot of friendly Swedes who can communicate so well in English.
The question gets trickier when we think of all the other scenarios, where you’re not leaving. You’re staying. So what are your intentions?
It’s certainly true that you can permanently get by in Sweden, especially in a city like Lund, with just English. All essential information is provided in English. Many employers will hire someone for their expertise or willingness to do a job and overlook language deficiencies. Swedes are known for great English, so it shouldn’t affect social life either. I have met a good number of long-term foreigners who never learned Swedish or who understand it, but won’t speak it. You can have a good life.
Then why advocate for always learning the local language?
The local language opens the door to an even richer life.
If your intention is to stay and create a life here, what do you want that life to look like?
Both personal experience and research reveal that the level of fluency I can reach directly impacts the degree to which I feel like I am a part of society. Put simply: the better I speak the local language, the more I feel like I belong.
International life in Lund as described here resembles a version of the Separation strategy of John Berry’s acculturation framework. Internationals here maintain a connection to their “home” cultures, but also slot in comfortably to what’s usually called the Third Culture – internationals all mixed together, living parallel to, but not really rooting or embedding in local culture. Studies show that people living this model score very high on resilience and adaptability, but also high on loneliness and quite poorly on a sense of belonging and attachment. International communities often experience a high turnover rate. People come and go. It’s a transient life. That makes it hard to find continuity and create stable friendships.
The acculturation model associated with the best outcomes is Integration, which allows foreigners to maintain their connection to their native culture while simultaneously embracing their host culture. “Embracing” the host culture basically hinges on acquiring the local language, because with that skill, we can begin to be a part of the local society, both socially and culturally, as opposed to merely functionally as a member of the parallel Third Culture.
Practically speaking, this is when we read Sydsvenskan instead of The Local, attend bostadsrättsföreningen meetings in Swedish, understand how to navigate institutions like Skatteverket or the local vårdcentral and maybe even find the most elusive treasure: Swedish friends. Perhaps most abstract, but nonetheless fundamental, integration is understanding what the norms are. Whether we conform to them or not is almost irrelevant. The key point is, did I break that norm by choice or through ignorance?
If participating functionally versus socially and culturally seems like a distinction without a difference to you, then you may have your answer to the question of what your intentions with this country are. You may not feel that you need to integrate more deeply than you have – and that’s totally fine! The argument here is not that everyone must integrate in the sense of the acculturation model, rather that those who want to integrate will do better to speak Swedish. If your intention is to make a real home here, either forever or just for now, the sense of belonging that we feel when we talk about “home” is associated with integration and therefore language.
Speaking the local language returns a lot of agency to an individual. Technical, emotional and practical skills all provide us more freedom of choice to shape our lives. So, too, language skills. They facilitate more meaningful and longer-lasting friendships.
They help us professionally as networks expand (you try walking into a room full of high-ranking Swedish decision makers who are all already friends with each other and just casually interrupt with English – also not for the faint of heart!) and therefore more doors to more opportunities open to us.
They help our mental health as the subconscious state of high alert associated with being an outsider very gradually gives way to a sense of belonging. They’re also a signal of our commitment to our chosen community.
What are your intentions with your host country?
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