Jag talar Svenska... sort of.

Today I was at the grocery store, gathering ingredients for our not-so-traditional Thanksgiving dinner: basil-tofu lasagna. This whole unemployed thing means I am fast becoming an amazing cook. But, at the grocery store, I'm trolling the isles a bit confused as usual and an old lady walks up to me and asks me a question.

Old lady: Blahblahblomkvistblahbjörklundblahsvenskablahåöäblah...??? [In Swedish.]
Me: Umm, uhh... Uh, jag talar svenska inte! [I don't speak Swedish.]
Old lady: Ja, du talar svenska!...asks question again...[Yes, you speak Swedish!]
Me: Um, jag vet inte! [I don't know!]

She smiled and walked away, apparently believing that I really didn't understand her question. I was ecstatic. It was my first public conversation in Swedish! And I survived! What an incredible development! And to top off my great shopping trip, I found tahini and then successfully repeated back my price total (trehundratio) to the cashier! In other words, these Swedish classes are really paying off.

I started on Monday, and now every week day I go from 9-11:30am. It's great to have some structure and social interaction built into my day. So far it's quite enjoyable.

The class is as international as could be: there are folks from Greece, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Iran, China, France, and the UK. I am the lone American, for better or worse. Just today a group of us were walking to the coffee shop across the street during our fika (coffee break typically had at about 10:15 in workplaces etc) and I introduced myself to the Iranian gentleman. Then the people we were with sort of oohed and aahed, joking that our countries really don't like each other! That hadn't even occurred to me. But then we had a brief discussion about the politics of Iran these days, and how people are liking Obama in the US. It's great to be able to talk about the things I usually just hear about on NPR or read about in Time.

Then there is our teacher, whom I will call Hans, just for anonymity. He is an older gentleman, Swedish of course, who has a slight speech impediment. His "s" can be a bit muddled. Hans is also quite silly. For example, he has already taught us the Swedish words for sexy, shit, poop, and the f word too. He quotes Shakespeare and MC Hammer. He has explained how he lost half his finger (infection), which health issues he struggles with (diabetes!), how many wives he's had (2), and that cats really shouldn't drink milk, despite the popular misconception. He regularly gets off topic, but hey, I have some really interesting vocabulary!

To be more serious, he is very easy going and encouraging. In past language classes, especially Arabic, there just wasn't a good atmosphere. I think students should be allowed to make mistakes and mispronounce with gentle re-directions. Really you want the student to practice and get comfortable, and that road is certainly rocky and sometimes embarrassing.

The downside is that he is quick to explain things in English. Of course, practically, I am glad for this, because it's my native language. But I feel bad for a few people in the class who really don't seem to know English that well. Nowhere on the sign-up for this class did it say that the base language was English. Those folks are clearly more confused and at an unfair disadvantage. Most Swedish classes in the region are taught in 100% Svenska, which can of course be difficult but I think it's probably the best way to learn quickly.

For now, the class is great. It was expensive, so perhaps after the first level I'll continue in the free government "Swedish for Immigrants" classes. I am on my way to knowing Swedish and having many more opportunities open to me because of it!