More Information about Sweden

This blog about Sweden covered several general topics, however, from now on, the posts are most likely to become less frequent even though I will most probably continue to post more facts such as: 'Famous Swedes' and 'Biggest cities and touristic areas' coming up soon. However, until then, I suggest you to visit this website which will give a more precise and probably a more objective description of Sweden.

http://www.sweden.se/

Funny explanation of the Swedish language

The Swedish language

I can speak 4 languages and therefore I think that I am in the right position to tell you that the Swedish language is one of the easiest in the world. Even though, it sounds complicated and abstract for foreigners, surprisingly it is not. It has the same origins as English and therefore the two languages resembles a lot. That is probably one of the reasons why most of the swedes and myself learn English so easily.

In addition there is basically no Swedish grammar. Meaning that for example if you take the verb “be” in English you say: I am, you are, we are etc. However, in Swedish the verb is the same for all the persons. Therefore in Swedish you would get by translating; I am, you am, we am etc. For this reason, once you know the verb, it is very easy to learn it, understand it and write it in contrary to French and Spanish for example.

Also, the vocabulary is very limited. For example in English there are many different ways to qualify a laugh such as, guffaw, giggle etc. which surprised me because in contrast to Swedish, the number of words existing to qualify a laugh are very limited. However, the biggest difference between Swedish and any other language in the world is that there are three extra letters in the Swedish alphabet: “å, ä, ö”.

Finally, if you can speak, write and read Swedish properly, you can also do the same in Danish and Norwegian because the three languages are very close, which could become a good asset if your intentions are to do business in the Nordic countries or whatsoever. 

Swedish Traditions

Swedes have always loved traditions, parties, celebrations etc. (which in many cases is actually just an excuse to drink). Indeed, in almost all the Swedish traditions, there are songs, and at some point in this song you are supposed to drink may it be at the end of the song or sometimes in the middle. Most of the Nordic countries have the reputation of being heavy drinkers, I personally believe that it is due to the cold winters and before having air condition, drinking liquor was a very good way of keeping you warm. Eventually, the drinking habit inherited generation after generation. Here is a description of some of the most important Swedish traditions even though there are many more:

The first tradition I want to explain is called is Swedish “Midsommar”. In modern Sweden, Midsummer's Eve and Midsummer's Day (Midsommarafton and Midsommardagen) are celebrated the Friday and Saturday between 19 June and 26 June. It is one of the most important holidays of the year in Sweden, and reflects in my point of view the most typical image of Sweden you can get. Every time I think about Sweden I think about midsummer, the green grass, blue sky and the red houses with white stripes on the boarder of the roof. The main celebrations take place on the Friday, and the traditional events include raising and dancing around a huge maypole. Before the maypole is raised, greens and flowers are collected and used to cover the entire pole.

At the end of the summer in, you may be lucky enough to experience warm, clear August nights that are almost Mediterranean in character. That’s when Swedes have their crayfish parties. Due to the risk of over-fishing, restrictions on river crayfishing were introduced back in the early 20th century. The season was limited to the end of summer. Today, imported crayfish are on sale all year round, but few Swedes are prepared to abandon the seasonal tradition. The traditional accessories are in my point of view a little bit ridiculous, however, they are always fun to wear and it is also fun to just play the game. The difficulty of actually eating the crayfish causes noisy eating and of course because it is a Swedish tradition, there are many traditional drinking songs, the so-called snapsvisor. The alcohol consumption is often high, especially when compared to the amount of food actually eaten (crayfish shelling is tedious work). It is surprisingly culturally correct to suck the juice out of the crayfish before shelling it.

            The last tradition I want to talk about to avoid making this too long is Santa Lucia or Saint Lucy’s Day. This tradition occurs on the 13^th of December and is originally religious tradition where however, because Sweden is an egalitarian place these days, so any child can be chosen as Lucia for the annual procession at the local daycare center, not just girls with long blonde hair. Saint Lucy's Day is the Church feast day dedicated to St. Lucy. Its modern day celebration is generally associated with Sweden and Norway however; it is also celebrated in other countries. In traditional celebrations, Saint Lucy comes as a young woman with lights and sweets. The boys usually prefer to be Santas (tomtar) or "star boys" (stjärngossar) in the procession, while quite a few girls agree to be Lucia's handmaidens (tärnor). There are many traditional pastries and drinks associated with this tradition, which in my point of view are some of the best in the world.

Sweden is NOT Switzerland!

Plenty of stuff in between huh?

I haven't really explained the purpose and the reason why I chose to do a blog about Sweden. However, today I got reminded once again why: ignorance. Today, once more, a friend of mine thought that Sweden was the same as Switzerland... I can't help to become irritated when this happens, especially when it involves students at McGill. I understand that this is not directly their fault, the main reason for this ignorance is the limits of some educational systems. I understand that not everybody can know the whole history of Sweden and the political and economical situation etc. However, I consider knowing that Sweden and Switzerland are two different countries being an elementary knowledge.

Sweden is a very small country in proportion to how big the population of the earth is today. Although, historically and economically it is not as small as most people might think. Sweden has a relatively important history especially for Europe and a lot of big companies around the world are led by Swedish businessmen such as for example IKEA.

By the way, I typed "Sweden is NOT Switzerland!" on google to see what will come up and I actually found a whole website named after this issue: http://www.swedennotswitzerland.com/

Stereotypes

The stereotypical Swede is tall, has blonde hair with blue eyes. The stereotypes of the Swede’s physical appearance is however slightly different between the man and the woman.

The stereotypical Swedish man is, apart from the previously named stereotypes, sometimes seen as a Viking with a beard. He loves nature, but also sports. He drinks a lot of beer, vodka, akvavit and milk for lunch. He is a good skier and also a good father, meaning that he will take care of his children as much as his wife.

The stereotypical Swedish woman on the other hand has the stereotype of being one of the most beautiful in the world. I have myself traveled to lots of countries; in addition I went to an international school, therefore as soon as I introduced myself to the local people or a new student. Even though most of the people don't even know where Sweden is on a map, they know that the Swedish women are beautiful, which always makes me laugh that this is one of the only things people actually remember about Sweden.

Even though most of the Swedish girls don't actually look like this, this is the image the world has of the small little country in the north; Sweden.

Sports in Sweden

In Sweden, when you are going to school, the number of hours per week is relatively low. In addition, there are not many big cities where you can party; therefore if you live outside of the city, it can sometimes get very boring and lonely. For this reason, almost all the Swedes play sports. 

The main sports in Sweden are: Football (soccer), Bandy, Ice Hockey, skiing and Athletics.

The Swedish football team home ground is Råsunda Stadium in Stockholms län and their head coach is Erik Hamrén. Sweden made their first World Cup appearance in 1934. Since then, Sweden has made eleven World Cup appearances and four appearances in the European Championships. They finished second in the1958 World Cup, and third in both 1950 and 1994. Sweden's accomplishments also include a gold medal in the 1948 in the summer Olympics and bronze medals in 1924 and1952. They reached the semi-finals in UEFA Euro 1992.

Sweden’s traditional rivals are Denmark and Norway, although other rivalries have developed over the years. However, the biggest disappointment was in 2010 when Sweden failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cupin the group qualification stage. As a result, team manager quit and Erik Hamrén was appointed the new manager. Sweden's current captain is the well-known Zlatan Ibrahimović with Anders Svensson as vice captain.

Bandy is another popular sport in Sweden, for those of you who don't know, it is a ball game on ice that was introduced in Sweden in 1894. Notwithstanding this, the game is nowadays confined to: the Nordic countries, Russia, Netherlands, North America, and Hungary. The World Championships were introduced in 1957, and since then Sweden has taken 10 titles. Having been in Sweden myself many times, I can confirm that this game is very popular and can also be played on the ground (not only on ice), which makes is very easy and quick to find a spot to play on and have a good time with some friends.

The Swedish Ice hockey team, “Tre Kronor” has won one gold medal in 1994 and 2006, in the Olympics and they have six titles in the World Championships; in 1953, 1957, 1962, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1998 and 2006.

Ice hockey has always been a very popular sport in Sweden, both for the players, as well as the viewers. The broad base for recruitment lies in the many hockey-clubs all over the country. Every boy has on one occasion or another, tried to play Ice hockey.

Athletics is also a very popular sport in Sweden, the reason being; you can access a training area almost anywhere, there will always be one close to you. 

Sweden is also very good at skiing, considering that it is a Nordic country, there is a lot of snow during the year, therefore almost all the Swedes have skied, are skiing, or will ski in their life. There is therefore a lot of famous Swedish skiers male as well as female.

Anja Pärson, a very famous Swedish female skier

Swedish Circle of Paris

This isn't really a fact about Sweden, however, this is a picture of the King and Queen of Sweden visiting Paris and my mother was responsible for their greeting. She is the President of the so called "Swedish circle of Paris" which is cultural club located near La Place de la Concorde, which was grounded in 1891. At this club, you can eat traditional Swedish food and lots of events are organized and tons of swedes living in Paris come here to celebrate swedish traditions. Alfred Nobel was one of the first members and was once  the president of the club.

Political situation

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy, which means that Sweden has a king called King Carl XVI Gustav. Even though is title is “head of state”, he has no real power. His influence is limited to official and ceremonial functions. He has a representative role, which means that he represents Sweden when he travels around the world and during important ceremonies in Sweden. There is also a queen called Queen Silvia, a Crown Princess called Victoria, a Prince called Daniel, another Prince called Carl Philip, and another Princess called Madeleine. Although, due to the recent marriage of the Princess Victoria and the high costs linked to the marriage, a lot of swedes are starting to question the necessity of keeping the royal family. A lot of people are arguing that we now live in a new era and that the royal family is just not needed anymore and costs too much money for the taxpayers. However, not many politicians have supported this point of view because of the high risk of loosing a lot of votes.

The nation's legislative body is the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament), with 349 members, which chooses the Prime Minister. The current Prime Minister, elected for the second time in a row is called Fredrik Reinfeldt.

He detains the most of the power in the country and represents Sweden politically. He represents the political party called “Moderaterna” which is a party that tends to have a rather “right-side” political party’s opinions even though Sweden is a generally considered as a Socialist country due to the high level of equality. Parliamentary elections are held every four years, on the third Sunday of September.

Politically, Sweden likes to see itself as a neutral country even though in practice it is not. During the Second World War and the Cold War, Sweden did not publicly join either of the sides. However, they spied on the Soviet Union for the USA during the cold war and let the Germans transport merchandise through the country to avoid conflict.

Generally speaking, Sweden is in a very good shape politically and economically. It is one of the most democratic countries in the world and is the country with the highest level of equality.

I am sorry for the delay in the posts... I am new with the Mac and I lost the word document I had prepared with a lot of interesting facts. I will post several interesting facts about Sweden tomorrow.

General facts about Sweden

Everything you need to know about Sweden, in brief — from climate, to government, to lifestyle.

Area: 174,000 sq mi (450,000 km²), the third largest country in Western Europe
Longest north-south distance: 978 mi (1,574 km)
Longest east-west distance: 310 mi (499 km)
Capital: Stockholm
Population: 9.4 million inhabitants
Languages: Swedish; recognized minority languages: Sami (Lapp), Finnish, Meänkieli (Tornedalen Finnish), Yiddish, Romani Chib
Form of government: Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy
Parliament: The Riksdag, with 349 members in one chamber
Religion: In practice, Sweden is very secularized. The Church of Sweden is Evangelical Lutheran; co-exists with many other beliefs
Life expectancy: Men 79 years, women 83 years