People from Sweden and English Language

[mbarys]

I have a question for everyone out there from Sweden. I've noticed a lot of Swedish bands sing in English opposed to Swedish, is it a learned language growing up in Sweden or do a lot of people (like singers) pick it up because of how many people understand English (easier to sell records worldwide)?

Thanks for your opinions,
Matt

 

[Staffan]

I don't know but in metal(except folk and Viking) it's like a dogma that says that you should sing in english...

 

[MountainDweller]

I can swear I read somewhere that you're required to learn English in Sweden, so the majority of people there speak English.

 

[Risedfromthedead]

You learn English as second language in school from fourth grade or something. Almost every teenager in Sweden can speak English...

 

[Risedfromthedead]

We sing in English because our favourite famous bands sings in English and we think it sounds better... atleast I think so.

 

[mbarys]

Cool! Thanks for the replies!

Matt

 

[Heliologue]

matt, how old are you and what do you do? would i know you from school (west) or are you vocational now?

 

[mbarys]

Probably not. Graduated in '93 and went to Central.

Matt

matt, how old are you and what do you do? would i know you from school (west) or are you vocational now?

 

[Children of Flames]

You learn English as second language in school from fourth grade or something. Almost every teenager in Sweden can speak English...

That goes for Norway as well, we learn it from 3rd grade though!

 

[Torenstain]

If I am not too mistaken Sweden is alot like Norway, and in Norway we learn english from we are eight years old, therefore all teenagers are competent english speakers (I for one is 15 years old).

A important factor is also that all movies etc are english.

And yes singing in english is better than norwegian at least , I don't know why... songs just sounds better with that language. And to me swedish is a bit weird, as it is more like a parody of Norwegian (swedish, danish and norwegian is very simmilar) and is therefore a bit weird, when I listen to for example Vintersorg's "Ödemarkens son" the entire album is in swedish and although I really like the album I don't like the singing as much since it is in swedish, but it seems that swedish is easier than norwegian.

 

[Staffan]

Actually we learn english from 1:st grade now... I'm born '86

 

[osse87]

School systems amy differ from country to country, but I started learning English when i was nine. That was 3rd grade, as Children Of Flames said.

 

[Useful Idiot]

...therefore all teenagers are competent english speakers (I for one is 15 years old).

Classic...

 

[DE]

therefore all teenagers are competent english speakers (I for one is 15 years old).

I know it's harsh, and I don't see me speaking norwegian, but that sentence seemed ironic to me Sorry

 

[Torenstain]

Just as I read over it now I see how that looks... oops

 

[ControlledChaos]

I started learning english in 10th grade. And I'm from California.

 

[Beth]

Classic...

hehehe, leave him alone

I started learning english in 10th grade. And I'm from California.

I wouldn't brag about that :Smug:





I love Nordic people

 

[mbarys]

Dude, good one!

Actually, I'm surprised that Spanish isn't our second language we are taught from grade school in America.

Matt

I started learning english in 10th grade. And I'm from California.

 

[FlatteningOfEmotions]

Spanish is required here, and you have to have 2 Spanish courses to go to college. We also had to learn some Spanish when I was in the 4th grade, however I don't remember any of it because they just stopped trying.

 

[keeper of the flame]

This is an interesting topic. I'm from Holland. Over here most children learn English as a foreign language starting in elementary school and continuing in secondary school. At universities lots of books are available in English only. So they have to be well prepared. But still it's not as if though everyone is a fluent speaker. Most people born after 1960 can understand English to a certain degree. But all English series, films, talkshows etc. come with subtitles. So we are used to hearing lots of spoken English but don't actually listen to it and we don't speak it anywhere unless we have to, like on the internet. Most songs we hear are in English, but we don't really understand every word. Especially in rap music. If you ask people what they pick up from lyrics, most will answer:Oh, I just listen to the music. It's the same in most European countries I guess except for the UK of course.