Swedes and Finns: What're your opinions on your countries?

[Eddy]

This is where we are (going).

Immigrants don't have to do anything and we pay a LOT to them, and talking about it is instantly racist. I don't have anything against them, since I know it basically goes like this: They're taken in, they're never helped to get jobs or learn the language or how things are done around here for that matter; and then given the chance of either working or not doing anything. In most cases they actually get more money by not doing anything.

I can't blame them, I would do the same thing in their place. It would be fucking stupid to work for living in that situation, unless you get a job with a real pay.

And +1 to most of Torniojaws' points, some of them were spot on.

Exactly. And some of the reasoning behind taking in more immigrants is "because Sweden takes in more." The politics around all kinds of immigration are fucked up.

Just days ago the chairman of the third biggest party in Finland said that it should be thought again about attracting foreign workers to Finland, as there are already ~300 000 unemployed finns at the moment. Now everyone in the media and the top politicians are on his throat, saying that it was a despicable, racist etc. thing to say.

 

[BrettT]

I wish I could do that *here*...

Jeff

Hahaha...I totally agree! Never thought I would feel the NEED to learn another language to properly communicate with fellow Americans...then I moved to Austin.

 

[Notuern]

Dude, are you saying Sweden will seriously deport some people who had immigrated there like 10 years ago? Are we talking like police forces breaking down the doors and arresting these people if they refuse to cooperate?

Kind of, yes.
We managed to help one of our neighbours who had lived here for 8 years before she got told she was about to get deported(Even though she had a job and a family here in Sweden.).
We basically collected signatures from over a thousand people and sent in to the immigration office, and they re-evaluated her file and she got her citizenship.

The problem is that for some people, it takes such enormous amounts of time before they get their citizenship.. others almost get it the same day they get in to this country.

And thats kind of what i hate, because we kick the good honest people out, but let the criminals stay in.

My brother got stabbed 8 times in the back of the had with a bottle by an illegal immigrant.
It later turned out this guy had murdered a guy with a machete, broken a guys kneecaps etc.
He got a visa and got thrown in to prison, and to you guys who dont know about Swedish prisons: They are frikkin' hotels.
You get a private room with a tv-set, and you can earn "points" to get an xbox or computer in your room, and they get better food then we get in our schools.

So yeah, my neighbor who got a job the first thing she did when she moved here was supposed to be sent home, but the guy who stabbed my brother in the back of the head 8 times got to stay.

 

[Skinny Viking]

Kind of, yes.
We managed to help one of our neighbours who had lived here for 8 years before she got told she was about to get deported(Even though she had a job and a family here in Sweden.).
We basically collected signatures from over a thousand people and sent in to the immigration office, and they re-evaluated her file and she got her citizenship.

The problem is that for some people, it takes such enormous amounts of time before they get their citizenship.. others almost get it the same day they get in to this country.

And thats kind of what i hate, because we kick the good honest people out, but let the criminals stay in.

My brother got stabbed 8 times in the back of the had with a bottle by an illegal immigrant.
It later turned out this guy had murdered a guy with a machete, broken a guys kneecaps etc.
He got a visa and got thrown in to prison, and to you guys who dont know about Swedish prisons: They are frikkin' hotels.
You get a private room with a tv-set, and you can earn "points" to get an xbox or computer in your room, and they get better food then we get in our schools.

So yeah, my neighbor who got a job the first thing she did when she moved here was supposed to be sent home, but the guy who stabbed my brother in the back of the head 8 times got to stay.

Thats pretty fucked to say the least

 

[::XeS::]

Kind of, yes.
We managed to help one of our neighbours who had lived here for 8 years before she got told she was about to get deported(Even though she had a job and a family here in Sweden.).
We basically collected signatures from over a thousand people and sent in to the immigration office, and they re-evaluated her file and she got her citizenship.

The problem is that for some people, it takes such enormous amounts of time before they get their citizenship.. others almost get it the same day they get in to this country.

And thats kind of what i hate, because we kick the good honest people out, but let the criminals stay in.

My brother got stabbed 8 times in the back of the had with a bottle by an illegal immigrant.
It later turned out this guy had murdered a guy with a machete, broken a guys kneecaps etc.
He got a visa and got thrown in to prison, and to you guys who dont know about Swedish prisons: They are frikkin' hotels.
You get a private room with a tv-set, and you can earn "points" to get an xbox or computer in your room, and they get better food then we get in our schools.

So yeah, my neighbor who got a job the first thing she did when she moved here was supposed to be sent home, but the guy who stabbed my brother in the back of the head 8 times got to stay.

Not good at all.
But you know, it's like here. This racist party now, are fighting against foreigners but not the criminals I mean, it's way better for them to fight the good foreigners that already work and pay taxes, than search the bad foreigners.
So on one side you exploit foreigners for their money, taxes etc... and on the other side you fight them....it's so stupid.
So you see these majors on these little town that avoid the foreigners childrens to eat in the dining hall with other kids, etc, etc...
But you know, you've always to hear all the voices...because sometime ago I thought the same things about foreigner "they are all criminals"...but if you watch better, it's not like that. Looot of people are good and work hard and when you see these politicians that fight only the good ones, because the bad ones are usufull to create the "foreigner fear"...it's so bad.
Apart from immigration policies, you've a good country where you can live well...here immigration is only a little part of a fucked up country

 

[Sickan]

That doesn't sound like all that much at all (assuming it's annual, or even monthly) - do you think there's anything about his situation that means he has to pay significantly less than most people, or is that the norm?

Ofc it's monthly!
Doesn't that sound much?
What is the tax % in your state?

 

[::XeS::]

Ofc it's monthly!
Doesn't that sound much?
What is the tax % in your state?

My father paid something like 70000€ last year...

 

[Notuern]

Not good at all.
But you know, it's like here. This racist party now, are fighting against foreigners but not the criminals I mean, it's way better for them to fight the good foreigners that already work and pay taxes, than search the bad foreigners.
So on one side you exploit foreigners for their money, taxes etc... and on the other side you fight them....it's so stupid.
So you see these majors on these little town that avoid the foreigners childrens to eat in the dining hall with other kids, etc, etc...
But you know, you've always to hear all the voices...because sometime ago I thought the same things about foreigner "they are all criminals"...but if you watch better, it's not like that. Looot of people are good and work hard and when you see these politicians that fight only the good ones, because the bad ones are usufull to create the "foreigner fear"...it's so bad.
Apart from immigration policies, you've a good country where you can live well...here immigration is only a little part of a fucked up country

Yeah, im definitly not going to bash on foreigners as i have Finnish heritage, and i know how hard my grandmother worked to get here.
But i think there is a very simple and easy solution to all of these problems: If an immigrant commits to a "serious" crime within the first 2 years they live here, send them back to their home country!
Seriously, it makes 0 sense to me why you would let an immigrant stay in the country after physically assaulting or robbing someone.

I live in a community with LOTS of immigrants, and i think it would be ashame to close down the borders, but in the direction Sweden is going, its either going to end with us shutting down the borders, or letting the country get "flooded" until our economy collapses.

 

[::XeS::]

Yes you're totally right...it's so simple, but politicians "use" bad immigrants to do what I said in the past post. Sad.

 

[Notuern]

About the taxes: In Sweden, we tax a total amount of 47,1% of our GDP.. whereas in for example Canada, you tax 32,2%.
Or in the US, where you tax 26,9%.

 

[::XeS::]

Yes, different things. Anyway in US they pay for hospital, insurances etc...

 

[DecTV]

No, it's definately a cool place. Why there though instead of TKK (Teknillinen korkeakoulu)? I keep hearing it's considered to be the place to be in if you want to study maths etc.

TKK was internationally better known until this year as Helsinki University of Technology (HUT). Now it's called Aalto University School of Science and Technology

I guess University of Helsinki is pretty good for math. A friend of mine (M. Sc., majored in math) is doing his doctorate there and he could have pretty much chosen any university to do that.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Ofc it's monthly!
Doesn't that sound much?
What is the tax % in your state?

Hmm, yeah, I guess that is a lot now that I think of it, though I guess it depends how big of a percentage of his overall income it is (for someone making $80k annually, for example, $2800 monthly is only like 1/3 of their monthly income)

 

[colynomial]

Do you Swedes have to learn English in school growing up? It seems as if every Swede has impeccable English. Although I've heard that Swedish and English are fairly similar as far as languages go- I tried to learn a bit of Swedish myself just because I thought it would be cool to go into Ikea and be able to translate the product names. "Förstår du Engelska" and doesn't get you very far I guess though...

 

[Notuern]

The income tax in Sweden is set at 20%(25% if you earn more then 40000skr a month.).

Do you Swedes have to learn English in school growing up? It seems as if every Swede has impeccable English. Although I've heard that Swedish and English are fairly similar as far as languages go- I tried to learn a bit of Swedish myself just because I thought it would be cool to go into Ikea and be able to translate the product names. "Förstår du Engelska" and doesn't get you very far I guess though...

Yup.
We start learning English when we begin school(Basics like the English alphabet in pre-school.), then we study it until we finish our secondary education(Our equivalent to highschool).
English is a so called "base subject", which basically means that if you fail English, you are not allowed to begin your secondary education.
We study English just as much as Swedish in our schools, so yeah, most of us get pretty good!

Translate the product names at IKEA?
They usually name their furniture after the cheesiest old Swedish names you could find, like "Kurt-Arnes Säng", basically being the equivalent of "Archibald-Bartholomew's Bed".
Nah, but seriously, IKEA name their furniture after old Swedish names and farms, just like the name IKEA: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd
Ingvar Kamprad is the name of the founder, Elmtaryd is the name of the farm he was raised in, Agunnaryd is the name of the town the farm was located in.. and that kind of stuff is incorporated in to their furnitures as well.

 

[Petrocker]

Do you Swedes have to learn English in school growing up?

Yep!
I wouldnt say it's similar to english. Swedish is (atleast what everybody says) very hard to learn.

 

[colynomial]

Hmm... Well it seems like at least some of the vocabulary is similar? More similar than it would be between, say, English and Mandarin. Also, it just seems like most Swedes have comparitively mild accents compared with others who don't speak English as a first language. But I guess that's only going one direction- English to Swedish might be a lot harder.

 

[Notuern]

Id say that Swedish and English is kind of similar when it comes to how you build your sentences.
But apart from that they are very different.

And most Swedes i know have pretty heavy Swedish accents when they speak English.
Dei arr touking lejk dis ju nov(They are talking like this you know.).. i my self have a pretty bad accent at the moment, all because my f-ing teacher that forced me to learn "proper British accent", when i already had a flawless Texas accent; A family from Texas moved in next door to me, and their kid didnt speak a word in Swedish, so when we played together i had to learn English, as such, i got their accent.. but then that f*cking teacher had to ruin it, because apparently American English isnt nice enough, you have to speak like a tea-loving hobosexual.

 

[updog]

Yep!
I wouldnt say it's similar to english. Swedish is (atleast what everybody says) very hard to learn.

Definitely not as hard as finnish. It's the weirdest language ever, plus it sounds like japanese or something (what I've heard) not to mention finnish people never use proper finnish when they're talking, ever!

 

[::XeS::]

Yes, swedish and english senteces are quite similar. When I was in Stockholm and I watched some movie on tv (in english), the subtitles are structured like the speaks.
Anyway, in Sweden all the movie are in original language so they learn english since they are kids, learning the musicality of the speaking etc... in other countries the movies are translated so people learn only his own language.