Simple Swedish Podcast - SSP #275 - Svetlana (del 1) - Att komma till Sverige och lära sig svenska snabbt

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

Nivå: B1-B2 Gäst idag är Svetlana Svensson från kanalen Svenska För dig. Här i första delen pratar vi om hur hon kämpade hårt för att lära sig svenska snabbt när hon kom till Sverige, och hur det är att lära sig med sin partner. Svetlana lärde sig svenska så bra att hon nu kan jobba som lärare i svenska. Vilken inspiration! Kolla in hennes Instagram här och YouTube här. Vi talar i normalt tempo, och om du tycker det är svårt att följa med rekommenderar jag att ta hjälp av transkriptet - klicka här. 

Welcome to Simple Swedish Podcast! Today I actually have a guest with me in the podcast. It's Svetlana Svensson from the Swedish for you channel. She came to Sweden as an au pair and she has learned Swedish to such a high level that she can now work as a Swedish teacher and I think that's very impressive. So we talk about that, about learning Swedish, how she learned Swedish, some tips about that, but we also talk about other interesting things like learning your partner's language, speaking your mother's language with your children, when you live in another country,

how she started working in Swedish. And one thing that I found a little funny was how it can be a problem not to know swear words in Swedish. Svärord, that is, ugly words. Words that you shouldn't say. and how it can be a problem not to know the words when you work with children hmmm If you're wondering why that was a problem and the other things here listen to this episode or watch it because we've actually started making this podcast on YouTube as well. So, yes, and she has her own channels. She is on Instagram and TikTok.

And there she is called svenska.for.dej So, svenska för dig, but with dots in between. And there's also on YouTube, svenska för dig. So I'll link to those channels. And, yeah, this episode is of course a little harder, because we're talking regular Swedish, regular tempo so if you think it's a little difficult to follow along, there is a transcript on my Patreon

so I'll link to that as well. Yes, but then we'll take a listen or watch today's episode. So I welcome you Svetlana to the podcast here. So thank you very much for being here. It's fun to talk with you here in the pod? Yes, I think I have been able to come and talk. Yes, so we haven't prepared ourselves very much, just a little bit, and that's also the thought with this that you can be a little spontaneous and so, but can you maybe tell a little about who you are and what you do, maybe? Yes, right now I work as a teacher in Swedish as a second language.

I teach via my social media, you could say. I have Instagram and TikTok and YouTube and Instagram is my biggest blog, you could say. I create short videos where I explain different things. My goal is to explain it as clearly as possible. To show that in some way so that those who learn Swedish have a little easier to understand. So that's what I do. I create short videos and then I also have courses in Swedish. de har lite lättare att förstå. Så det är det jag gör. Jag skapar korta videoer. Sen har jag också kurser i svenska som andraspråk för de som lär sig svenska.

Jag är utbildad lärare. Jag är legitimerad lärare i svenska som andraspråk. Jag har studerat på ett universitet i Sverige. other language. I have studied at a university in Sweden. Yes, it's very cool to do that in a language that is not even the first language, I have to say, because it's, for the first time, it's not the easiest thing to do in general, but but it's a completely different challenge to do that in a language that is not even your first language. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. You don't have to think about anything else, but it's completely correct. But I'm used to it. I've lived in Sweden for 25 years, so it's not that hard. Many have lived in Sweden for 25 years. Just the time, how long you've lived in a country, I find that quite interesting. med tid hur länge man har bott i ett land, det tycker jag är ganska intressant.

För att ibland, man träffar ju ofta människor som kanske har bott i Sverige länge som inte alls pratar, speciellt bara svenska. Jag menar ju inte, det känns som att det beror väldigt mycket på ens egen vilja och så att man kan egentligen bo i ett land hur länge som helst utan att lära sig and so on. You can live in a country for as long as you want without learning the language. But you have learned very, very good Swedish, so top level. I have fought to the very end. It was a bit easier to learn when I was younger. I don't think I could learn any other language right now when I'm younger. But when you're younger, you can do it. But I was lucky enough to learn Swedish. I can tell you more if you want. Yes, so how young were you when you started learning Swedish? You can tell us a little bit about your history. I was 21 when I came to Sweden as a pair, you know what that is? Yes, exactly. You had a family.

Yes, I lived in a family with children who didn't speak English. And then I had to speak Swedish from day one. It sounds a bit funny, but I had to. I left them at day one at school and the first words I learned were kiss, poop, eat, smörgås, and stuff like that. Did you speak Swedish before? No, no, no, nothing. I could only speak English. But they didn't speak English, they were 4 and 6 years old. Yes, so, just the first three days I learned these words tre dagen, då lärde jag mig de här orden som vi kunde använda när jag var med dem själv.

Då var det bara att lära sig mer och mer ord direkt från första veckan. Men hur lärde du dig dem? Hur använde du för metoder för att börja? How did you start learning Swedish? I started learning Swedish on a course of three weeks. I learned Swedish by working with the Swedish adults. I learned Swedish by using it with the kids. They talked constantly. They didn't want me to understand 95% of what they said first. They just keep on talking. I mean, the small children tend to just talk, talk, talk. So they talked a lot and I didn't understand much in the beginning. But then I started to understand more and more. Even though I couldn't talk much. But I started to understand at least. I took a course first, then I took a little break. Then I actually got to read in Cefi at the computer, which was a bit strange because we didn't have a personal number.

But they took me anyway. And then there was quite a lot of Swedish, but then you had to go between 8 and 12 years to study in a group. So then you had a little more intensive training and then it started to go even faster for me. So SFI has, I have heard very different things about SFI, but I often hear that it is bad, and sometimes you hear that it's really good. It depends a little on what kind of teacher you have. I would also say, for those who don't know, that SF everyone can go for free if you have a Swedish ID, as you said there. Yes, but I had fantastic teachers who were in five months because I had to switch to a group that was a bit on a higher level. Then I had to do the test together with a group that started four months before I started, because I studied very fast. But I can say that I got this, it was a bonus that I had someone to talk to all the time. But I have studied a lot myself, you know, it was not like I just said, okay, I'm just going to talk to the kids.

No, as I said, I was at the University of Sweden, five days a week between 8 and 12, four hours. I sent lessons every day. I hung up on the fridge in my room, with words I was going to learn, pictures and words. And I got lessons every day. It wasn't like, okay, I got this without any stress. No. I fought hard. Yes, that's right. It was all day. I fought hard. Yes. It was also that you have to be disciplined to be able to learn the language quickly. And then every day, I would do homework, go to school and speak Swedish. So you had the theoretical

in school and you sat for yourself and did homework and then you had your conversation practice and speech practice with the children there. Yes, exactly. So I was lucky in that I could speak Swedish and that I could practice. But it is important to have a teacher who can explain for you different things, grammar and so on. It can't be the child or someone else I talked to. You still have to learn this base. You have to know why you speak the way you speak.

You can't ask a six-year-old, why is there one here? You also have to have a professional teacher. Just a regular Swedish person can't explain to you why it's like that. No, that's true. Most people need to have a small education to explain the grammar, for example. It's actually very difficult to explain grammar in your own language. Yes. If you haven't studied grammar.

if you haven't studied grammar. That's true. I have experience myself. I had a man who was Swedish and he wanted to learn Russian instead. So he asked me, and I said, okay, I'm going to try this. But then it was like, okay, you have to explain something like Russian grammar. I don't remember how it was and how to explain it to a person who is learning Russian. So I had to read it to explain it. It's good to have a professional teacher who can explain for you, someone who has read a bit of Swedish grammar. Russian grammar is very complex. Yes, it's very difficult. My husband has not learned. My husband is Swedish by the way. You are married to a Swedish woman. Yes, I am a Swedish woman.

I met my husband two months after I came to Sweden. So then I had... We started talking in English, because then I don't have that much Swedish. But after two months he said, now we are going to start talking in Swedish. And then we also started talking Swedish with him. And then, and he was pretty good at correcting me, and I'm grateful for that, because he said, he didn't want to, not in a partial way,

but he corrected me so that I could learn the correct pronunciation or maybe words that are not available then. So I got quite a lot of help there too. This is very interesting. Because it often seems that a partner is not particularly good to have as a teacher. And I also usually tell people to not use your partner as a teacher, don't ask your partner to correct you because your partner wants to be your partner, your partner doesn't want to be your teacher, and often it's quite difficult to change languages.

At the same time, I have also seen with my own eyes how a couple has changed languages, and so on, but it's not such an easy process. So I became very curious about how it went. He had a lot of patience. But it was his initiative. Yes, it was his initiative and he had patience with me. But it wasn't so successful when he would teach me to drive a car, when I was going to take a driving license. He taught you?

No, but I already knew how to drive a car in Russia. But I had a period when I didn't drive at all. And when I sat down in Verattam I was very scared to drive. And then I needed to train to take driving lessons in Sweden. But then it was hard for us. He tried to explain things and teach me. It was a tough period. But when it came to the language, it actually went very well.

He had patience and he... But when you were in the beginning, maybe you didn't have that high a level? No. But in what way did he correct you? Was it always so wrong or was it more that he gave you some feedback? No, but a little more, a little here and there, a few words and so on. I got all the theory from school and so on, but I could ask if it was right to say that, if it was right to write that way, if the word was followed correctly here or some things like that. But it was a little more of certain words and things, but not that he corrected every single meaning. No, no, it wasn't like that, but certain things. If I pronounced something completely crazy and stuff like that.

Okay, so he was still pretty pedagogical. Yes, exactly. Yes, but it's a song. Because it can often be very negative to correct someone else. When you don't... I knew I needed that, so it wasn't that I was sad or angry at her. I think it was just... it was good for me. I wanted to find a job in Sweden too. You can correct in a positive and negative way.

What would you say the limit is? If you correct too much and are critical, it becomes very negative. Yes, exactly. But at the same time, you need constant feedback to get better. Yes, but you just have to do it in a kind way, I think. Here you can say this instead, or you don't say exactly that, but not that you're stupid. Like you do with children, maybe? Exactly. Many parents correct their children without thinking about it very much. If the child says something, for example,

one apple, I want one apple, then the parent says, do you want to have an apple? And then the child learns, of course. Yes, so you don't say, oh no, that was wrong. Yes, exactly. Ah, you want an apple. Exactly, and then it's how children learn the language, really. Exactly. Oh, you want an apple. Exactly. And that's how children learn the language, really. Many of them don't even think about the fact that they repeat many times in a correct way.

Right, it's quite... Not that you... So not correct, but that you repeat, but rather that you correct in the right way. In the right way, exactly. But there are no parents who could say to their children, oh, now you're talking wrong. You should say this, no. You just correct it, or something like that, in a nice way.

And then the child learns by doing. Right. Another thing that I think was important was that it was his initiative. Because often I hear about people who want the partner to be right and who want the partner to speak Swedish with them and so on. But it feels like it only works if it comes from the partner and that it is the partner himself who wants it. He wanted me to stay in Sweden. He understood that I had to learn the language to function in society. So of course he was willing to help out in that way. So then he thought, okay, it would be best if I started as soon as possible, to learn as much as possible. Interesting. And it's fun to hear that it actually works to learn with your partner too, Om man gör det på rätt sätt. Ja. Sen har jag ju pratat nu. Det är inte bara med din partner.

Ja, men men. Jag förstår att jag har ju lite tur. Jag menar, jag träffar många elever som inte har någon att prata med. Alls. De kanske jobbar. who don't have anyone to talk to at all. They maybe work, when they work they talk in English and at home they talk about their mother's goals with their partner, with their children. And it's difficult, you know, if you can't speak Swedish anywhere. If you try to learn, and it's one at one point you can speak Swedish in a food store. Was that good? Yes. What do you usually

give as a tip to those people? For example, if you want to find a partner, you do something actively to find a partner. For example, you get Tinder or you try to go somewhere where you can meet people. But that's what you should do. You can't just sit at home and think that this is just coming by itself. I suddenly start to find someone to talk to. You have to actively search somewhere. Often you have neighbors, for example, among some older neighbors who are willing to talk about things. So you have to see, do I have any neighbors I can talk to? Maybe. Can I go to a language cafe?

I don't know, something else. Maybe if you have a hobby, maybe you can start somewhere where you speak Swedish as well, besides your job and stuff. Absolutely. Something, you have to look for yourself. You can't say, oh, but I have nothing to talk to me and I do nothing to find somewhere this place where I can speak Swedish. Or find a part-time job. I don't know something where you can start to overcome. Or now for the time being,

there is actually internet and you can actually pay someone who can talk to you. There are websites where you can book a professional teacher, but only a native speaker who you pay to speak Swedish for an hour or two hours or three hours a week. There are so many opportunities, but you have to see what are the opportunities, what can I do? Yes, absolutely. And it's actually something that I'm doing, because I've seen this problem a lot. Especially if you don't live in Sweden, it's extra tricky. There are even apps, I don't know what they're called, but I know they exist, where you can find other people who want to speak the same language as you. They may learn as well, but you can still practice online.

Yes, who learn the same language as you. Yes, exactly. What I have done is to find language partners who switch languages with each other. For example, when I lived in Budapest and learned English, I met a girl who learned Swedish. That made me learn a lot of English. We met and we spoke 50% Swedish and 50% English. Yes, that's how you can do it. But we also have this language gym,

which is our online program where you can go and practice your Swedish every day. We started that, just because of this problem. But I have also myself had to handle this when I have learned my language. I live in Spain right now, so I speak fluent Spanish, but I still want to learn better and better. But luckily I actually speak a lot of Spanish with my girlfriend. It's a little 50-50 in English and Spanish. Korean than you? Not so much, but maybe I don't need to. You don't need to? However, I can ask her about what I think is most...

What is... Yes, I already know fluent Spanish, but I still need a little more vocabulary. She's not from here, she's from Morocco, but she knows Spanish very well, because she's lived here since she was a teenager and studied here and so on. So I can learn a little from her. Okay, good. That was something I was going to ask you about that was related to this. Now I remember it. det. Men jag tror att det var det. För nästa grej som jag ville fråga om var just det här med att börja jobba på svenska. Eller först kan du kanske bara berätta lite hur du kom till Sverige, start working in Swedish. Or first, can you maybe just tell us a little bit about how you came to Sweden,

or why you came to Sweden, and how you came to Sweden, just as you said, back then. Yes, exactly. As I said, I came here as a pair. And then I was the first part. Soon the second part will also be out, so yes, keep an eye out for that.