Learning about Swedish culture and language

For our upcoming trip to Sweden, my wife Lauri is reading up on the peculiarities of Swedish culture and the language. She's found some interesting articles and I thought to share them with the rest of you.

Let's get a grip on Swedish culture

The best resource for learning about Swedish culture is put up by Smörgåsbord.se. The chapters cover art, religion, music, food and drink and much else.

There are ways to tell if you are Swedish and sweden.se has a brief article on some Swedish cultural peculiarities.

Swedish is very difficult to speak

Apparently, Swedish is quite a difficult language to learn. If nothing else because there's a distinct lack of good teachers. Not surprising given that there are only 9 million Swedes to go around. Francis Strand, an American magazine editor living in Stockholm, has blogged about learning to live in Sweden and the Swedish language for several years at How to learn Swedish in 1000 difficult lessons.

Now, if you actually want to learn Swedish, you can use the Stockholm School of Economics' Swedish - a brief presentation free 9-chapter starter course.