Alternative to Canada
 

Canada sounds great. Not everyone makes it there though as we all know it is not an easy process for many. We have been living in Northern Sweden for 5 years now and love it. We see the area as Sweden's smaller cousin. Great healthcare, schools and an easy going out door lifestyle with plenty of skiing, fishing and freedom. Sweden's not as expensive as it once was and is comparable to the UK price wise on most fronts. Except housing. The cost of property is dramatically less here than in the UK.

If anyone would like further information on moving here, please just ask us!

Best wishes.

Kerstin.

Re: Alternative to Canada
 

Much as you may have a point, please take a look at the site rules

Dont be a one track poster, it looks a lot like spam if its all you post about.

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Its a good point. Just starting and trying to find our feet in this forum. Not much here relating to Sweden at the moment so I am trying to jump into threads as best I can. Just commented on lunchtime boozing in Canada. Booze and Sweden are like oil and water. A thin layer of one thing on the surface and a whole lot of something else going on underneath.

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but don't you have to speak Swedish?

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It depends how you can survive financially. A lot of Europeans come here to retire. The language is then at your own discretion as to how uncomfortable you feel without much Swedish. The English language is very important to the Swedes and is core curriculum for kids after age 7 or 8. A lot of higher education course are offered only in English.

Most people over 40 have a very good basic knowledge of English and if you couple that with 60% of the TV coming from the US and the UK, its no big surprise that most Swede's you meet have great English.

Having said all of that, our first couple of years was spent chasing anyone over 60 down the road as they did not want to speak to the English people. Most Swedes are a bit embarrassed about their knowledge of English. Crazy really as in 90% of cases their English is a hundred times better than our Swedish...:o

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not to watch the movies they produce :rofl::rofl:
(so i've been told)

Alternative to Canada
 

Biggest problem I have here is trying to convince my visiting mates that the local sauna is not a meeting place for the local 'boys who like boys'. Apparently sauna clubs are a huge business in London. 46 years old and still a shed load to learn.:blink:

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Just to add, they had that very good police television programme with that actor that always does Shakespeare stuff.

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That was an English production shot in southern Sweden. Very nicely done and shown here in English. The Swedish Wallander is a bit clunkier, like comparing the new Batman to the old 60's fella.

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If I was 21 again, I'd seriously think about moving to Sweden. :thumbup:

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I couldn't move to a country that speaks another language and just expect to be able to speak English. Maybe most people speak English anyway, but to me that just smacks of that UK colonialism type attitude 'I speak English so everyone else must!'
I've visited Finland before and loved it there, would consider a move there but for the language. I'm not really good at foreign languages :unsure:

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I have heard from some expats (married to Finns) that Finnish is like, way hard to learn. Way way hard. Harder than Swedish.

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I lived there a few months - it is hard, but at least have rules to follow.
It is hard for them to learn English too, they just start early.

I could still buy ice cream, chocolate, stamps, milk, cheese, bilberries - clearly I ate well over there;)

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Apparently it’s as hard as Hungarian, which is hard to learn.

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Cannot see the point to your thread at all. So every time someone asks aquestion about Canada you plan on giving an answer about Sweden?

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Finnish and Hungarian are both offshoots of Turkish.

Finnish has no relation to the other Scandinavian languages, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.

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The point is not every brit can get into Canada, whereas Sweden is an EU nation with some similar characteristics (and some very different ones!)

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And truth be told, the girls are way fitter in Sweden. :thumbup:

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I've read all the Wallander series books and seen all the UK and Swedish TV versions. I find I prefer the Swedish made TV episodes to the UK ones with Kenneth Branagh. Different strokes for different folks, eh?

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Hmmm. Sweden? Well yeah I can see that. It's not something you would consider unless someone did say it was possible.
As for the language. Well Brits have been moving to Spain and France for years now. Many of them don't speak a word of the local lingo and get by just fine.
However, if you promote it too much you may in 5 years time regret it! Then it will be complaints about drunken Brits, rising property prices, vacant holiday homes etc, etc.:sneaky:

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What about schools? Surely the secondary education is in Swedish?
Could a British teenager ( who is actually very good at modern languages but does not know a word of Swedish at the moment) fit in Sweden?

I am asking because I actually thought about working in Sweden for a few years, but the prospect of my son moving with me and not being able to adjust discouraged me a bit...He is older and more adaptable now, perhaps I should reconsider...?

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I was thinking of Van Der Valk, then remembered that was somewhere like Amsterdam innit.

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Err, the reason English is the second language of choice worldwide is not really anything to do with the UK. Rather with the US.

I should think Cantonese is next.

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Anyone else struggling with the relevancy of this thread in its current location? Can the OP not request a 'Sweden Forum' or post within the Europe one.:confused:

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Good point. Any suggestions? I don't think there is a Finnish or Swedish section on this site, is there? Can anyone help with this. 18,000 Brits in Sweden and I have connected with a few. Would be nice to have a place on BE.:blink:

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Must be all that exercise! :rofl:

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Definitely. I must admit I do struggle with the UK versions name pronunciations.

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Probably be Mandarin - sorry to be picky:D

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And some. Finns have the most words than any other nations vocabulary. A friend of ours moved here from Finland when she was 15 (50 now). She comes from just over the border to Sweden and when she speaks to friends from her home, town they use both languages mixed up. Really odd. Finland's often voted best country to live in. Could be because they have over 400,000 Father Christmases:confused:

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No problem. We all own guns up here. The locals would love to take part in a bit of buckshot target shooting on the imported louts. Anyway, booze is too expensive here. The one downer....as well as 4 hours daylight mid-winter and -30c. You need to start a fire under your car to start it sometimes:unsure:

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I'm sure I read somewhere that Mandarin was 3rd and Spanish was second...

Also I like Sweden but for my dyslexic son we need to move to somewhere English speaking, he has enough troubloe at school without struggling to learn a new language! Tak!

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I can understand that. The schools are very accommodating here. Society is very child orientated so I am sure they would cope. NS sounds like a better first choice though:fingerscrossed:

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Hi. English is a huge part of the language here so communication would not be a problem. There is a hell of a lot of French used in Swedish as well as the root Germanic influence. The words are just pronounced differently, garage, information for example. Many words are similar to English and easy to remember, house is hus, boat is båt (pronounced bott), hi is hej etc. Having English here is actually a massive advantage as all the kids want to use it and Brit kids here are very popular. Two kids from the UK live locally and they have nearly perfect Swedish after 2 years. Admittedly they are younger. Check out The Local, a Swedish website in English all about Sweden. www.thelocal.se .:)

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Unlikely.... that's only spoken in Hong Kong.

Edit: Should have read the rest of thread before replying as LL already pointed this out.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/...-the-cold.html

hmmmmmm.

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Lapland Loungers, thanks a lot for your hugely encouraging reply.

Who knows we might meet somewhere in Sweden some time in 6 months...

Sweden is now on my list of possible destinations...

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Totally understand your cynicism. The international property market just died after the credit crunch unfortunately. There are MANY MANY more effective ways of advertising a house for sale than trawling through an expat forum. Just to prove a point, if anyone wants to look for a house in Sweden, www.hemnet.se is the best place to start.;)

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You are very welcome. I hope you find where and what you are looking for.