"I've been with my husband for about a year, and we moved to Sweden about six months ago. He was born and raised in Sweden but moved to the U.S. for university 25 years ago. I don't speak Swedish well, but I was able to find a job where I can work entirely in English, and it is quite easy to get around day-to-day with English."
"While I'm enjoying getting better at the language, I'm running into problems at events for my husband's family. While they're all fluent in English, they prefer to speak in Swedish. I completely understand that! Swedish is the language of their family-I wouldn't expect them to switch to English at every event just for me. I can listen and catch the gist of 70 percent of what they're saying, but speaking is still very difficult for me."
A non-Swedish-speaking spouse moved to Sweden six months after being with her husband for a year. She found work that operates in English and studies Swedish in evening classes, doing homework and practicing in daily life. Family members prefer to speak Swedish at gatherings, and the spouse can understand about 70 percent but struggles to speak. Requests to respond in English were declined because relatives find switching languages difficult. She mostly listens, contributes when able, sometimes relies on her husband to translate, and faces criticism from relatives who perceive her as distant.
Read at Slate Magazine
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