discover sweden

There are several books available that can offer you further insights into Swedish culture.

Modern Day Vikings: A Practical Guide to Interacting with the Swedes by Christina, Johansson Robinowitz and Lisa Werner Carr

Lagom The Very Unofficial Guide to the Swedes by Christer Amnéus. A dictionary for all those non-translatable Swedish words.

Swedish Mentality by Åke Daun . A serious book about the background of Swedish Society.

The Swedish Code What makes the Swedes so Swedish? by Marie Bengts, Uli Bruno, and Silvia Nilson-Puccio.

Things Swedish by Mari Hemming. Get a taste of Swedish culture, design and cooking.

Celebrating the Swedish Way by Po Tidholm and Agneta Lilja. A colorful booklet about traditions and festivities.

(Information provided by ITIM Culture and Management Consultants)

"Living and working in Stockholm gives us insight and information about the Swedish way of life. Sometimes it can be difficult to understand typical Swedish behavior. For example, you may wonder why it is difficult to establish contact with someone you meet every day at the bus stop. When you finally are able to start a conversation you will only get short answers to your questions without any additional information. This is because Swedes often don't feel comfortable with small talk with strangers. They sometimes call it cold-talk (kallprat). When you have a conversation, they will not easily interrupt you as that would be impolite. They wait for their turn, which might be a long time, especially when they are among foreigners!”

Once you have become acquainted with some Swedes, they might invite you to a dinner party. If your host has told you 19.00, you can expect everyone to be there at 19.00 sharp. Punctuality is a virtue in Sweden. Appearing late needs a very good reason. Your hosts will do their very best to ensure a perfect evening with a well “dukat” table (table covered with the nicest linen and porcelain), good food, the right wine and “trevligt” (nice) company. Dress nicely for the evening as Swedes tend to dress informally at work and dress up when they go out.

Although singing during dinner is a part of the more traditional Swedish events, you should not feel uncomfortable when there is a silence. If it is impossible to be direct without a confrontation, a Swede will often remain silent. They may want to say something but may be too reserved or afraid of being rude to do so, and, therefore, prefer to be quiet. After dinner you should thank the host for the meal before leaving the table. Swedes thank often. They do not have a word for please, but instead use the word “tack”, (thank you) much more. They say “tack” or “tack tack” and will answer with “tack” as well. They say “tack för maten “after dinner and they say “tack för senast “which means thank you for your hospitality the last time we met. So many thanks may give you the feeling it is not sincere anymore. But this is the Swedish way to give a compliment, as they will never say directly what a good job you did!

If you are able to deal with cultural differences such as these, your life in Sweden, or any country for that matter, will be easier.

1. 1. Foods in Sweden have a season, so enjoy strawberries (jordgubbe) during the summer, chanterelle (kantarell) mushrooms in the autumn, and look forward to delicious saffron (saffran) buns in December.

   2. Shops often get limited supplies of things, so if you see, for example, fleece-lined boots in your child's size - buy them.

   3. Queuing systems are installed in many shops and most banks and post offices. Customers take numbered tickets from a dispensing machine and wait until their number comes up on a display.

   4. In summertime it gets light very early. Blackout blinds can help you to get a good night’s sleep!