Fun Swedish

In May we collaborated with New to Sweden to create some language-related tips for international jobseekers in Sweden. Here is one of the videos we made: https://lnkd.in/dcmT22jF

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐒𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬). Last spring, I took a Greek course for beginners with a friend. We were 8 students. 3 had Greek partners. 3 had summer houses in Greece. One of them was Maria Svensson. Plus me and my friend, a fellow language nerd. As a Swedish teacher myself, learning a language from 0 helps me gain some perspective. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 First day, everyone was excited. Especially Maria Svensson. She was hoping to speak Greek with her Greek neighbours and one day retire in Greece. But the excitement didn't last long. The teacher did as she was told, as many do, and followed the textbook page by page. After a few lessons, 50% of the students had dropped out of the course. Including Maria. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠? Instead of learning meaningful things for us (like ordering food in Greek, common words and phrases to speak to greeks) we learned things that were totally irrelevant. Like how to say and write “West Germany” in Greek (yes, that’s right. The book was so old the world map still had “West Germany”). Things got even worse when we started talking about grammar. 75% of the students were immediately confused. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 The textbook had complicated grammar words, like “possessive pronouns” which the teacher assumed everyone understood. But in reality, most students didn't. Which is a classic teacher mistake. Even I made it when I started teaching Spanish at 18 years old. The consequence is that you will make other people feel stupid. They will feel that they are incapable of learning and will quit. Just like Maria did, giving up on her dream. The last time Maria came to class she said “I guess I will have to stay in Sweden. I am too dumb to learn Greek and will never be able to talk to Greeks”. This was so painful to hear. 😥 And it is sadly, the reality of many Swedish students as well. In my view, it all comes down to the teaching method. Experiences like this one are the main reason why we founded Fun Swedish To help students 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 because they enjoy every second of it! ⚫ Have you stopped learning something because it felt too difficult or boring?  ⚫ Have you continued learning something longer than planned because it was so much fun? Let us know in the comments! 

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐇𝐑: Suggesting SFI sets your employees up for FAILURE! (statistics!) SFI has many courses and levels (9 different to be exact). Yet 50% of ALL students that go to SFI QUIT before passing a single level! 😱 As a Swedish HR professional, working in an international company, you might be tempted to ignore this AND THINK: “This is surely not the case of my talented Software Engineers with 2 PHDs”. 🤓 But I am afraid you would be wrong. 🙃 SFI Kurs 3C is THE course those people go to first. And it has a 59% 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞: So SFI is serving the highly educated (Master degree + student) 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞. 🤯 These people are QUITTING SFI on mass, and not learning the language. Not because they are lazy, but because the experience is a disgrace. 😥 If the company you worked for lost 59% of their most qualified customers every year, you would be going bankrupt in no time. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡. Swedish is not really a hard language. For example, our Students at Fun Swedish 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬! Next time an international talent, who just relocated to Sweden, asks you where they can learn Swedish, please 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐃 𝐒𝐅𝐈. ❌ Or at least warn them of its horrible track record. So they can adjust their expectations. 😅 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐅𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭?  🤔 PS: There are of course some SFI teachers that are good. But statistics show 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐅𝐈 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐢𝐧𝐠. Source: https://lnkd.in/gPq8CDqA

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐑 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭? (𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬) This is what we at Fun Swedish found out from our B2B clients after years of providing Fun and Engaging Swedish lessons. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Sure you can survive with just English in Sweden. But lots of things get easier. Which results in less stress (dealing with doctors appointments, Skatteverket, your kids preschool etc). And more enjoyment (easier to make friends, follow current events, etc). 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 Happy employees = less quitting. For companies competing for top talent, this is key. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐅𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 Low quality Swedish lessons can feel like a waste of time and energy. Helping them solve this issue leads to more engaged and focussed employees. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 Knowing more Swedish and Swedish culture helps the internationals and Swedes bond even better at the office. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 Just like Friskvårdsbidrag, you won't see the benefits on day one. But consistent improvement in Swedish (just like physical health) will bring lots of benefits in the mid to long term. 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 It is a great benefit to have in your list. It attracts more internationals, as it shows that you care. Some questions for you 🤔 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐑 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬: Have you considered implementing this benefit? 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞𝐬: Does your company provide Swedish lessons at work? 

𝐅𝐨𝐫 10 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝: 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 “𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬”. 𝐖𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐝. Looking at 10 years of data from the InterNations “Expat insider” survey, we found that Sweden is not only bad. Out of 68 countries, 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 “𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬”. (Kuwait takes the crown as THE worst. But it is pretty close). 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞? Well, this is certainly costing Sweden and Swedish companies lots of money. We are losing high value talent. The kind of talent we work so hard to attract. That has options to move elsewhere. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭? Pretty bad. We are 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐬 25% 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲. And up to 50% faster than the good countries. 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞? Making friends seems to be the core of the problem. As having them makes you less likely to leave. Plus, Sweden is doing pretty good in all other metrics. So there is LOTS of hope! When you are this bad at something, improving is not that hard. However, being able to speak Swedish is key. As it opens the door into culture and activities that later lead to friendship 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 (𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭) 1- Acknowledge that English is hardly enough to make friends in Sweden. 2- Help your employees learn Swedish and Swedish culture. What other tips do you have to help expats make friends in Sweden? Sources: https://lnkd.in/dJVRVDC6 https://lnkd.in/dZFMp_rd https://lnkd.in/dNiw4h76 https://lnkd.in/df4-9bww https://lnkd.in/ddteipxn https://lnkd.in/dHVyyyJA https://lnkd.in/dpQxAurE https://lnkd.in/dJcS4AmK https://lnkd.in/dUy99gkw https://lnkd.in/d2zbEvvU

Do YOU listen to your international employees? 👂🤔 This week we got contacted by a Swedish HR person. Asking about how our Swedish courses work. However, the initiative didn't really come from him. It came from his international employees. Who follows us (Fun Swedish) on social media. And would really appreciate having Fun Swedish lessons as a benefit. 🇸🇪 As a Swede living in Sweden it is easy to miss just how useful it is to know Swedish 😅. Even if you work in English. That is why it is so important for HR to listen to their international employees. As some of the problems they face are hard to relate to. Even when you don't really understand the problem you can help solve it. You just need to start by listening. 👂👍 For the HR people out there: Do YOU listen to your international employees? For international talents: Have YOU felt listened to by HR?

Why your great TECH employees WON'T learn Swedish with SFI. ❌ You managed to hire some fantastic, talented, high performing internationals. They code, manage and design above your expectations. 🤩 So they are smart, no doubt. 🧠 And yet, somehow, they cannot learn Swedish? After 3, 5 or 10 years in the country? How can this be? 🤷 Here is how that happens. They start by going to SFI. They are overachievers. So they go all in, and do lots of hours after work. They are not quitters. So they keep going for months and months. Even if they don't like it. But at some point, they stop and evaluate. 🛑 The amount of hours they put in vs the little to no progress they got. Conclusion, not worth it. 👎 And so they quit, never to waste their valuable time again in such a low ROI activity. Which makes total sense. Especially when everyone around them tells them learning Swedish is hard. 🤦 But learning Swedish can be so Fun, simple and rewarding 😊🏆. You just need a good course with a good teacher. In our case, with the Fun Swedish method, we see students learning more in 30 hours than what they would in SFI with 90 or 120 hours. And have a good time along the way. When a method fails to teach to the smart, ambitious, talented overachievers it is the method or system that is at fault. ⚠️ What Swedish companies can start doing is to stop pointing their talented employees towards SFI. Make sure you point them towards a good course. Do you know a talented international who hasn't learned Swedish yet? Tag them so that they know there is still hope. PS: There are of course some fantastic teachers in SFI. You could be lucky to get them. But it is a gamble with low probability.

Filming at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo! 🇯🇵 Finding solutions to help people in Japan learn Swedish in a Fun way. Even with the challenge of the big time difference. And we found a great solution! Our online video courses that you can take whenever you want, wherever you are. https://lnkd.in/dhJw2WXP

What happens when you start learning something NEW? (Swedish in this case). Anyone who recognizes this pattern? 🤩 YES! A great adventure! I can do this. 😱 PAAAAANIC. I have no idea how to do this. 😉 BUT WAIT. I have learned languages before. It will work out just fine. 😰 GAAAH. I don't understand anything. I know nothing. 😧 OH NO. This is impossible. People will think I'm an idiot!. 🥰 GREAT TEACHER! I feel supported. Making mistakes is fine. They seem to believe in me. 🧠 WOW. I am actually quite smart. And I am great at learning. 🥳 LET'S DO THIS. Challenges. Obstacles. This will be fun! Unfortunately this only happens when you find a great teacher and a good learning method 😅. They can share their love for the language and make you fall in love with it as well. Which is the experience we aim to recreate in all of our courses. Making Swedish Fun to learn! Which for our Company courses, it translates to high retention. (Students keep attending our lessons instead of quitting). 😔NO PROGRESS. I am afraid of making mistakes. The explanations are now working. ☠️I QUIT. This is impossible. Questions for you: 1. How has your experience of learning Swedish been so far? 2. What was the best teacher you ever had?

𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬: 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐔𝐒𝐄! 🛑 “Our office language is English, we don’t need Swedish lessons” 🇸🇪❌ I heard this last week from someone in HR. But I have heard it before even from international employees themselves! And it is not only wrong. It is anti-true. More than 90% of the companies we work with (providing Swedish lessons) have English as their office language. Companies that work in English hire LOTS of internationals. These companies benefit THE MOST from having this benefit. As they see employee happiness and productivity go up and churn go down. It's a win - win! Most HR employees in Sweden are themselves Swedish so this is a problem that is easy to miss. But just imagine not knowing the language of the country you live in. The world around you becomes scary and confusing. You will be left out of so many things. Have you ever heard this before? Have you ever used this logic yourself? PS: Tag someone who needs to read this!