I only encountered one Swede who could not speak English, and she was quite old. The only time I tried to say a few words of Swedish, I nearly bit my own face, it was that hard. Is it acceptable to just continue to speak English as a resident immigrant, or does that annoy the locals?
[zb]
anorak:
I only encountered one Swede who could not speak English, and she was quite old. The only time I tried to say a few words of Swedish, I nearly bit my own face, it was that hard. Is it acceptable to just continue to speak English as a resident immigrant, or does that annoy the locals?
I’ve followed this thread for some time now and I must say, some interresting thoughts came up. A few years ago I had the plan to emigrate to the U.K, this being fired up by the english people I was working with at the time. In the end I didn’t do it and maybe that was a good decision, but who really knows without trying…? A mate of mine decided to emigrate to Canada, he came over for X-mas and told me it was the best decision he’s made in his life! If you’ve got such a plan in your head then stick to it all the way, otherwise it’s going to bite you in the arse…
If you’ve decided to live elsewhere and where the common language isn’t english, I think it’s a bit rude and can annoy the locals, there are people here living for more then 30 years now and they still can’t say a bloody word in dutch, how sad is that, but you can’t say anything about it 'cause then you’re a racist… Strange world were living in these days…
Patrick
Hi all.I think that if you choose,for whatever reason,to emigrate to another country it is part of the integration process to try and learn at least the basics of the language.First it shows people that you want to be there and are trying to fit in and second it makes things easier because even if you mangle the language people are more inclined to help you.Obviously some languages are easier to learn than others and some people have an ‘‘ear’’ for them,others have more difficulty so people are inclined to make allowances.But at least by trying you show that you WANT to be there.
Obviously one of the reasons for coming here was the abundance of English speaking people,not realising that here in the far North many people are from Finnish roots so more Finnish is spoken here as a second language.
Fortunately i speak Dutch and reasonable German as well as English so that makes Swedish easier as there are many similarities between the languages.Also The Swedes,Dutch and Norwegians are among the top 5 in the world for speaking English as a second language.This can have the disadvantage when you mangle the language of people saying fluently ‘‘lets speak English,it’s easier’’,but we persevere.
I think that in countries which do not have English as a second or third language it can be easier to learn the language as you are ‘‘thrown in at the deep end’’,so to speak and are less ‘‘lazy’’ at trying.Also perhaps we English are a little shy at speaking other languages as so many people speak ours.
Toddster
Im not an immigrant in Sweden ,I work, pay taxes, pay for health care and don’t sponge on the Swedish welfare,I just like the clean living here ,judging Spain with Sweden is stupid, as are your remarks,and I speak some of the language .
Also fluent German, some,dutch,italian,turkish,arabic,and Greek,nearly all were picked up while driving,but someone has to make a wisecrack about any topic 
Roger
You do like to blow your own trumpet roger!
Fluent in German ? You must have learnt a lot recently!
When I ran with you I had to order the schnitzel mit pommes frittes!
Although if I remember rightly you did pay for it!
Toddster,I have many instruments that I blow,and yes I am fluent in german now,me pay for your meal,remind me who you are,then I might consider your remarks,dont remember having to ask anyone to order a meal for me,or are you on a windup 
Roger