I often get asked if I'm fluent in Swedish. This is such a difficult question to answer. I speak Swedish well and I usually understand everything that is said to me. I get by just fine most of the time, although sometimes I have to say "I'm sorry, I don't know what that word means." My dictated or written charts are perfectly understandable, although they do contain grammatical and spelling errors (although when I dictate, the secretaries fix that kind of thing, which I'm very thankful for!!)
But - I don't speak well when I'm nervous. I can't understand people with strong accents from certain parts Sweden. I can't understand spoken Norwegian like Swedes can. I write like a third-grader. My medical vocabulary is very good but my normal, day-to-day vocabulary is not. I mess up articles and prepositions all the time. If people start talking about politics, parts of a car, or types of animals, I'm lost. But then again, do I know the names of all the parts of a car in English? No.
I can't really make jokes in Swedish the same way I can in English. I don't feel like my personality is the same in Swedish, it's like I can't really be myself 100%. It's really hard to explain to someone who's never experienced it, but everyone I've talked to who's moved abroad and learned a new language feels the same way.
So, am I fluent? I don't know. Most people would say that I absolutely am, considering I speak Swedish all day long at school, and when I'm out and about, and with my Swedish friends. But I constantly feel insecure about my Swedish. When I mess up, or when I don't know the word for something, or people misunderstand me. When I try to make a joke that ends up offending someone because it just didn't translate well. When I sit through an entire lecture in Swedish, go up to ask the professor a question in Swedish, and he responds in English, saying "Should I answer in English or do you understand Swedish?"
My Swedish will obviously never be as good as a native speaker's. But can you be fluent without having the language skills of a native speaker? I think so.
When people ask me if I speak fluent Swedish, I usually say yes. Because I know what they are getting at is, Can you get by in day-to-day life, talking to different types of people? Which I can. But every time I have to write an email to a professor, or call the phone company, I panic and mess up. I have to have my husband proofread every email I send and every school essay I write. (Thankfully I don't have to write very much for school, and when I do, I usually ask to write in English and they say that's ok.) When that happens, I don't feel fluent.
I guess by most people's standards, I am fluent. But I certainly don't always feel like I am.
But - I don't speak well when I'm nervous. I can't understand people with strong accents from certain parts Sweden. I can't understand spoken Norwegian like Swedes can. I write like a third-grader. My medical vocabulary is very good but my normal, day-to-day vocabulary is not. I mess up articles and prepositions all the time. If people start talking about politics, parts of a car, or types of animals, I'm lost. But then again, do I know the names of all the parts of a car in English? No.
I can't really make jokes in Swedish the same way I can in English. I don't feel like my personality is the same in Swedish, it's like I can't really be myself 100%. It's really hard to explain to someone who's never experienced it, but everyone I've talked to who's moved abroad and learned a new language feels the same way.
So, am I fluent? I don't know. Most people would say that I absolutely am, considering I speak Swedish all day long at school, and when I'm out and about, and with my Swedish friends. But I constantly feel insecure about my Swedish. When I mess up, or when I don't know the word for something, or people misunderstand me. When I try to make a joke that ends up offending someone because it just didn't translate well. When I sit through an entire lecture in Swedish, go up to ask the professor a question in Swedish, and he responds in English, saying "Should I answer in English or do you understand Swedish?"
My Swedish will obviously never be as good as a native speaker's. But can you be fluent without having the language skills of a native speaker? I think so.
When people ask me if I speak fluent Swedish, I usually say yes. Because I know what they are getting at is, Can you get by in day-to-day life, talking to different types of people? Which I can. But every time I have to write an email to a professor, or call the phone company, I panic and mess up. I have to have my husband proofread every email I send and every school essay I write. (Thankfully I don't have to write very much for school, and when I do, I usually ask to write in English and they say that's ok.) When that happens, I don't feel fluent.
I guess by most people's standards, I am fluent. But I certainly don't always feel like I am.
No comments:
Post a Comment