Any Dopers in Sweden or Denmark?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve just decided that I might be moving to Sweden (Gothenburg) or Denmark (Aarhus or Copenhagen). I’m just curious to hear a little bit about living in those countries (specifically cities), from both natives and non-natives.

For the non-natives: what do you like about Scandinavia? Dislike? What do you miss that you can’t find or don’t have there? Will you stay? Will you go back? Do you find the cost of living high? Low? In between? If you didn’t speak Swedish (or Danish) when you moved there, did you cope all right?

I’d also like to figure out who all is over there, so when I know if I’m going and where it will be I can ask some more specific questions.

2

I don’t live in Sweden but I vist Gothenburg once a year or so on business.
I love Sweden. The people are very nice, and friendly. Almost everyone speaks almost flawless English so getting along is no problem.
Gothenburg doesn’t get too cold in the winter due to the gulf stream traveling past the coast.
The hardest thing I have to get used to is the extremes of light and dark. In the summer it almost doesn’t get dark. In the winter it seems like it almost doesn’t get light.
If I could swing a 3 or 6 month assignment to Sweden I would grab it in a minute.
Of course YMMV

3

I’m a native Swede, born and bred. I haven’t spent that much time in other countries, so I’m not sure how much information I can give you. Everything’s expensive, I know that. If you’re from Minnesota you should be used to the cold and the winter darkness. Gothenburg is a nice city and usually you can get by with English (better than in Germany or Belgium anyway). Feel free to ask specifics.

4

Newton,

I’m English and originally came to Denmark (Copenhagen) on a six-month assignment with my company. I’ve been here a bit over two years now and really enjoy living here. Yes, there are high taxes and the cost of living is high (I seem to remember that Copenhagen was listed as the 15th most expensive city, as far as cost of living goes, in the world) but it really is a very nice place to live and work.

I didn’t speak any Danish when I first came here but it really wasn’t a problem since I work for an American company and the majority of Danes speak impeccable English. I’ve been learning Danish for a while now and whilst I can’t claim to be fluent since I don’t get much chance to practice outside of classes, I can hold my own in at least some conversations and my mistakes and mispronunciations at least give my colleagues a chuckle now and then!

grey_ideas

5

I’m a native Swede, I’ve been to Gothenburg (it’s Göteborg really) several times and Copenhagen (it’s Köpenhamn!) once.

There are really much more simmilarities between Denmark and Sweden then there are differences. The culture is very simmilar, Danes coming off as a bit more open and carefree, with Swedes a bit more restrained.

Göteborg is THE city to move to if you’re going to live in Sweden. It is the second largest one and by far the friendliest. It has everything that a large city should have, except for rude and obnoxious people, which it is lacking. It’s got a big University so there’s a sizeable amount of youngsters and as a bi-effect, a lot of bars, pubs and nightclubs. You also have Swedens biggest amusement park, Lisseberg, if you like that sort of thing. But it’s really just a nice, friendly, busy, cosy city.

For transportation there is the tram system. Göteborg is one of the two cities (Norrköping, my home town, being the other) who has a tram system. This makes it easy to move around town until you get other transportation.

Taxes in Sweden are the highest in the world, though I am sure there are all sorts of exceptions for foreign workers. I think it’s worth it, I like all the perks (medical help, good streets, safety), Denmark is not quite as taxed but pretty close. The weather is a bit milder in Denmark, but not much.

Hum-di-dum… can’t really think of much to say. If you have any questions I’ll answer them.

6

Amerikanska
For american expats in Sweden…

I´ve been lurking this site a long time now, its interesting getting an american POV on Sweden. Lots of info and a well frequented forum.
And stay the **** away from sweden, its frikking cold, -25C this morning, brrr

7

Thanks already for the responses. They were nice to read and I’m getting excited about the idea. The only bad things I’ve heard so far from anyone are high taxes, and cold and dark winters.

I have a couple of more specific questions. I enjoy cross country skiing as much as I can whenever I can; but our winters here have been horrible (as far as snowfall) the last few years. I’ve heard that Göteborg (the only way I know to get that “ö” is by cutting and pasting) does not have a lot of snowfall either. So, anyone know how the skiing is over there, and how far outside of the city I might expect to have to go in order to find it?

Also, my wife would be moving with me and we would be there for four or five years (I am completing a Ph.D. after a short hiatus). We are in our early 30’s, and plan to have children. Any opinions on thes pros and cons of an American having children while living in Sweden or Denmark?

8

I’m a native dane and just wanted to add that we really don’t have many options for skiing here, must seem to travel to Sweden or other snowy countries when they feel the urge.

Living costs are quite high, especially in the bigger cities like Copenhagen (it’s really “København”). I myself live 125Km south of Copenhagen and commute there by train.

I do not have any children, so I can’t help much about that, but atleast rest assured that if they should get sick they will be cared for with our free (as in financed by taxes) medial care system.

9

It’s been a long time since I lived there (and I’m not Scandinavian), but I’ll just pop in to say that Danes mostly speak fine English, and Danish is actually a pretty easy language to learn. Very little hassle in the grammar department, pretty easy vocabulary with a lot of similar words–except that a lot of consonants are silent, so you have to get used to the way things sound. Have fun!

10

Well, Köbenhavn, really. And it shouldn’t be an ö there either, but I’m too lazy to find the Danish character.

11

Real live foreigner stepping up to the plate :slight_smile:
I have been living in Sweden for about 8 years now, give or take.

Language: You will get by in 99% of cases with english. In fact you may have a hard time learning the language due to people wanting to speak english with you instead of danish/swedish. Native english speakers tend to have pretty bad swedish in my experience. Since locations are off, I can’t tell if that is relevant for you. Both languages are easy enough to learn, but for my money Swedish is the easier to pronounce (biased I admit).

Kids: Most larger cities in Sweden have international/english-speaking schools if you don’t intend to live here permenantly. There may also be bi-lingual schools in Gothenburg. If nothing else, it is very likely their teacher will be able to communicate with them in english while they pick up Swedish at day-care. Here is a link to one of the english-speaking schools in Gbg, they should be able to tell you more http://www.abcallaboutchildren.com/aboutus.html

People vibe: People think that the swedes are cold/reserved, but that it isn’t really about that. The swedes just have a very high “personal space” threshold. This means that the reason they don’t talk to you is so as not to disturb you. If however you start babbling at them at the busstop (I am Irish) then they usually respond enthusiastically. To overgeneralise a little more, they have a clear boundry between friend and stranger. For friends you will do anything, but strangers can look after themselves. These two things lead to the swedes coming of as rude and standoffish until you get to know them, one at a time :smiley:

System vibe: I usually describe this in terms of frames. If each culture has a frame, then they are all made of different materials and are differently flexible. In sweden they are made of titanium :slight_smile: 100% is the order of the day. You will very, very rarely get less than you are entitled to or would expect (be it help, service, quality, etc), but you will very, very rarely get more. This is for good and for bad, same as anywhere else. At home the frames are much more flexible, so you will often get astounding help, or service or rules bent or whatever, but just as often you will be left up shit creek cos you only got 80%. An example is that in Ireland I was allowed once to cash a check that I should by rights have been forced to deposit. They let me cos I had a good reason and asked nicely. There is no way in hell that that would have happened in Sweden. Just plain isn’t going to happen. Ever. It is this rigidity that means that my pay is in said bank on the exact same day every month so that I never have to worry about my pay being late to pay my bills. Busses in Ireland will wait for you if they see you come running and waving, but on the other hand busses in Sweden come at exactly the time they are supposed to, because they don’t wait for people. I guess it boils down to that the difference is between in Ireland having moments of perfect bliss in a general sea of unsurity, you get instead in Sweden big rocks of irritation on a meadow of general efficiancy :eek:

Ok, this nicotine chewing gum is starting to really kick in I notice. I better stop typing now.

12

blinx, dangermom, Priceguy, and Iteki, thanks for the new responses.

I have even more questions. I haven’t been able to find out definitively if my wife will be able to work in Sweden or Denmark (I would be attending a university, but technically employed by the university). I’ve also been able to discover that dogs must be quarantined for four months in Sweden, but I haven’t been able to find similar information about Denmark.

Does anyone have experience with either of these two issues, or know of any good online resources?