Svensk på tisdag

It was a reasonably busy day at work, and so, after a post-work debrief with a colleague over a chardy, I’ve come home to relax in front of the television. Except there’s nothing worth watching.

And so I’ve gone online to listen around to some radio. And in particular, I’ve been listening to some Swedish radio to practise my Swedish language skills during the winter break in our classes.

One of the best things I’ve discovered, thanks to my workmate Carrie is Klartext which runs daily at 6 pm on the radio in Sweden and which is available via the net.

Put simply, it’s the world news in Swedish for immigrants or people learning Swedish. Thus, the style of language used is slow, clear and precise. I think it’s the equivalent to what “Voice of America” used to call “the news in special English”.

On the other hand, I’ve noticed the almost complete dominance of English language pop music on Swedish radio, these days. In the last twelve months, I’ve noticed a significant change. Twelve months ago, you would have heard a fair bit of Swedish language pop as you tuned in to Sveriges radio. These days, it seems it’s either American/English pop, or Swedes singing in English.

I’m sure it’s totally in line with musical tastes in Sweden, so don’t get me wrong. If that’s what the Swedish public wants, who am I to criticise? However, I’ve always quite enjoyed listening online to Swedish pop music radio, as music is quite a good way to learn a language because the lyrics are usually quite simple, clear, and well-articulated.