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Posted on August 04, 2003 @ 12:37 in General
We're back from our holiday in Sweden. I was mostly surprised about how focused Swedes appear on their own country and their own language. Although most people speak some to a lot of English, many act surprised at first when you want to talk to them in a language other than Swedish. A lot of Swedish people appear to take holidays in their own country. Most signs and explanations in museums and places of interest then are only available in Swedish. You tend to only get an English or German translation of the introductory/overview kind of signs. Coming from such a tiny, crowded country as the Netherlands, where the people don't take much pride in either the Dutch language or culture, it's refreshing to see a people take pride in their national language and culture in such a natural, low key, non flag-waving, non self-aggrandizing way.
Guess I'm taking over the baton from David, who managed two whole posts more than I did in the past weeks, so kudos to David :-) Actually, I was blissfully offline for two whole weeks in Sweden, holed up in an old cottage, so much in the middle of nowhere, that I can't even find a map service that knows the street it's on. Yesterday I backpedaled through two weeks worth of Slashdot and a couple of blogs, so a few posts of me catching up will follow shortly.
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