Want to become Swedish? Read Fear and Falukorv by Tomas Spragg Nilsson

About Swedish in English this time!*

I was very pleased to discover Tomas Spragg Nilsson read excerpts from his Fear and Falukorv** during a “signing” on Instagram live one evening in May. The hilarious title of this book is one of the reasons I wanted to get it, so I contacted Tomas straight away to get my signed copy.

A few weeks later the book arrived in a nice, blue, Swedish jiffy bag with one of the nice Swedish stamps on it. If you, like me, love receiving parcels and are fond of Swedishness in its various forms, things as small as colourful stamps from Sweden make you happy, too. Especially in the midst of the miserable post-lockdown reality.

I smiled at Tomas’ personal dedication, written in Swedish:

Klaudia!

Det verkar som du redan vet allt om Sverige, men jag hoppas att boken är rolig att läsa ändå!

You seem to already know everything about Sweden, but I hope the book is fun to read anyway!

Tomas Spragg Nilsson, 12 maj 2020.

I have to admit it really was.

The book documents a year-long integration project called “Becoming Swedish”, during which the Stockholm based British author attempted to get a better understanding of what it takes to become a Swedish citizen. This deeper understanding was achieved through various adventures, that form part of a very Swedish Bucket list, created by the author, his family and friends. And Twitter. I immediately fell in love with the hilarious direct translation of the word Bucket list into Swedish — hinklista. I adopted the Swedish word and have been using it since.

The book is a fast read for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is divided into short chapters, each wittily describing a Swedish experience from a personal perspective, and secondly, it is just too interesting to put down if you are into Swedish language and culture.

At the end of each chapter the reader is treated with an amusing infographic summary of requirements for completion of each adventure or task. My favourites are the coffee cup scale for required consumption during each experience, the comfort zone Venn-type diagram, as well as the recommended Swedish expressions you should or shouldn’t use in each case.

A nice surprise is the introduction written by Jan Eliasson, former Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs. It serves as a moving reminder that many countries would not have enjoyed their current levels of growth without an influx of foreign workers, Sweden included. This introduction made me realise the project has deeper foundations than I had initially thought.

Att prata med varandra leder framåt.

Talking to each other helps us move forward.

Jan Eliasson

I think we need more projects like this, highlighting the differences between cultures whilst searching for similarities between people. The word integration has more meaning than ever in a world where people get divided by their opinions, origins, gender or the colour of their skin. It is important to spend time discovering other cultures, just as it is crucial to realise that learning and educating yourself about other people and their cultures requires time and patience. This is what this project is all about.

I have been experiencing life as an expat, immigrant, foreigner for the last 10 years myself. I’m Polish, I live in London, previously I lived in Stockholm. Living abroad has taught me there is no better way to discover who you really are than through learning about different cultures, the people who represent and live them, and their stories.

I am a teacher of Swedish language, but not a native Swedish speaker, so for me personally, the book is important also for linguistic reasons. The Swedish translation which I own, Falukorv och andra Fasor, uses simple yet lively language. Words and expressions from modern colloquial Swedish are used frequently and sometimes it gives the impression of listening to the author speak, or of peeking inside his personal diary. It is a blend of spoken and written language that in this case works perfectly well. I love the book’s humor and will definitely use excerpts from it in class.

Although I know quite a bit about Sweden, I learned a lot and have a lot still to discover. I actually created my own hinklista, inspired by some of Tomas’ experiences, and hope I can start ticking it off once we are all allowed to travel. For now, the book allowed me to travel without moving, which was uplifting and needed. Something to feel grateful for.

*I usually write about Swedish things in Swedish and use #omsvenskapåsvenska, or #aboutswedishinswedish to tag my activities on social media. I hope my humble review in English reaches non-Swedish speakers interested in all things Swedish too.

**Falukorv, is a quite bizzare, traditionally made Swedish sausage, that is said to have come from German miners at the Swedish Falun copper mine during the 16th and 17th century.