Cross-Cultural Blog

There is a saying which we Swedes think and say about ourselves. The saying is: “Swedes are afraid of getting into arguments”, and especially with strangers or people we don’t know well. Therefore, to be able to communicate with Swedes in a successful way, there are a few things you probably need to know.

One of them is the fact that people from Sweden usually tries to avoid disagreement at almost all costs. Because of that, sensitive subjects like politics, money, religion etc is probably often avoided in conversations, except with close friends and family. Even regarding other and more “easy” subjects, it’s very likely that your new Swedish friend seems to go along with your point of wiew, even if it isn’t really his or hers real take on the subject.
For example: if someone says something we don’t agree with, instead of coming with several counterarguments we just swallow them and agree with the person. Maybe not with a strong agreement, but we agree, perhaps with a low “yeah”, “yes” or similar expressions. We are afraid of offending anyone or create angry discussions.

Of course this behavior can be misunderstood if we, (the Swedes) are having a conversation with persons from different cultures. Maybe, to the other part, this unwillingness to take a stand can seem arrogant or like a lack of interest when we meet with people from other, more outright, cultures. Or maybe we seem to be overly smooth and smarmy, not having the guts to speak out and have our own opinion. They might get the wrong comprehension of us and think that we are uninterested of the chat or that we are trying to be ingratiating by not disagree or come with a different view of the subject.

But that’s not the case at all. The reason is not to undermine ourself, and we certainly are not uninterested in discussions in general. But in Sweden we just really don’t like conflicts, even if they’re just verbal, and when meeting with newly made friends or other people we don’t know that well there is always a risk of difference of opinions wich if we’re unlucky might lead to an argument. To be sure to avoid that, we keep a low profile until we can get to know you better.
So be patient with us Swedes. We have opinions, and we like to talk about them, a lot. You just have to take som time to get to know us first.

The question is if we shall be more honest and find more courage or not? After all, it is our culture and we have been raised by acting like this. But, we don’t want the world to misunderstand us, but it must be impossible to demand the world to understand our behavior when we really don’t know why we are doing this ourselves?

Anyway, we hope the misunderstandings will be friendly resolved and explained so that we don’t have to get into an aggressive discussion because of our behavior with a non-violent intention. That would just be ironic! That a non-violent behavior creates aggressive discussions.

Of course we can’t say that every Swedish citizen acts this way, but we think it’s so common that you generally can say this about us. We are afraid of getting into conflicts, and maybe that’s a big reason for being without war for so many years now. We can also see Sweden as a country of cowardly, but that is another story.
Anyway, we hope this text will help you being a little less confused while talking to us Swedes.

With Love, Lisa S and Lisa J

Posted by Orebro Intercultural Rhetoric Class, Sweden at 02:44 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hello

This is Staffan and Melita writing in an attempt to present some of the Swedish doxa.
In case you don’t recall doxa is a term referring to something that´s accepted as an obvious truth by a certain group. Something that everyone´s excepted to know this stuff showing lacking knowledge in anything doxa related will result in an “de fattar du väll”. It basicly means that you’re stupid for not knowing that.
Doxa can refer to assertions regarding everything from religion to social interaction, we will be focusing upon the latter.

Regarding the doxas of speaking in Sweden we usually “take turn” while speaking. Meaning that one participant usually speaks without being interrupted until they’ve finished their trail of thought. These speaking turns are usually simply ended by one part falling into silence, thereby signaling to the other speaker to continue or respond. In Sweden we sometimes us non words such as “uumm” to lengthen are speaking turns even when were temperedly out of things to say. These “uumm”:s are usually only a few seconds in length, a prolonged “uumm” may be taken as a sign of dimwit.
Prolonged silence between to parties is considered awkward, often a sign that parties have little interest in speaking with each other or have bad personal chemistry.

Regarding people we’ve recently meet it is standard in Sweden to use first names always. Even if you are talking to you’re teacher for you’re first time theirs no need for titles. No special rules exist regarding conversation between sexes or classes. When among new acquaintances it is inappropriate to mention go deep into ones personal problems. If asked by an acquaintance how you are feeling at the moment it is standard to always answer positively.
A strange new cultural phenomenon taking form in Sweden regarding privacy are the conversations held on cell phones. Things that would not be polite to mention while talking directly to a stranger is among some considered completely okay to say in the presence of these as long as the person you’re talking to is on you’re cellphone and happens to be someone you know closely.

It is considered rather elitist to mention ones income and rude to ask others about theirs.
Newly made friends usually avoid conflicts especially regarding religion and politics.

Moral doxa is that it’s unnecessary to strike ones children, words are considered to work as more civilized substitutes. In Sweden striking a child even your own is actually illegal and may result in the child being removed from their parents.
Regarding sexes female work leaders, politicians and teachers are in no way considered peculiar in Sweden. Tragically though there is still a difference in wages regarding sexes in Sweden.

It is doxa in Sweden for almost everyone to have home computer and very few lake cell phones, teens are also assumed to have face book pages. Driving licences are common among those above the age of 20, and by thirty it is rare not to poses your own car.
Despite all this an environmental mindset is seen as rather virtuous.

The Swedish languish has quite high context, the context is slightly higher among women.
In the Swedish culture it’s very acceptable to go out drinking and considered rather social.It is however very tabu to come drunk to work and can be seen as a bit sad to get caught drinking alone.
Well that's all we can think of for now. We hope our communication goes smoothly.

Posted by Orebro Intercultural Rhetoric Class, Sweden at 02:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)