I remember one of the first days in Newcastle, I was standing at a crossing with my flatmates on our way to the university. Unbeknownst of my severe americanisation, I innocently asked where the nearest subway was. My flatmates looked at me a bit weirdly but responded diligently “I think it’s in the shopping centre, it’s really tiny though and it reeks of cheese and beef.” I could not wrap my head around it. And then I realised what had happened. “Oh no not the restaurant Subway, the subway, the train?” to which my flatmates just blinked and said “You mean the metro”.
The TV-show “Welcome to Sweden” is painfully relatable when it comes to translating Swedish lifestyle to English.
Having attended English speaking schools since the age of 12, I never expected the language to be one of the hurdles for me. My flatmates have unrelenting patience with me and politely lets me know when I have stepped over. “It’s rubbish, not trash”. “It’s called kitchen roll, not household paper”. “We don’t use the word dork here”. Although I am studying at a higher education level, I still feel like the retarded communist on a daily basis.
- Why do we react to what word is used in a certain situation? I.e. non-native using different synonyms than native speakers?
- What is the process behind learning everyday English compared to academic? Are some people more apt to one or the other?
- Interlanguage – is knowing Swedish of an advantage with learning English or are we at a disadvantage?
- How can you tell who is “not English” without the accent, based on their choice of words?
- What is the difference between acquiring and learning a language?
- What is more important, saying what you mean or meaning what you say?
- How would you summarise/define the English language as it is today?
Lecturer in sociolinguistics
martha.young-scholten@ncl.ac.uk
Professor of Second Language Acquisition
annoyingswede.video.blog 