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Monthly archives: October 2011

Reality TV: Could This Be Your Swedish Job?

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Great Swedish Adventure logo

Search for your Swedish ancestry...on TV!

 

Do you have Swedish relatives?

Do you have a dream to see Sweden?

Do you have an urge to find your Swedish roots?

So asks the website for the Great Swedish Adventure, a reality show currently looking for American contestants.

Meter Television, a Swedish production company, is searching for Americans with Swedish ancestry for their new reality TV show that will be filmed in Sweden.

Among other shows, Meter Television produced “Idol” and “Farmer Wants a Wife”–both on TV4 in Sweden.  Their website states they are looking for “fun, outgoing Americans with Swedish ancestry” to take part in their upcoming reality television show. Christer Åkerlund, producer of the project is quoted on the show’s site saying, “It’s sort of like ‘The Amazing Race’ with a ‘fish out of water’ hook.”

Swedish American Reunion

You might be related to “June, Bob, and Carol.” Photo by: saragoldsmith (CC BY NC SA)

The show is conducting a USA-wide search and will consider anyone with the thinnest of Swedish connections. They want anyone who is interested in discovering more about their Swedish ancestry. Lucky contestants will participate in “extreme cultural challenges to discover their rich and fascinating roots while trying to win the grand prize.”

And what is the prize?

It’s meeting your Swedish relatives!

Too bad the grand prize doesn’t come with a free visa so you can move in with them.

“The Great Swedish Adventure” will be filmed and shown in Sweden and perhaps other countries as well. The show’s website says it is a wonderful “once in a lifetime” opportunity for someone to discover their ancestry and experience their rich and fascinating Swedish cultural heritage.”

But then, in my opinion, the show’s website says something odd…

“Since America has such a strong impact on the world through its politics, financial institutions, television, film, fashion and culture it will be interesting to turn the tables and bring people back to their Swedish roots.”

Is it me or does this make it sound like one has won the proverbial lottery by being American and then it’s a let-down to find out there’s Swedish blood in those veins?

Uff da!

Meter Television is picking up the tab for travel expenses and boarding during the show.

Swedish Money

Maybe your Swedish relatives will be wealthy! Photo by: kalleboo (CC BY NC SA)

Still interested? You can apply and get contact information for the show here .

Are you thinking, yeah, that’s a good idea but I have an even better one? Click here  and find out how to submit your idea for a new show to Meter Television.

 

Kristin Lund

October 28, 2011

Your Voice in the Night: 5 Ways to Learn Swedish by Listening

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This is the first of a 2-part series on how I practice my Swedish. The next part will cover learning Swedish by reading. I welcome your comments on how you go about learning Swedish.

In many ways, I feel that constant computer, texting, cell phone obsession is not good for human interaction but when it comes to listening to Swedish, living in the 21st century is a big plus.

Listening to Swedish Radio with headphones at work

Here I am with headphones on at work, listening to Swedish Radio

 

1. “Gert’s World”
This is a program on Swedish radio station RIX FM. Gert Fylking’s program comes on at 22:00 Swedish time. Gert “your voice in the night” thinks of an issue and Swedes call in and discuss it. I listen over the Internet while I am work. (By the way, it’s quite hard to type in English when you have someone speaking Swedish in your headphones!)

I love listening to this show! I don’t always understand what they’re saying. I freely admit that for quite awhile I did not realize the radio “jingle” they play during his show was “Gert’s Värld” (Gert’s World). I thought it was “Gert’s Svärd” (Gert’s Sword). Doh!

The day I realized I was following his conversation about “astral projection”  and in Swedish, was a happy day for me.

 

2. Klartext
Swedish Radio P4’s Klartext radio program recently won the Lätta Priset 2011. Klartext offers the news from Sweden and beyond at a slower pace, with easier words. It’s a fantastic program that I podcast every weekday and listen to during my commute. I usually read the daily recap on their site first to give me a hint at what I am going to listen to.

 

3. Film

Movies are a great way to listen to Swedish. I like to display the Swedish text at the bottom when possible. Some of my favorites include:

* “One Step Behind” (Steget Efter)

Hello? Rolf Lassgård is the Kurt Wallendar.

* Arn (Arn – Tempelriddaren)

This is the movie version of the famous Knight Templar story by Jan Guillou. The dialogue is in a handful of languages including Swedish, Arabic, English, and Norwegian.

* Under the Sun (Under Solen)

This one is very romantic and practically guaranteed to be loved by us gals. Yes, it stars my “movie husband,” Rolf Lassgård. (Don’t tell me you don’t have a movie husband or a movie wife?)

* After the Wedding (Efter brylluppet)

This film is by Suzanne Bier so most of it’s in Danish. But Rolf Lassgård (oh all right, I’m obsessed!) speaks Swedish and I like hearing Swedish in the midst of all that Danish. Plus, actor Mads Mikkelsen is fun to watch.

 

4. Sommar på P1

This program is on Swedish Radio P1. Each year since 1959, famous artists, athletes, politicians, academics and individuals tell their stories. You can podcast or stream them. Some hosts are easier to understand than others, but it’s a great way to practice.

 

5. Linguaphone 
I first started learning Swedish back in the day with Linguaphone cassettes. It’s a great program that is still sold today. (I swapped out the cassettes for CDs a few years back and then copied them to my iPod. I still listen to them).

Do you have any other ways to practice listening to Swedish in your home country? Please share them! (I’ll discuss my ways of reading Swedish very soon.)

 

Kristin Lund

October 27, 2011

Embassies and Consulates

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The Royal Swedish General Consulate Crest

The Royal Swedish General Consulate Crest hangs on the San Francisco Consulate's wall with pride.

 

I’ve never really understood what the difference between a consulate and an embassy is. So before I visited the Honorary Consulate General of Sweden in San Francisco recently, I educated myself.

According to an online Travel Agent Reference Guide, “an embassy implies official diplomatic relations between two countries while a consulate generally does not.”  Read more » >>

Kristin Lund

October 25, 2011

Jumping Without a Net

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Women Jumping In Water

Well, at least these gals have water! (Photo by: Derek Key (CC BY NC SA)

 

So, here I sit in San Francisco, counting on the idea that I will be granted a work visa to work in Sweden soon. I am hoping it will happen by the first of November.

I received a job offer from an industrial software company in Stockholm in August. I will work as a Marketing Writer and Technical Writer for the company whose business language is American English. They need help re-writing their website content and other collateral, as well as interviewing clients for white papers, writing technical manuals, and other tasks.

It’s been nine weeks since the HR department helped me apply to the Migration Board (Migrationsverket) for my visas. At this point, I know nothing about how it’s progressing. I was assigned a number and I daily enter it into the Board’s website where you can check the progress of your application but all it ever shows is this enigmatic message:  Read more » >>

Kristin Lund

October 22, 2011

Creativity and Renewal: Josef Frank

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I often attend events in San Francisco related to Sweden. It’s a way to feel connected to my future home.

Earlier this week, my friend, Linda and I went to a lecture at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco. Barbro Osher, the Consul General of the Consulate General of Sweden in San Francisco introduced historian Nina Stritzler-Levine who discussed the work and life of Scandinavian design pioneer Josef Frank.

Outside the Museum of Craft & Folk Art, San Francisco

(My Danish friend, Linda, attended the lecture with me)

 

Frank (1885-1967) was a designer and architect who, to quote the Consulate’s website “emphasized comfort and informality in his designs. He used bright, bold colors and floral patterns to produce whimsical designs inspired by nature.” He did this despite the fact that many of his contemporaries were taking a severe approach to modernism at the time. Frank grew up in Austria. He was married to a Swede and moved to Sweden in 1933 to flee the Nazi regime.  Read more » >>

Kristin Lund

October 20, 2011