I feel like I am constantly, constantly nagging the kids to speak only Swedish. Sometimes I get energetic about the nagging and attach consequences: next kid who speaks English has to do ten pushups; next kid who speaks English has to sweep and mop under the baby's high chair. Sometimes I make A.J., who is the worst "Swenglish" offender, repeat his sentences from the beginning. If they were 70 percent English, I do that.
I found some adorable Swedish kid songs on YouTube the other day, and played them over and over for the baby. The other kids were at school. I need to keep up the brainwashing or they and I will lose this great language.
Why do I try so hard? We are third generation Swedish Americans, now. My mother was born in Sweden and emigrated at age nineteen as a stewardess hired by an American airline. I was born in Germany, only because my pilot dad was stationed there at the time. I got to go to Sweden every summer, and stay all summer, all my growing up years. But I went to American schools and my most fluent reading language is English. My kids were born in America and although they've been to Sweden, it was short and long ago and now we can't afford it. And the language gets more and more diluted. Even my own mother is guilty of Swenglish. I ask her what words mean, and she knows them, but she gets lazy or else she thinks we won't know the word, so she throws in an English word mid-Swedish-sentence.
We only speak Swedish, my mother and I, on the phone. She lives across the country. My siblings and I also speak Swedish to each other, always, unless a non Swedish spouse is in the room. But the kids, we all have to nag. I nag the most persistently and doggedly. My younger sister has given up, and only speaks Swedish around her children when she visits my mother. My brother is married to a Czech, so they speak primarily Czech, next English, and their kids only speak a few rare words in Swedish. My older sister's kids speak as well as mine do, but their Swenglish is huge. And my older sister does not force her kids to speak in Swedish to each other, like I do. She just speaks Swedish with them. Her husband speaks it, too, since he served a mission in Sweden. My husband only understands a little Swedish, although he is very supportive of us speaking Swedish. But we only speak it when he's in another room, or at work, for the most part.
I nag and I will continue to nag because Swedish is the language of great love, to me. It's the language of so many of my favorite relatives and ancestors. It's a friendly sounding, cheery and musical language. It reminds me of childhood, which for me was extremely happy.
I wonder if my kids will ever use this language when they grow up. I hope so. It's a warm and living link to the past and to countless beautiful and old traditions.
I found some adorable Swedish kid songs on YouTube the other day, and played them over and over for the baby. The other kids were at school. I need to keep up the brainwashing or they and I will lose this great language.
Why do I try so hard? We are third generation Swedish Americans, now. My mother was born in Sweden and emigrated at age nineteen as a stewardess hired by an American airline. I was born in Germany, only because my pilot dad was stationed there at the time. I got to go to Sweden every summer, and stay all summer, all my growing up years. But I went to American schools and my most fluent reading language is English. My kids were born in America and although they've been to Sweden, it was short and long ago and now we can't afford it. And the language gets more and more diluted. Even my own mother is guilty of Swenglish. I ask her what words mean, and she knows them, but she gets lazy or else she thinks we won't know the word, so she throws in an English word mid-Swedish-sentence.
We only speak Swedish, my mother and I, on the phone. She lives across the country. My siblings and I also speak Swedish to each other, always, unless a non Swedish spouse is in the room. But the kids, we all have to nag. I nag the most persistently and doggedly. My younger sister has given up, and only speaks Swedish around her children when she visits my mother. My brother is married to a Czech, so they speak primarily Czech, next English, and their kids only speak a few rare words in Swedish. My older sister's kids speak as well as mine do, but their Swenglish is huge. And my older sister does not force her kids to speak in Swedish to each other, like I do. She just speaks Swedish with them. Her husband speaks it, too, since he served a mission in Sweden. My husband only understands a little Swedish, although he is very supportive of us speaking Swedish. But we only speak it when he's in another room, or at work, for the most part.
I nag and I will continue to nag because Swedish is the language of great love, to me. It's the language of so many of my favorite relatives and ancestors. It's a friendly sounding, cheery and musical language. It reminds me of childhood, which for me was extremely happy.
I wonder if my kids will ever use this language when they grow up. I hope so. It's a warm and living link to the past and to countless beautiful and old traditions.
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