Stockholms Universitet (SU)

While Swedish is the native language in Sweden, almost all Swedes speak fluent English. Swedes will speak Swedish to each other in social situations.. so sometimes it is difficult because you can't join in on their conversations. Most signs, magazines, newspapers etc. are only in Swedish.. so sometimes that can be difficult as well. However, Swedes are very friendly and helpful people.. if you ever have any questions about anything most Swedes will be glad to help you out. My classes at school were all offered in English.. so that was not a problem. It just takes some getting used to living in a country whose native language is something completely foreign to you. You will not understand everything that is going on at all times. However, if you speak to a Swede in English.. he or she will automatically switch over to English for you.. which is very accomodating. As I said, almost all Swedes speak fluent english.. but they will speak their native language of Swedish.. until you request otherwise.

Taking part in the erasmus programm has been a great experience for me, thanks to it i have improved a lot my communication skills, my english level and after this experience I have continued improving english and studying new languages (french) to have a new opportunity to go abroad again.

Almost everyone speaks english (even the few beggers/drunks in T-Centralen), so I had no problems. The university offers courses in swedish, but I didn't feel compelled or motivated to learn it since everyone speaks english.

It's very easy to only speak english in sweden. The swedes (and other international students) always want to practice their english. As an american, you have to make a real effort *not* to speak english, and work on your swedish, instead.

of course being an exchange student is a good opportunity to improve oral skills in english because it is the everyday language.Dont forget to take courses in swedish at the host university,it is always great fun.

The courses wore given in English, so it has easy to follow up, on the other hand, swedish is not a easy language to a south european, so natives spoke English with me. I think that they didn´t mind at all.