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Corona virus in Sweden?

Posted in Practical information by

Are you in Sweden? Or are you planning to travel to Sweden any time soon? What about the corona virus (officially Covid -19) in Sweden? Are you allowed to travel to Sweden while the world is fighting the corona virus? You can find the current advice listed below.

Click here for the official website of the Public Health Agency of Sweden.

What is the impact of the corona virus in Sweden?

On March 10th, the Swedish health organization has put the level of risk for contamination to ‘very high’. As of July 12, there were almost 75.000 corona-infected individuals across all Swedish regions. These numbers are far from correct, since they are not testing everyone with symptoms. Those who have symptoms should avoid contact with others until they are symptom-free for at least 2 days. On July 12, the total number of fatalities in Sweden raised to 5526.

Recent numbers can be found here (in Swedish)

All public events with more than 50 people have been canceled. There is no end date for the time being.
Hospitals and care institutions ask to refrain from non-essential visits.
The government itself gave the schools the authority to decide upon lessons and childcare. High schools & university are closed. Children younger than 16 are still going to school.
Many flights have been canceled. Contact your airline to find out if your flight has been affected.
Public transport maintains the regular timetable.
As of March 16 Stockholmers are urged to work from home.
As of April 1, people in Sweden are asked to keep a social distance.

In Sweden, the emergency number 1177 applies to those who show symptoms or are concerned that they may be infected.

What is the impact of the corona virus on travels to and from Sweden?

Are you allowed to travel to Sweden? The Swedish borders are open but your resident country can have advised against travelling to Sweden. Check the website of the department for Foreign Affairs from your own country.

Also, in Sweden it was strongly recommended to stay within 2 hours of your home. This way the government wanted to avoid spreading the virus to other regions and it is also necessary to avoid crowded hospitals. This recommendation is no longer in place but it is clear that the government can re-introduce this recommendation when necessary.

If you are in Sweden now or consider travelling to Sweden, it is best to check whether your travel insurance covers medical assistance, repatriation and possible costs for (preventive) quarantine – even if you are not tested – on the spot.

We ourselves have an important responsibility to help control the further spread of this virus!

Do you really have to travel to Sweden? Then check that your travel insurance covers a cancellation in the event of an epidemic or pandemic such as the coronavirus.

Stockholm

Most museums are open, but limit the number of visitors. Any mass events are canceled or postponed.

Although the restaurants may officially remain open, a few businesses closed on their own initiative. Restaurants that serve a buffet are looking for alternatives. Social distancing is also the standard in Sweden.

You can also see similar situations in other Swedish cities such as Gothenburg and Malmö.

The different way Sweden is handling corona

As an outsider you’re maybe jealous of the Swedes who sit on outdoor cafes during these times? Or maybe you don’t understand why they still come together? In Sweden they chose the strategy of group immunity. The government gives a lot of responsibility to the population and the Swedes usually take this responsibility. They adapt fairly well to the social distancing rules. Sweden has many one-person households and they are appreciate their ‘personal space’. In addition, the country is many times more extensive than the Benelux and Sweden (except for the big cities) with its 10 million inhabitants is less populated. Whether their strategy is the right one remains to be seen. Virologists have already criticized the approach of the government.

Corona virus in the other Scandinavian countries

Check the website of the EU to see what the current status for travelling in the Nordics is.

General advice in the fight against corona

Consider cancelling all unnecessary trips. Even if you have no symptoms. Travelers can spread the virus faster. Take your responsibility and stay at home.
Wash your hands. During at least 40 seconds and as often as possible. If you use your hand gel, make sure that it contains at least 70% alcohol.
Don’t touch your face (eyes, mouth, nose, …).
Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing and wash your hands carefully afterwards.
Avoid contact with other persons as much as possible to limit further spread.

Bring Sweden to your home

Even if we can’t go to Sweden, Sweden can still come to us. You can still dream of traveling and doing research for future trips. Learn Swedish or try some Swedish recipes!

Disclaimer: always check the latest advice at official sources. I do my best to keep this page as up to date as possible. If you have any additions, please send me an email!
Last update of this page: July 12, 2020.

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Learn Swedish in 30 days

Posted in Learn Swedish by

Heidi

Challenge #30dayslearningSwedish

Can you master the Swedish language in just 30 days? I certainly believe you can have basic conversations in Swedish after just one month if you are motivated. Is learning Swedish on your bucket list? Keep on reading!

In 2015 I taught myself Swedish in 3 months time. A whole new world opened up for me! Because I often got the question how I did it, I bundled all the tips&tricks to teach yourself Swedish in an efficient and pleasant way. The result is this language challenge to learn Swedish in 30 days!

Whether you start to learn Swedish from scratch or if you already speak a little Swedish but want to freshen up the language, this challenge will give your language skills a boost!

Follow Take me to Sweden on Facebook, Instagram & Pinterest!

Advantages #30dayslearningSwedish

What can you expect from this language challenge to learn Swedish?

Every day, 30 days long, you get a tip or assignment in your mailbox to boost your Swedish!
A community of other language learners, who support each other. You even might find a language buddy to practice your Swedish skills.
No school lesson but freedom to learn where and how you want. The challenge offers you various options. All you have to do is pick the tools that work best for you.
Free of charge!

Please notice, this is a language challenge and not a language course. Don’t forget to indicate that I can contact you by e-mail or I unfortunately won’t be able to send you the e-mails! If you haven’t received a confirmation, please check your spam box.

Spread the word

Please share your experiences! Use the hashtag #30dayslearningSwedish. Don’t hesitate to tell a friend who might be interested in learning Swedish. I put a lot of time in this challenge and would highly appreciate if you spread the word!

Reading Swedish for beginners: Interlinear Books

Posted in Learn Swedish by

Heidi

After learning Swedish for a few months, I already bought a first book: En man som heter Ove. I was motivated to start reading books in Swedish, but soon I had to give up. Too many words were unknown for me and I should actually have looked them up to understand the story. The pleasure of reading disappears quickly if you have to pause reading to take a dictionary or a translation app constantly. I recently discovered Interlinear Books. Every word is immediately translated, like subtitles. If you are not sure about the meaning of a word, you can just peek at the line below. Very handy!

The benefits of reading in Swedish

Why would you want to read Swedish books? You learn a lot of new words while reading. You also see how words are used in different contexts. You learn how sentences are built and you discover a piece of Swedish culture. By reading Swedish authors in the original language, you get a more authentic experience. In a translation, mistakes, crooked sentences or adjustments sometimes creep up.

What are Interlinear Books?

Interlinear Books helps you learn languages by reading fascinating books. Their books are translated into the Interlinear format, where the original is followed by an English translation below each word or expression. Click to check their books out.

In short: you can compare Interlinear Books like subtitles for books.

Interlinear Books offers books in the original language with between each line – in a smaller font – the translation of the word above it. These words have been translated word for word (into English). If the word order is different in Swedish than in English, the word order is not adjusted in the translation. Under every Swedish word is the English translation but the sentences as such are not translated. If there are sayings or groups of words that belong together however, they will be translated together. So, if you don’t know a word, you can find the translation in the lines.

Interlinear Books, a review

I chose Skatten: Herr Arnes penningar from Selma Lagerlöf. This Swedish writer received the Nobel Prize for Literature and is best known for her children’s book Nils Holgersson’s Wonderful Journey. Just to say: Interlinear Books may have a limited supply for the time being, but they work with a number of classics.

By now, I have already read a few books in Swedish without much problems. Of course I regularly come across words that I don’t know. Unless the word appears more often and seems important to be able to follow the story, I never actually look up those words anymore. A pity maybe, because that is not how I learn the correct meaning, but putting the book aside to include a dictionary would disrupt my reading experience too much.

That’s the handy thing about Interlinear Books. If I don’t know a word, I take a look at the line below and I can continue reading. My vocabulary is therefore expanding faster by reading Interlinear Books. Admittedly, in the beginning it took some time getting used to ignoring those smaller printed letters, but I got used quickly.

You can download the books, print them, read them on your smartphone or order them as a paperback. There’s an option for everyone. I had the book on my smartphone and could read a piece everywhere and whenever I wanted.

Read interlinear

Curious about this interlinear reading? The books cost between $ 12.99 and $ 29.99. You can pay with paypal and you will receive the download link in your mailbox immediately after receiving the payment. You can also order some books as a paperback. These will then be delivered to your home.

You can also read books from other languages in this way. They currently have books in French, Greek, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and of course in Swedish. They regularly expand their offer, so the message is to visit their website occasionally.

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