My son is in high school and is going to be an exchange student in Sweden next year.
Our family background is Swedish. His first name is a typical American name, but his middle name is Swedish, and our last name is Swedish.
For example, John Sture Andersson.
Nobody calls him Sture in the US; people can’t pronounce it. But he has been asking Swedish people who he’s met (so far, as part of the exchange program process) to call him Sture.
Is that weird; if he asks people in Sweden to call him Sture, will Swedes make fun of him or think that his request is bizarre, since he is called John in the US? And is the name “Sture” a nice name?
Thanks.
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The original was posted on /r/sweden by /u/CraftAccomplished784 at 2024-03-27 13:08:14+00:00.
amanset at 2024-03-27 15:05:43+00:00 ID:
kwt2sqjIt is a fundamental issue with how Americans use words like ‘Swedish’. I posted a while back in r/AmericaBad trying to explain it to them as they moaned yet again about Europeans not accepting them.
Americans use ‘I’m Swedish’ to refer to ethnicity, Europeans to refer to nationality. Both forms are valid in the areas where they come from as that is how the words are used there. The issue is when speaking to someone who uses the word differently. Each of them using it in what is a completely valid way where they come from causes issues.
I swear none of them got what I was on about.
seezed at 2024-03-27 16:57:44+00:00 ID:
kwtn8g8This is my exact experience. The same question can have different meanings in different cultures. Which apparently is hard to understand.
I’m Second generation immigrant in Sweden, Iranian parents. If an American asks me I always said Iranian. When back home in Europe I’ll just say Swedish - might add later with Iranian parents depending on context.
Spirited-Relief-9369 at 2024-03-27 15:56:30+00:00 ID:
kwtbzbvNever thought about it, but yeah, that makes sense.
Irrethegreat at 2024-03-27 16:54:05+00:00 ID:
kwtmjiqI get confused because swedish is not an ethnicity as comparable to african american for instance. That would rather be scandinavian. So if we are not talking about the language swedish, or an actual swedish person, the term swedish sure gets confusing.
But it is also understandable. I get annoyed that I can´t say ‘fika’ about eating an inbetween meal (sandwishes and fruit, sometimes yoghurt or porridge, stuff like that). To me, ‘fika’ applies to a wide range of meals with the common thing is that it is not a classical proper complete meal such as dinner or lunch traditionally is. I mean, a sandwich can be eaten like a meal but it´s still not the same IMO… Besides as a side dish of course. But during a ‘fika’ you sit down and eat/drink, usually more than one thing including the beverage if it is other than water, but not as many total ingredients/sides/total nutrition as one would normally have in a meal. So the exceptions would be if you clearly have just one snack on the go or in front of the TV, or just one cup of coffee in the break room without anything more. But where I live now they think ‘mellis’ (which for me is more like ‘snacks’) and ‘fika’ are different. No bun or cake, no fika lol. So if I say ‘fika’ the kids at work think they are getting cake rather than sandwishes. Every single time. Poor things lol. Because it is not ‘mellis’ to me, it’s ‘eftermiddagsfika’.