24 The Linguist Vol/59 No/6 2020
thelinguist.uberflip.com
FEATURES
Q How does the embassy promote Swedish
culture and language in the UK?
A Britain and Sweden have a long relationship
of exchanging culture and sharing history.
Every year, the Embassy supports projects
that bring Swedes and Brits together around
art and culture. There are also several relevant
organisations, such as the Anglo-Swedish
Society. Grants can be awarded through the
Anglo-Swedish Literary Foundation, set up
by the writer George Bernard Shaw with
funds from his Nobel Prize. Much of the
exchange, however, takes place without the
involvement of the Embassy, through music
and films and the thousands of family links
that unite our countries.
Q What is unique about Swedish?
A Swedish is a Nordic language, spoken in
Sweden and in parts of Finland by a little
over 10 million people. It is close enough to
Norwegian and Danish to allow people to
understand each other reasonably well.
One easy way to experience Swedish is to
visit an Ikea store. The various furniture models
often carry names taken from the Swedish
language. If you become an expert, you can
read Swedish books that are well known in
the UK – such as children's books by Astrid
Lindgren about Pippi Longstocking – or watch
films and TV series such as Wallander or The
Bridge in their Swedish original versions.
Q What is SELTA?
A The Swedish-English Literary Translators'
Association, which promotes Swedish-
language literature while also representing
literary translators of Swedish. SELTA works
with publishers and relevant cultural and
literary organisations in Britain, Sweden and
Finland. The main goals are to promote the
publication of Swedish and Finland-Swedish
HE Torbjörn Sohlström, the Swedish Ambassador to the UK, talks
to Romana Sustar about promoting his culture and language
literature in English, and to represent the
interests of those involved in the translation
of Swedish literature into English.
Q What is your favourite Swedish word?
A Gryning och skymning ('dawn and dusk').
Q What is the meaning of Fika?
A Fika means to have a break with a cup of
coffee and a kanelbullar (cinnamon bun). It's
part of our social life. It allows us to get to
know each other better, and in a business
environment it enables employees to meet
with executives in a more relaxed setting.
Torbjörn Sohlström started his UK post in
2016. He studied journalism, working at
Dagens Nyheter newspaper and for national
TV news before joining the Foreign Service.
Twitter: @sohlstromt or @swedeninuk
Council member Romana Sustar MCIL CL
is a multilingual digital marketing
manager, language tutor and reporter.
Twitter @RomanaSustar
The largest country in Northern Europe,
Sweden has low population density
with 10.3 million citizens. Most of the
people live in 1.5% of the territory and
66% of the country is covered by forest.
It ranks very highly in terms of quality
of life, equality, education and health;
recycles 99% of its waste; and has 52%
renewable energy. A cat called Kitty
lives at the embassy in London.
FACT FILE: SWEDEN
CUTTING EDGE
A fashion exhibition at the embassy in October
(main); and (inset) Torbjörn Sohlström
Embassy insights
