I love Sweden. I wish I was born there. I spent winters there. I speak this language. It’s a beautiful one and one that I’ve found myself teaching. It’s a beautiful country and one that I find myself returning to again and again. It’s a beautiful culture and one that I try to promote just about everywhere I go. This blog is one such medium, and sometimes that medium is perfect for discussing Swedish stereotypes. Both good and bad.
There are of course the ones about the Swedish looks. Blonde. Blue eyes. Tall. Beautiful. It seems to focus on women, but men are also included in this one.
There is the utopian society that suggests that every beneficial service is free and that the government takes care of your every whim.
How about the polar bears in the streets of Stockholm? Or the fact that Sweden is actually Switzerland?
The sing-songy language infamously stereotyped by the Swedish chef and his “Bork, bork, bork!” (That’s not Swedish by the way. Not at all.)
Being in Finland and Denmark has given me an opportunity to hear some of the negative stereotypes while abroad. Granted, Finland or Denmark and Sweden have that brotherly relationship. They tease because they love. Or something like that.
The classic has been the drunken Swede. I can’t tell you how many different variations of this stereotype I’ve heard.  Everything from Swedish speaking police officers being employed at the drunk tank to Swedes falling into the Danish water after a night of drinking. To be honest, I haven’t seen (or heard) many Swedes at all in Copenhagen.
Then there is the depression. It is just so very cold and dark during the winter that people can’t help becoming depressed.
Swedes are reserved. Depending on where you come from, this might be a good thing. Or a bad thing. So painfully shy that they will avoid any sort of human contact at all costs. Until they have a drink. Then who knows where the night will end up. But if you’re following the stereotypes, then it will probably end up in bed.
The list could go on and on. There is no shortage of stereotypes about Swedes, or anyone really. So many people tend to stereotype because it’s easy. It’s easier to say that all Swedes drink. All Swedes are blonde. All Swedes are shy. That way we don’t have to think on an individual basis.  It’s an understandable reaction. The challenge is of course to overcome that and to not let those stereotypes define who we meet.