Understanding the Swedish Language, one word at a time

As we prepared for our trip to Sweden, we considered whether to learn some key Swedish phrases to help us get by on our visit. We had the Rosetta Stone course for learning Swedish. Mike also had another learning system, but we chose to learn a few simple words. Hej Tack, Hej Da, and some city names. It was a good choice since the Swedish people have a very good knowledge of English and are very willing to listen carefully and understand us "one-language" American visitors.

There is one word that we have all learned and continue to understand more and more because the richness and depth of its true meaning is amazing. The first time we heard the word, "Fika" pronounced fee-ka, with accents on both syllables, I understood it to mean a coffee break, often including sweet desserts. But over time, the meaning of fika has continued to grow.


Fika a a time of sharing thoughts and ideas. It is a time to put the day-to-day life on hold and focus on thoughts and ideas of those around. We have all experienced many types of fika as a team in our first two weeks. Some examples will help clarify the true depth of the meaning of this word.

At a factory, fika is a time for workers and management to sit down and discuss any topic from professional experiences, ideas on how processes can be improved, or just sharing how the day is going.

At a university, researchers will have a fika to talk about their project, collaborate on a video conference between locations, and hold committee meetings.

At a Rotary President's house, we have had a delicious fika to discuss the week's activities, meet the host families and GSE coordinators while exchanging information about ourselves and discussing other ideas in a very open sharing setting.

When Jessica and I were having fika with glasses of water with a director of social services in the municipality, we had a remarkable experience. One of the residents of the group home we were revisiting, and this was a home for the most severely affected individuals with mental and psychological disorders, heard new voices in the kitchen and came to investigate. He said we were drinking water and became visibly upset because our host may not have been showing us proper respect because we were not drinking coffee. He tried to grab a cup and coffee pot and said one word clearly, "fika."



Fika is generally coffee or tea in midday, but fika also is sharing beer, or wine, or gin and tonic, or whiskey, or plain water. It is sharing experiences, ideas, life stories, or recent events between new friends, old friends, business partners, neighbors, or people with common interests. It is giving your personal, undivided attention. It is removing all distractions to engage in meaningful dialogue. It is a concept, an idea, a practice that our entire team will break back with them and truly effect our lives forever. It is our favorite Swedish word. It is "fika." ~ Wally (per Secretary Sarah)