Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
PRESENTED BY C3L TYRESÖ

Swedish for programmers: ‘It changed my life’

One size does not fit all – not in shoes and not in Swedish lessons. The Local finds out more about “Swedish for Programmers”, an alternative to SFI which is helping get foreigners into new jobs quickly.

Published: 6 October 2016 14:28 CEST
Swedish for programmers: 'It changed my life'

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of reasons for moving to Sweden.

And there are thousands of people with vastly different backgrounds who have all ended up in Stockholm.

“They all have one goal in common, though: to find a job,” says Miia Luomajoki, who teaches Swedish as a second language.

But what many don’t realize is that they do not have to take the same cookie-cutter Swedish classes en route to that goal.

Miia works at a community-learning centre called C3L in Tyresö, just southeast of Stockholm, where she teaches Swedish for Programmers.

“SFX-IT, as we call it, is Swedish lessons which are tailored for people with an education in programming and IT,” Miia explains. “Students are able to learn Swedish at the same time as they take classes in IT vocabulary, Java, C#, Python, and more. We focus on Swedish in the workplace.”

It’s not just another Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) course. SFX-IT is one of nine dedicated Swedish programmes in the greater Stockholm area designed to prepare educated immigrants for a specific profession in their new country.

“I came to Sweden two years ago looking for new opportunities due to the financial crisis in Spain,” says Adriana González, a computer engineer originally from Mexico City but who lived in Spain for seven years. When she went to register for normal SFI classes she saw a flyer for SFX-IT – and immediately knew it was the better option for her.

“It's important for me to learn the technical vocabulary needed in my work, and it was a great opportunity to improve my technical skills, too.”

Thair Yalldko, a programmer from Iraq who moved to Sweden in 2013, has a very different background, but eventually also found his way to the unique programme.

“I worked at the Ministry of Industry in Iraq, but the situation was difficult, and I was so close to death many times,” Thair tells The Local. “I was forced to leave my country and come here to learn a new language, new culture, and new laws.”

When he first arrived in Sweden there was only one thing on his mind: safety.

“But after a few months, I started thinking about how start my life again, and how to be useful to society,” he says. He registered at the local work authority and heard about SFX-IT.

“It felt like the right choice and an unbelievable opportunity,” he says.

Adriana and Thair both had classes every day, learning to read, write and speak Swedish, but also earning certification in programming languages such as Java and C#. The students also received support preparing their CVs and cover letters and practicing for interviews.

“About 15 hours a week is Swedish, and the rest is programming,” Miia explains. “Students can also do an internship at an IT company as part of their education.”

This mixed approach makes it much easier for students to enter the labour market after their studies.

“It used to be easier to get IT jobs in Sweden without speaking the language, but today it’s harder,” Miia explains. “Programmers don’t just sit quietly behind their screens anymore. They need to communicate with colleagues and clients alike.”

Many students of SFX-IT already have jobs, but enrol in distance studies when they realize they’re lacking necessary language skills. Students have the option of studying online in the evenings if they can’t commute to Tyresö during the day.

“Sometimes companies send us their employees to learn Swedish. Other times it’s the employees themselves who realize that if you want to live in Sweden, you should learn the language.”

Find out more about Swedish for Programmers

For Adriana it certainly paid off.

“I enjoyed every single part of the course,” she tells The Local. “Personally it helped me meet people and communicate, and in my career it improved my skills, and finally got me a job.”

Indeed, while students can take the classes for up to three semesters, Miia says most of them have secured IT jobs within one or two semesters.

“The school has a great network and contact with many IT companies, and we invite guest lecturers and participate in recruitment fairs and other relevant events,” she explains. “We offer a lot that you can’t get through normal SFI courses.”

Indeed, Thair, who started SFX-IT in September last year, already has a programming job.

“SFX-IT was a wonderful journey which led me to my company,” he says. “I would recommend it to all programmers who want to learn Swedish and start working here.  “It changed my life and I'm so happy for that.”

This article was produced by The Local Client Studio and sponsored by C3L Tyresö.

For members

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

Le Havre rules: How to talk about French towns beginning with Le, La or Les

If you're into car racing, French politics or visits to seaside resorts you are likely at some point to need to talk about French towns with a 'Le' in the title. But how you talk about these places involves a slightly unexpected French grammar rule. Here's how it works.

Published: 30 November 2021 13:04 CET
Updated: 4 December 2021 17:47 CET
An old WW2 photo taken in the French port town of Le Havre.
An old WW2 photo taken in the French port town of Le Havre. It can be difficult to know what prepositions to use for places like this - so we have explained it for you. (Photo by AFP)

If you’re listening to French chat about any of those topics, at some point you’re likely to hear the names of Mans, Havre and Touquet bandied about.

And this is because French towns that have a ‘Le’ ‘La’ or ‘Les’ in the title lose them when you begin constructing sentences. 

As a general rule, French town, commune and city names do not carry a gender. 

So if you wanted to describe Paris as beautiful, you could write: Paris est belle or Paris est beau. It doesn’t matter what adjectival agreement you use. 

For most towns and cities, you would use à to evoke movement to the place or explain that you are already there, and de to explain that you come from/are coming from that location:

Je vais à Marseille – I am going to Marseille

Je suis à Marseille – I am in Marseille 

Je viens de Marseille – I come from Marseille 

But a select few settlements in France do carry a ‘Le’, a ‘La’ or a ‘Les’ as part of their name. 

In this case the preposition disappears when you begin formulating most sentences, and you structure the sentence as you would any other phrase with a ‘le’, ‘la’ or ‘les’ in it.

Masculine

Le is the most common preposition for two names (probably something to do with the patriarchy) with Le Havre, La Mans, Le Touquet and the town of Le Tampon on the French overseas territory of La Réunion (more on that later)

A good example of this is Le Havre, a city in northern France where former Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, who is tipped to one day run for the French presidency, serves as mayor. 

Edouard Philippe’s twitter profile describes him as the ‘Maire du Havre’, using a masculine preposition

Here we can see that his location is Le Havre, and his Twitter handle is Philippe_LH (for Le Havre) but when he comes to describe his job the Le disappears.

Because Le Havre is masculine, he describes himself as the Maire du Havre rather than the Maire de Havre (Anne Hidalgo, for example would describe herself as the Maire de Paris). 

For place names with ‘Le’ in front of them, you should use prepositions like this:

Ja vais au Touquet – I am going to Le Touquet

Je suis au Touquet – I am in Le Touquet 

Je viens du Touquet – I am from Le Touquet 

Je parle du Touquet – I am talking about Le Touquet

Le Traité du Touquet – the Le Touquet Treaty

Feminine

Some towns carry ‘La’ as part of their name. La Rochelle, the scenic town on the west coast of France known for its great seafood and rugby team, is one such example.

In French ‘à la‘ or ‘de la‘ is allowed, while ‘à le‘ becomes au and ‘de le’ becomes du. So for ‘feminine’ towns such as this, you should use the following prepositions:

Je vais à La Rochelle – I am going to La Rochelle

Je viens de La Rochelle – I am coming from La Rochelle 

Plural

And some places have ‘Les’ in front of their name, like Les Lilas, a commune in the suburbs of Paris. The name of this commune literally translates as ‘The Lilacs’ and was made famous by Serge Gainsbourg’s song Le Poinçonneur des Lilas, about a ticket puncher at the Metro station there. 

When talking about a place with ‘Les’ as part of the name, you must use a plural preposition like so:

Je suis le poinçonneur des Lilas – I am the ticket puncher of Lilas 

Je vais aux Lilas – I am going to Les Lilas

Il est né aux Lilas – He was born in Les Lilas  

Islands 

Islands follow more complicated rules. 

If you are talking about going to one island in particular, you would use à or en. This has nothing to do with gender and is entirely randomised. For example:

Je vais à La Réunion – I am going to La Réunion 

Je vais en Corse – I am going to Corsica 

Generally speaking, when talking about one of the en islands, you would use the following structure to suggest movement from the place: 

Je viens de Corse – I am coming from Corsica 

For the à Islands, you would say:

Je viens de La Réunion – I am coming from La Réunion 

When talking about territories composed of multiple islands, you should use aux.

Je vais aux Maldives – I am going to the Maldives. 

No preposition needed 

There are some phrases in French which don’t require any a preposition at all. This doesn’t change when dealing with ‘Le’ places, such as Le Mans – which is famous for its car-racing track and Motorcycle Grand Prix. Phrases that don’t need a preposition include: 

Je visite Le Mans – I am visiting Le Mans

J’aime Le Mans – I like Le Mans

But for a preposition phrase, the town becomes simply Mans, as in Je vais au Mans.

SHOW COMMENTS