The Swedish Language

I regret that I didn’t pick up Swedish as a second language, at least on a conversational level, as I was growing up. The various intonations have nostalgic memories for me and I still delight in hearing it spoken. The only other language that has by sound and cadence appealed to me is Spanish, but I have made no attempt to learn the language.

German was required in the curriculum for chemical engineering at the time I was at SUI. I think it was there because of the mistaken impression that the literature in that language was pertinent to the profession. It may have been at one time but when I was in school it had long since become obsolete as to the information in the field. German as I experienced it at school did not appeal to me as also did not French.

During my work at Shell I came into contact, as a matter of course, with Dutch-speaking engineers, etc. During the three months I spent in Holland in 1954 I was exposed to a fair amount of oral Dutch. I rather liked the sound of Dutch. I had a small Dutch/English dictionary which I tried to use on occasion, but since English was so well known by almost everyone that I came in contact with there was little incentive to learn any Dutch. About the only individual who wasn’t conversant in English with whom I had any regular contact during my stay in Holland was the lady who owned the place I stayed in during my assignment. With her I usually communicated via one of the other roomers who knew both languages. They were as a recall all employees of Shell.