I’m a German philology (German language, rather than German culture/history/society) major, and am in 6th semester college German right now. It’s pretty daunting.

But I’m also taking a beginning Swedish course. It kinda seems like a cop-out, since many of the words are so similar, but I’m really happy with it. And wow—compared to my current German class, Swedish 1001 is a breeze. We’re reading and interpreting Kafka and Kleist in German right now… but in Swedish?

“Bok! Golv! Penna!” (Book, floor, pen!)

It’s refreshing.