Recommendations for sites to practice speaking Swedish?

[Hereward]

Hej!

I've spent some time learning Swedish before but have let it drift for the last year or two. Now i've decided to restart it and hopefully come some way to fluency. Reading and writing practice is easy, but there's a distinct lack of Swedes around here, so where would be a good place to try and arrange skype conversations with native Swedes?

I have a lot of spare time at the moment so i'm really going to throw myself into it, and nothing forces you to learn quicker than actually having to speak the language you're learning.

Hopefully someone will be able to help me out here.

Matt

[Jurgen Wullenwever]

there's a distinct lack of Swedes around here

There are some 50 000 Swedes working in London, but they might be hard to reach.

where would be a good place to try and arrange skype conversations with native Swedes?

I was asked this precise question recently by someone else, but I had no idea what to answer. Would there be any particular quality required in these conversations, or just speaking practice, and being able to hear real Swedish, as opposed to official stuff?

[Hereward]

there's a distinct lack of Swedes around here

There are some 50 000 Swedes working in London, but they might be hard to reach.

where would be a good place to try and arrange skype conversations with native Swedes?

I was asked this precise question recently by someone else, but I had no idea what to answer. Would there be any particular quality required in these conversations, or just speaking practice, and being able to hear real Swedish, as opposed to official stuff?

Slightly off topic, but in answer to your first point it's odd how Swedish people think there are so many Swedes in London. I have a Swedish friend who was an au pair in London for a while who was adamant there were 500,000 Swedes in London. According to official statistics there are only 25,000 Swedes in the entire UK.

Regardless i'm not in London all the time and will soon be travelling in Australia for a little while.

I personally just want to be able to practice speaking in a live environment with someone who will have patience with my basic Swedish.

[Jurgen Wullenwever]

Slightly off topic, but in answer to your first point it's odd how Swedish people think there are so many Swedes in London. I have a Swedish friend who was an au pair in London for a while who was adamant there were 500,000 Swedes in London. According to official statistics there are only 25,000 Swedes in the entire UK.

Oh, I see. I only heard someone on the radio giving the 50 000 number, but that person was apparently misinformed.

I personally just want to be able to practice speaking in a live environment with someone who will have patience with my basic Swedish.

If there is a demand for it, I might be able to help with this. At least, I am a native speaker, and I meet people, who have been learning Swedish as adults, almost every day

[globetrottersara]

If you are in the Bristol-Bath-Swindon-Cheltenham area, there are quite a few Swedes around. I'm part of a group with both Swedes and people of various nationalities, interested in learning Swedish or already fluent. We organise classes (beginners and intermediate) and also monthly events.
I also know there is a quite strong Swedish (+ other Scandinavians) community in the LIverpool-Manchester area.
Let me know in which are you are, I can ask around

[akira]

They said on the News that there are now 1 million Swedish people living in London

[Johanna]

1 million? No.

Up to 50,000? Possibly.