Anna Mammitzsch doctoral thesis is mentioned in Språkkrönikan in Dagens Nyheter on December 8th, 2024. In his language column, Språkkrönikan, Anders Svensson discusses the recurring criticism faced by Queen Silvia, a native German speaker, regarding her Swedish pronunciation and language use, despite her many years in Sweden. Queen Silvia is often used as a benchmark for Germans learning Swedish, which can be both an advantage and a burden. Svensson highlights the difficulty of learning a new language as an adult. Svensson references the research of our recent PhD, Anna Mammitzsch , who has studied the experiences of German migrants in Sweden and their experiences of learning Swedish. Mammitzsch emphasizes that while German migration to Sweden has a century-long history and relevance , Germans are a relatively invisible group in the migration debate. She demonstrates that although Germans often receive praise for their Swedish, their language skills are frequently compared to an idealized, accent-free standard. This creates pressure and sets an unattainable standard for migrants.
Department of Slavic and Baltic Studies, Finnish, Dutch and German
Anna Mammitzsch will defend her thesis Experiencing and narrating migration: A linguistic ethnography of identity work among German-speaking migrants in Stockholm. The study explores how German-speaking migrants in Stockholm construct their identities through narratives.
