Engleski A - 2022. ljeto, reading 5.

But not for most Swedes. In Sweden, casual chattiness is (33)

as needless since conversation is used for exchanging real, meaningful information.

Here, small talk is (34)

to be futile, and is referred to as kallprat (“cold talk”) or dödprat (“dead talk”).

To prevent ending up in these situations, many Swedes have made an art of avoiding eye contact with strangers and acquaintances they might come across in the street by looking at their phones or staring at shopping windows (35)

.

For Swedes, the purpose of talking is to exchange meaningful information and (36)

in purposeless chit-chat simply isn’t valued.

Visitors to Sweden who attempt to start an informal conversation with a shopkeeper or waiter, even with the local greeting of hej, are likely to (37)

met with a flat hej in response, often with a subtext of faint irritation or mistrust.

Experts say this reserve could be (38)

Sweden being a sparsely populated country in a relatively vast landscape, whereby for hundreds of years, people grew accustomed to rarely speaking with those outside their immediate circle.

Another hypothesis is that this aversion to chit-chat could be linked to relatively low levels of immigration to Sweden until the 1960s. Minimal exposure to other cultures historically meant that Swedes were less inclined to (39)

up this decidedly un-Swedish practice.

Yet, (40)

their seemingly cool and reserved exterior, Swedish people will almost always be polite. Expect them to be friendly, albeit simply in a different way to those from more talkative cultures. In a country that reveres simplicity and practicality, it’s best not to talk without a reason.