I will stay the freak I am and remain beautiful

I sometimes (jokingly, I might add) refer to myself as a blue-eyed gateway drog to the Swedish language and culture, from my south-Swedish perspective. My name is Martin, born in Malmö in the very south of the country and now living in Stockholm. I operate the instagram account theswedishlanguage where I try to make learning Swedish both educational and entertaining. I also do this to a certain extent on the youtube channel theswedishlad, which is where I began my linguistic journey over ten years ago.

I am interested in people and culture, so while having the opportunity to showcase the Swedish language, I also enjoy getting a sense of where those that follow me come from. Which experiences they have that can enrich my life and how fascination of languages truly can build bridges between people.

I am a classic omnivert. In some situations I will be all over the place and very energetic. Some of you that have met me have certainly seen this side and it’s also part of my online being. And then there is the overthinking, ever self-doubting quiet boy with imposter syndrome mixed with a good dose of Peter Pan syndrome who can never figure out what he wants to be when he “grows up”. This side is sometimes there on instagram but more often, even if not very often, on my Good Talk youtube channel.

Professionally, I work as a content producer within Swedish politics. I’ve also been a social media manager, state radio reporter and teaching fellow among other things. I have an MA in digital culture from the University in Bergen, Norway.

My digital culture ride really began in 1998, when I got to know a girl in Australia through ICQ and we began vlogging and sending VHS tapes by post to each-other. I dare say that not many where as early with vlogs with an audience (even though a small one) as we were.

Two of my many personal sayings in life read as follow:
Do good shit and good shit will happen. Think karma, you know.
Always stay curious. The moment you stop being curious about other people, the world and yourself, you’ve basically retired from life.

And yes, I may never fully fit in, always between chairs and questioned by those who value what is normal in life, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. Here’s to all that we can be to the world!