[meriksson]

I agree with Matti - doing business in Stockholm without knowing Swedish is no problem. Swedes are generally fluent in English and most often they enjoy speaking it. I know several foreigners who run startups here without bothering to learn the local language.

[to3m]

I had to go to Stockholm a few years ago. It was somewhat short notice, so I didn't have time to brush up on my Swedish. I knew how to say "thank you", and "Sweden", and that was that.

On the first evening I had a bit of difficulty operating the keycard outside the hotel. A chap came up to me and started talking, presumably explaining how to use it. "Murgle burgle burgle wurgle furgle", he said, or something like that. I must have looked blank for about 0.1 seconds before he slipped, with barely a beat, into flawless, unaccented English. And the first English words out of his mouth were, "Oh, sorry..." :)

(This was not a unique experience. Even the petrol station attendants spoke great English. You don't even get that in England.)