He has been rooted in Swedish culture until recently - how does one learn to speak English like a natural born American?? It's almost impossible to lose your mother tongue accent if you immigrated after 12 yo. How in the world does he pull it off unless he was bathed in Swedish AND English from early age?
shareHe did bath. Joel's father Steve Kinnaman is from the US, his mother is Swedish. He grew up in Stockholm, Sweden and has both Swedish and American citizenship. Most of the children who grow up with a mother or father from another country learn both languages, not sure if that's the way it works everywhere, but that's how it works (most of the times) in Sweden. He masters both languages equally well, he's bilingual.
Plus children in Sweden start to learn English as early as in the 2nd grade (class).
There are many who have learned to lose the atypical accent.
shareI have met people from Sweden who spoke English well enough to pass for Americans. Perhaps with a slight accent but I would bet that most Americans would just think that they have an unspecified American accent.
shareJohn Barrowman is a good example of this. He's Scottish but moved here as a teenager and worked hard to lose his accent because he didn't want to be made fun of. Now you'd never know.
shareAlexander Skarsgard is another example of a Swede who, in normal conversation, speaks English like an American.
shareJohn Barrowman moved here to Illinois when he was 8, not as a teenager.
shareI know one who has no accent at all. He moved to the US when he was in his twenties and I met him about five years later. I had no idea he wasn't American.
shareI had no idea he wasn't American. Well done on the accent! Admire his performance even more now
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