For a freelance translator living outside the country where they speak my native language, it is imperative that I work hard on keeping up my native language skills. I have several Swedish friends who are not doing that and they start sounding very “Swenglish” after a while, not to mention the writing. How do you keep up your language when living abroad? Here are some ways I do this:
1. Speak my language at home and with Swedish friends every day.
2. Read Swedish books. We have even started a Swedish book club where we read and discuss Swedish books, written by Swedish or Nordic authors.
3. Read Swedish newspapers and industry journals online every day or at least several times a week.
4. Listen to Swedish radio while working. 
5. I am not much of a TV watcher, but I am grateful to be able to watch some Swedish TV-programs online every now and then.
5. Last, but not least. Travel back to Sweden as often as possible. I try to go once a year and stay for a month. Unfortunately Sweden is quite far away from Utah, US and the trip is expensive. It is also very important to me to bring my children when I go so they can keep up their second native language.
One thing that will really help is my husbands sabbatical year in two years. He is a professor at the university and will get a sabbatical year every 7 years. Then we will go to Sweden and live there for a year and a half. I am so looking forward to this, but my children not so much. Perhaps because they will be 14 and 12 then and it is a sensitive time in their life. But I know that in retrospect it will all be good for all of us.
Do you think this is working? I do. However, just to make sure, I also have a native Swedish proofreader living in Sweden that I work with. Are there any freelance translators out there reading this that are not living in their native country? How do you keep up your language skills?
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I find that language attrition is a big problem for language professionals who live outside of their home country. As an American citizen who has lived in Spain for eight years, I have had to make a concerted effort to exercise my ability to communicate in English because it really does decline over time if you just let it slide. (This is especially true of language that appears almost exclusively in writing and not in speech.) Of the six points you mention, I can say that I have adopted the first five in varying degrees. The following are some comments about my experience in Spain:
1. Speak English at home and with friends every day: I try–most often successfully–to get my native English-speaking friends to speak to me entirely in English. It may seem a given that two people from the same country who have chosen to live in the same foreign country would do so, but most of my English-speaking friends here are very diligent about becoming part of Spanish society and have taken to communicating in Spanish with virtually everybody. And because they consider me to be part of the community of Spanish speakers, they do not shift to English. I have been successful at changing this paradigm, but we often run into situations in which there is either no frequently used, concise English term (e.g., “empadronado,” meaning “registered as a resident” in a particular neighborhood, or “homologado,” whose equivalent is “recognized” when talking about university degrees). It is awkward to use this kind of language that would seem strange if spoken in the U.S., but I think it is worth the effort.
2. Read English books: I try to alternate between English and Spanish books, since learning Spanish is a lifelong endeavor of mine and I find that there is so much to learn from literature that conversation and media cannot offer. However, your point is well taken on reading books. I would love to start an English-language book club and have thought about it in the past.
3. Read English-language newspapers and magazines: Because of the language attrition issue I subscribed to the New Yorker some five years ago and consider it one of the best investments in my career that I have made. Although it can be hard to get through an issue a week, I have learned a lot about good writing from the New Yorker and would recommend it to anyone, especially Americans living abroad.
4. Listen to English-language radio: Since there is a 6-to-9-hour time difference between Spain and the United States, I have found podcasts to be really helpful in keeping my English fresh in a way that is not time-dependent. I currently subscribe to the free podcast of This American Life (http://www.thisamericanlife.org) and I think it’s wonderful in that it contains real language and keeps me up with cultural issues in my country.
5. Watch TV in English: Fortunately, digital television has recently come to Spain, so virtually all programs that are shown on TV can be set to either the dubbed version (in Spanish) or the original version (in English, Swedish, German, etc.). I find myself watching the English version more often than not these days.
6. Travel to the U.S. at least once a year: I make the trip once every year and a half and tend to stay for 2-3 weeks. I think you are fortunate to be able to travel to Sweden as often and stay as long as you do because it allows your brain to “reset” into its native-language mode.
As a possible addition to your list, I would suggest some type of consistent writing in one’s native language. Do you blog in Swedish as well as in English? I hope to begin blogging soon because I find that most of the writing I do is in the form of translation, and I think that I would gain a lot if I got back into the habit of writing my own ideas in English.
I am from the UK and have been living in France for 14 years. I found it hard at first keeping up my English because I was so eager to dive into the French culture that I wanted to eat, drink and sleep (and read and watch TV) in French. For some reason, when I had kids, I completely changed (kids will do that to you). I realized that I enjoyed speaking English again and that I wanted to keep up a native-level of English, so I started ordering English books online and watching English and US TV online too. But unfortunately, as the children got bigger and started going to school they wanted to speak less and less in English until it got to a point when they would say “stop talking in English!”
Now (they are 9 and 11) I talk to them in French all the time except when we go to England (about 4 times a year) to visit my family. They are fine speaking in English with their grandparents and cousins, and even me, when we are in the UK, but as soon as we get on that plane/train, they revert to French. And try as I might to keep speaking to them in English, I realize after a day or two that we have all gone back to French. I would so love to be able to have conversations with them in English all the time but they just won’t have it! It seems such a shame but I suppose I shouldn’t complain, when they need to they CAN speak English!
Thanks Julia! You are very lucky to live so close to “home” too, just across the “pond”, plus that English is so common. Keep up the good work.
Originally, I’m from the Netherlands. However, having lived in Germany for more than thirteen years now, I find it increasingly difficult not to fall prey to those many false friends lurking everywhere
Being a translator and an editor does help though. I also find that interacting with fellow Dutch on social networking sites such as LinkedIn and on Twitter helps keep me on my toes, language-wise.
After five years of living outside Finland, my native country, I sometimes detect Estonian-isms (that's where I live now) creeping into my speech.
In general, however, I haven't noticed any difficulty in keeping up with the developments of the Finnish language, using much the same methods as you do.
It also helps that I'm a copywriter, so I'm constantly writing in my native language as well.