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Lost in translation?

One phrase that stumped Niklas Hjalmarsson when he first moved to the U.S. was “when they sneeze and they say, ‘God bless you.’ I didn’t understand.”

His first reaction was, “What do you mean God bless me?”

Johnny Oduya added, “Am I dying?”

Hjalmarsson agreed, “Yeah, what’s wrong?”

Their response in Swedish after sneezing is “prosit,” which translates to “to your health.”

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When they go back home to Sweden, they …

“Have a Swedish fika – that’s something I miss too – just go out and sit and drink coffee for two and a half hours and just talk about everything with your buddies,” Hjalmarsson said.

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When their family and friends come to Chicago, they take them…

“Downtown. It’s clean and the city’s nice with the water. It kind of reminds me a little bit of back home too,” Kruger said.

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