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Swedish schools start teaching English in second grade. Also, many children in Sweden practicea lot of English in their spare time, for example by watching films, or by playing computergames. During the last few years, Sweden has accepted many refugees from countries whereEnglish doesn’t play such a dominant role. By talking to refugee high-school students and theirparents, and asking them about their attitudes towards English as a language and as a subjecttaught in school, this study aims to make it easier for English teachers in Sweden to understandthe perspective of foreign-born students. The study is based on interviews and surveys withSomali- and Arabic-speaking students and parents, conducted in collaboration with Somali- andArabic-speaking translators. This group of students has a completely different starting point thanSwedish students, since they start learning English as a foreign language at the same time as theystart learning Swedish, and have a home language that is from a different language group. Themethod of research used has been focus group interviews with students, individual, structuredinterviews with parents, as well as surveys with students. Results show that students and parentswho participated think it’s important to learn English, that they don’t think it’s a particularlydifficult language, but that they need more time to practice, in school, and in their spare time.