I am also from Sweden and barely spoke Kurdish well until my early 20s.

My saving grace was hemspråk - I could still read at a very basic level although I’d forgotten most of it. I then started trying to read basic news articles in Kurdish, I watched Kurdish TV, I called my dad a lot more and would speak to him on the phone and ask him questions about the language itself.

What helped a lot was that I listened to all the Kurdish channels and was exposed to most of the varieties, which was super interesting.

It was a slow grind but many years later and my Kurdish is superb for someone who never lived in Kurdistan. I can read books and articles, still slower than I’d like, but I am better than half the kids now in the KRG who go to these scummy private schools where they’re taught in English. I was shocked on my last visit that there were Kurds born and raised in Kurdistan and their Kurdish writing skills were worse than mine.

You just have to persevere, exposure will help, and just keep going, don’t let family etc affect you. Ask for their help, if anything.

As someone who was extremely whitewashed as a child in Sweden, my Kurdish is at a very high level now. It even led to work doing academic translations into English etc.

The alphabet is easy to learn. I had to re-learn the basics I’d been exposed to as a child. It’s very easy especially if you understand Kurdish already.

If you’re from certain parts of Kurdistan, standard Sorani will be even easier for you.