My husband spent a couple of years living in Germany but barely learned any German because everyone there spoke English, and they all socialised together.

Modern English is quite a complicated language, I think; a bit of a mongrel -- there are roots in Latin, Greek, Old French, Old German and several other languages, and often there are concepts that can be expressed with several words with entirely different roots. I've never studied it but I imagine Anglo-Saxon would be strongly linked with Swedish? (I fear my acquaintnce with Swedish is limited to watching Wallander and the like...)