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Where to start with... Swedish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| peppelanguage Triglot Groupie ItalyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5869 days ago 90 posts - 94 votes  Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, English Studies: French, Swedish | Message 9 of 21 14 November 2008 at 8:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm trying to learn Swedish too...and here is a course i found:
http://www2.hhs.se/isa/swedish/default.htm it's just an Introduction to Swedish...but a nice starting point...then I'll probably go with the "Teach yourself Swedish" (freely downloadable at www.4shared.com - I put it there, so I'm sure it's there and for free... :)) could I know how did you get the Pimsleur and the book with a cd ?? were they for free or did you just buy them somewhere?? good luck!! ;) bye 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6664 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin | Message 10 of 21 18 November 2008 at 11:05am | IP Logged | ||
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Umm.. I'd actually say that poetry is not what one should start of with; I haven't read the poems of Haket, but poetry generally really move words around, relies on sounds that can be muted and words and expressions that now days are obsolete. If the goal is to just understand Swedish and sit home, alone reading Edith Södergran, then it might be a good idea - but it will not really help one communicating.
Both Dagens Nyheter http://dn.se (News of the Day) and Svenska Dagbladet http://svd.se (The Swedish Daily Paper.. or something) could be hard to understand, especially the culture section... There is another newspaper in Sweden though made for people with little knowledge of Swedish and it's called Sesam http://sesam.nu . Swedish radio is available at httpå://sr.se and Swedish television at http://svt.se; TV news can easily bee accessed at http://playrapport.se/. SVT uploads many of their shows and SR uploads all radio shows, without the music due copyright issues. As for written Swedish: try to read text that were written after the '70ies because older text are very different from the way we write and speak today and although you probably will want to understand them they do not reflect Swedish as it is spoken nor written today. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SlickAs Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5882 days ago 185 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French, Swedish Studies: Thai, Vietnamese | Message 11 of 21 18 November 2008 at 5:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Swedish is really a fun language. I found it very easy to learn, and I love speaking it. The only pity is that I dont get much of a chance, and Swedes generally speak such good English that it is rendered a little useless compared with my other languages.
I am assuming you have done your first lessons by now (that will generally be small-talk of "Hi, how are you?" etc.) Whilest understanding the prononciation at a really basic level helps (like a general idea that the Swedish y sounds nothing like the English and perhaps some sort of general idea of the Swedish å that is in no way related to a) so you are reading it somewhat close to right, I would not worry too much about the pronunciation for a couple of weeks. There is a sing-song to Swedish pronunciation that is its own thing and has to be learned by immitation and will come much later ... you will never get it right as a beginner. I post here because I can not recommend highly enough a book called "Essentials of Swedish Grammar" by Viberg, et al. I have my dog-eared copy sitting beside me as I type. There is nothing as good, concise and simple to understand as this book in the other languages I speak. It is excellent. It is written in English, is not dull or boring, is ony 159 pages, and once you have read it you have the entire Swedish language in a nut-shell. You will understand all the grammar that there is, and now just need to add vocabulary and put theory into practice by getting that grammar you have learned happening in new sentance constructions in your head on the fly. When I learned it, FSI was not available (or at least for free), but it is there that I would learn the pronunciation, if I were you. (I haven't listened to FSI Swedish, I am basing my opinion on FSI Thai). I, myself, started with the Routlage Colloquial Swedish book and tape. I don't know if I really recommend it or not. It worked for me in that I now speak Swedish and learned my first words from it. I found the tape spoke a bit too quickly for the beginning lessons, and was more a guide to where I would eventually be in spoken Swedish than something to teach me correct pronunciation like FSI will do. I can't really comment if there is something better for beginning stages. All I can say, and underline again and again, is that you really MUST get hold of the above Viberg book. I used a lot of other books at intermediate level. Some of the books I liked and would recommend: I used the series Mål 1, 2 & 3: Svenska Som Andra Språk. I enjoyed them. I used a book Nybörjarsvenska which I liked also ... really good for building vocab and practice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Slovenian girl Triglot Newbie Slovenia Joined 5844 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: Slovenian*, French, English Studies: German | Message 12 of 21 29 November 2008 at 12:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello!
My name is Meta and I come from Slovenia (I hope everybody knows that is not Slovakia ;) ). I've been learning English for 8 years, French for 6 years and German for 4 years. But now I'm interested in learning Swedish. Why? I think this is one of the most beautiful language and as difficult as slovene. I hope someday I also go to the trip to Sweden (maybe as an au-pair) so it would be nice to say some words in Swedish. All in all, here in Slovenia we don't have a lot of Swedish courses (or they are too expensive). I would like to learn Swedish maybe someone can chat with me (msn) or teach me through mails? Thank you, goodbye Edited by Slovenian girl on 29 November 2008 at 12:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| bellababie Newbie United States Joined 5900 days ago 17 posts - 17 votes Studies: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Swedish | Message 13 of 21 05 December 2008 at 10:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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hej!
I would also like to learn Swedish. I am taking Spanish and french at school but I've been really interested in the Swedish language becuase it sounds beautiful! I have never studied Swedish before as a course only words through my boyfriend. However, if there is anyone that can speak Swedish and is looking for someone to help, i would like to learn Swedish on skype, msn or emails. which ever works for me! I am just looking for someone that could help me with pronunciation of words and especially "Ö,Ä and Å" Let me know for you Swedish speakers out there! Tack! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6664 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin | Message 14 of 21 06 December 2008 at 3:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ö sounds somewhat like i in bird, ä somewhat like ai in air and å somewhat like o in
dorm. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| bellababie Newbie United States Joined 5900 days ago 17 posts - 17 votes Studies: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Swedish | Message 15 of 21 06 December 2008 at 3:05pm | IP Logged | ||
Tack så mycket! That helped!!! I am started to understand the "Å" however the "Ö" and "Ä" are still a little difficult for me. If there is anyone that is willing to help me learn some Swedish, let me know! Tack! :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6914 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 16 of 21 06 December 2008 at 7:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Do you have access to any material, or are you just going to take the "chaotic approach"?
1 person has voted this message useful |
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