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Beginning with Swedish

  Tags: Swedish
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
11 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
JonnyJ
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4049 days ago
8 posts - 9 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Swedish

 
 Message 1 of 11
28 October 2013 at 4:03pm | IP Logged 
Hello guys, I'm new to the forums, although I've been lurking around here for a while
now. I am a massive fan of learning languages, so that's why I've decided that I might
as well get started in documenting my progress.

I am a complete newbie when I comes to foreign languages, so obviously any advice that
any of your guys could give me would be most appreciated.

I am hoping to start learning Swedish this week, and I'm planning on utilising the
following resources:

- FSI's Basic Swedish Course (I plan that this will be my 'main source' although
obviously I am going to use more.)
- Teach Yourself Complete Swedish Course, which i plan to use mainly as an alternative
to FSI if I need an less strict approach sometimes and also because It might explain
some grammar point or whatever a little more clearly.
- I also plan to use Anki as a way of expanding my vocabulary, but I want to make sure
I learn, so I'll be limiting myself to a maximum of 10-15 new words/phrases etc a day
(I know some people on here are doing 40,50 a day, but I can't see myself having that
much patience!)

Also, I might be able to pick up Colloquial Swedish from my local library fairly soon
so Ill let you know if I get that to.

I tend to be quite unorganized when it comes to 'schedules' so I probably wont follow a
set pattern every day. Nevertheless I hope to spend a minimum of 1 hour a day(I'll
actually be pleased with this considering I have quite a few other commitments) spent
studying, as well as reviewing Anki daily.

Thats about it for my first post, so thanks for reading. Any advice etc. are most
welcome.

Thanks, Jonny.
1 person has voted this message useful



Henkkles
Triglot
Senior Member
Finland
Joined 4254 days ago
544 posts - 1141 votes 
Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 2 of 11
28 October 2013 at 4:28pm | IP Logged 
Lycka till! It seems like you've lurked quite succesfully, that looks like a solid plan. Swedish is a really good idea to be the first foreign language for an anglophone. I'll be reading this log (depending on when you update).
1 person has voted this message useful



JonnyJ
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4049 days ago
8 posts - 9 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Swedish

 
 Message 3 of 11
31 October 2013 at 8:11pm | IP Logged 
Thanks Henkkles.

So over the last couple of days I've been getting stuck into FSI Swedish Unit 1 -
Getting around, and I've gone through the listening exercises and drills about 3 times.
I plan to continue to repeat this until I can respond spontaneously to a good
percentage of the drills, so that I really get everything sticking. I've also been
working through the first unit of teach yourself Swedish, which is covering pretty much
the same basic things. Slowly I think I am starting to get used to the sounds of the
language, which I actually love!

I've been adding words and phrases to my anki deck, so now I've got about 30 cards, and
Ill be adding grammar concepts as well once I've 'finished' the chapter.

So my targets for this week consist of:
- Finish Unit 1 of FSI
- Finish Unit 1 of Teach Yourself
- Get all the vocabulary and grammar concepts saved in anki.

Thanks for reading :)

1 person has voted this message useful



JonnyJ
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4049 days ago
8 posts - 9 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Swedish

 
 Message 4 of 11
31 October 2013 at 10:14pm | IP Logged 
So after fiddling around with Anki for a few days, I've got to admit that it just isn't
my thing. I've seen many people praise anki as a fantastic way to memorise lots of
vocabulary, but for me it's such a dull task working through words that I need some kind
of colour to brighten it up. Perhaps I just have a short attention span, but rather than
use anki i've decided to create my own vocabulary course on Memrise. I'm sure people have
opinions on Memrise, so I'd love to here them.

You can find my personal memrise decks in the link below:

http://www.memrise.com/course/168691/teach-yourself-complete -swedish/

1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5010 days ago
3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 5 of 11
01 November 2013 at 12:04am | IP Logged 
Hi, JonnyJ.

I wish you a lot of fun with Swedish, is is my target language as well (and I am not
that much before you on the path).

Perhaps you'd like to join the November round of 6wc? It is a challenge to study as
much as possible during 6 weeks. We log our activities on twitter and get some friendly
competition going on. (And of course a not so friendly competition against ourselves).

Well, I prefer Anki to Memrise and I wrote the reasons in a thread or two and my log.
I'll dig it up if you're interested. Basically, I loved the beta version. And the new
one is much much worse than the beta. It is obviously primarily meant to be "good"
looking but it is much less practical than the old one. And the creators went directly
against everything their beta users have been unisono asking for. The exercises in
Memrise, the photos, memes etc., that is all awesome and more fun and addictive than
Anki. But the levels, the less freedom for the user and much less logic than in the
beta, all that killed my excitement.

But I wish you a lot of success with it, it is still one of the better tools out there
and you probably don't have the experience with the beta to miss it so much.

I'm sure your main resources will prove great. And I love the vikings and dragons in
the FSI :-)

I'm looking forward to hear of your progress. Hopefully, it will be another kick in my
laziness :-)
1 person has voted this message useful



JonnyJ
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4049 days ago
8 posts - 9 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Swedish

 
 Message 6 of 11
01 November 2013 at 11:02am | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
Hi, JonnyJ.

I wish you a lot of fun with Swedish, is is my target language as well (and I am not
that much before you on the path).

Perhaps you'd like to join the November round of 6wc? It is a challenge to study as
much as possible during 6 weeks. We log our activities on twitter and get some friendly
competition going on. (And of course a not so friendly competition against ourselves).

Well, I prefer Anki to Memrise and I wrote the reasons in a thread or two and my log.
I'll dig it up if you're interested. Basically, I loved the beta version. And the new
one is much much worse than the beta. It is obviously primarily meant to be "good"
looking but it is much less practical than the old one. And the creators went directly
against everything their beta users have been unisono asking for. The exercises in
Memrise, the photos, memes etc., that is all awesome and more fun and addictive than
Anki. But the levels, the less freedom for the user and much less logic than in the
beta, all that killed my excitement.

But I wish you a lot of success with it, it is still one of the better tools out there
and you probably don't have the experience with the beta to miss it so much.

I'm sure your main resources will prove great. And I love the vikings and dragons in
the FSI :-)

I'm looking forward to hear of your progress. Hopefully, it will be another kick in my
laziness :-)


Thank you for the kind words Cavesa.

I'd love to have a look at your review of Anki and Memrise - it's always interesting to
see what other people like and dislike about a certain language tool. Having not see
the beta version I suppose you are right in suggesting that I haven't got anything to
compare it to. Having said that, I'm pretty happy using it simply because it allows me
to create my own courses in a few clicks and then review words in a similar sense to
anki. I suppose I just enjoy the simple colourful nature of it, but I can appreciate
that Anki works very well for most people - I'll make sure I don't completely forgot
about it, who knows it might be useful for me in the future.

In terms of the November 6wc, I'd be very interested, but seeing as I've only just got
started with Swedish, I'd prefer to get a 'routine' underway before I delve into
challenges! Thanks for the offer though - I'll keep it in mind!

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your Swedish studies! :)
1 person has voted this message useful



JonnyJ
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4049 days ago
8 posts - 9 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Swedish

 
 Message 7 of 11
02 November 2013 at 10:19pm | IP Logged 
So today I finished reviewing all the vocabulary from Unit 1 of both Teach Yourself and
FSI, with all the words and phrases now 'in the long term memory' according to memrise
- the next time I need to review them now varies from 6 days to 2 weeks. I'm really
pleased because I feel like I've learn so many new words, phrases and grammar in such
as short period of time, although I also realise this is probably because I wasn't
starting with any experience of the language.

Of the new language I've picked up so far, I think I could confidently use perhaps 70%
of the words and phrases. Is this normal? Is this what you would expect having just
started out in the language. I feel as though I know more than I think I could use at
this stage. But I'm taking it slowly - according to Memrise I now have about 100 words
or phrases, which I am happy with.

I plan on going over the drills from Unit 1 from both TY and FSI again a few times
tomorrow just to consolidate, and then get started on Unit 2 next week.

Also, has anyone got any recommendations for any easy, easy reading sources online that
I could delve into. I know I've only been learning a week, but I love to dive into a
few simple sources just to see If I can pick out a few words here and there. Any help
would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading,
JonnyJ
1 person has voted this message useful



Pippilotta
Diglot
Newbie
Austria
Joined 4042 days ago
1 posts - 1 votes
Speaks: German*, English

 
 Message 8 of 11
03 November 2013 at 9:16pm | IP Logged 
hi JonnyJ!
I found this site http://www.digitalasparet.se/index.htm .. and if you want to listen to swedish radio: www.sr.se
hälsningar från tyskland!
ha det bra!



1 person has voted this message useful



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