I am now back from my vacation. It was lovely while it lasted, but it is time to continue with the hard work! I took my new purchase with me (briefly mentioned in my last entry), Teach Yourself Complete Swedish and have been so impressed I felt it was important to write about it!
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| A book and audio CD pack. |
Combined with my other ongoing methods of learning Swedish (i.e. Rosetta Stone, Lund University podcasts etc.) I immediately noticed, from the first few pages, how helpful the book was for pronunciation - who knew there were rules depending on consonants, vowels and syllables?! Add to this the CD enabling you to listen to the pronunciation and you are already well underway. I particularly liked the example conversations - I have been making a conscious effort to decipher the conversation in Swedish before I double check with the translations underneath. All in all, this pack is excellent value for money and is a great addition to the other resources that I have been using.
As I have never learned another language before (apart from basic French in school which did not amount to much) I still feel a little out of my depth in terms of what to learn next. I would really appreciate some tips on how to do this - should I learn just a vast selection of words? Should I begin reading articles and make an attempt to translate them by learning new words along the way? Should I learn by forming sentences? At the moment I am trying to just do bits of each but it does seem somewhat unorganised. Please help!
One last update I have for you all is that the dates have now been released for when I can apply to the Swedish universities. My application timeline is now as follows:
Application opens: 17th October 2013
Application deadline: 15th January 2014
Notification of results: 27th March 2014
Fingers crossed! In the meantime, if anyone has any language learning tips, please get back to me!
Hejsan!
ReplyDeleteI find your initiative to move to Sweden very inspiring, as I'm in a very similar situation! ;) I've been learning Swedish for some time (more or less a year, but with a lot of breaks, since I only had enough time around summertime). In fact, I use an old version of this very same book! :) I mainly use the audio part of it, as I'm not that much of a language book person though,.. I prefer to "actively" listen to the language, because I'm able to catch a lot more that way... :)
If you also like a more interactive way to spice up your learning from time to time, I highly recommend Babbel. It's cheaper than Rosetta stone, but the voice recognition is much better and it has an eye candy, user - friendly interface. It almost feels like a game! They also have a smartphone app which is free and good for practicing vocabulary on the go :)...
I think you haven't mentioned movies in your blog. Watching movies and series is crucial even for a beginner and sometimes I even watch english movies with swedish subtitles, which might not be that efficient, but it is still fun... ;)
Another thing I find really helpful is writing a journal in Swedish... even if it's just for you!
And of course, listen to Swedish radio, read Swedish news, and so on... the only way to be really efficient is to envelop yourself in the language as much as you can... (something even I'm not that good at yet)
Anyway, I wish you good luck with your Swedish and with the admissions in fall/winter... until then, I'd be happy to practice with you if you are interested! ^_^
K.
Hej K!
DeleteThank you for replying and giving me some very useful advice. Are you planning to study in Sweden? I have the babbel app but have not used it all that much (yet - i will do now!). The Swedish journal is a very good idea, I may try that. I would love to practise with you! Do you have google+ ?
Hej :)
DeleteI'm sorry for the long silence, I was away from home, mostly travelling and enjoying the last few weeks of summer. Yes, I'm planning to study either in Sweden or Denmark :) And yes I do have g+... I'm thinking if there's any way to share my contact without it being public
Great methods for learning quickly!
ReplyDeleteWhen coming to Sweden you're also welcome to apply to Mälardalen University, situated in the center of Sweden, not far from Stockholm. You can study in a bachelor or master's programme, or choose our course package in Swedish. http://www.mdh.se/utbildning/amnen/skandinavistik
Looking forward to read more from you!
Kind regards,
Linnéa
Hi. I really liked your blog. it is very helpful. I am also interested in studying next spring semester there but i have some difficulties regarding choosing the course programme, because most of the listed courses on www.universityadmission.com they have written their starting date in septembre and i wish to apply for spring semester. can you help me with some kind of logical explanation because, honestly i couldn t find one. And this "spring semester " stuff is making me anxious. i am thinking of it like a spring semester of the already enrolled students. is not like this, right?:D can you tell me more about what you want to study and how you will deal with this paper works? Thank you in advance and wish you all the best. Greetings from Romania. Anca
ReplyDelete