Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Swedish Resources (version 2.0)

  Tags: Swedish | Resources
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
Speakeasy
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 3812 days ago

507 posts - 1097 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 1 of 1
05 May 2020 at 12:34am | IP Logged 
FOR REPOSTING TO THE “A LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ FORUM” (LLORG)
During the period from February 2020 through May 2020, I conducted a complete revision to the twenty-eight (28) lists of resources which I had posted on the LLORG during the previous three-year period. As revising these types of documents directly on the LLORG in the “Edit Mode” is fraught with difficulties, I removed their contents from the LLORG, stored them on my computer, and completed the revisions. During the revision process an event occurred which prevented me from reposting the contents to their original files and, as a contingency measure, I have posted them here on the HTLAL in the anticipation that either the Administrator or the Moderators of the LLORG will copy/paste them to the LLORG. - Speakeasy

1. INTRODUCTION

Sweden
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund Strait. At 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the largest country in Northern Europe, the third-largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe by area. The capital city is Stockholm. Sweden has a total population of 10.3 million of which 2.6 million have a foreign background. – Source: Wikipedia

Languages of Sweden
Swedish is the official language of Sweden and is spoken by the vast majority of the 10 million inhabitants of the country. It is a North Germanic language and quite similar to its sister Scandinavian languages, Danish and Norwegian, with which it maintains partial mutual intelligibility and forming a dialect continuum. Five national minority languages are also recognized by Swedish law: Finnish, Yiddish, Meänkieli, Romani and Sami. In 2009, the Riksdag passed the Language Law recognizing Swedish as the main and common language of society as well as being the official language in "international contexts", the five national minority languages, and Swedish sign language. – Source: Wikipedia

Swedish Language
Swedish is a North Germanic language spoken natively by 9.6 million people, predominantly in Sweden (as the sole official language), and in parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to some extent with Danish, although the degree of mutual intelligibility is largely dependent on the dialect and accent of the speaker. Both Norwegian and Danish are generally easier for Swedish speakers to read than to listen to because of difference in accent and tone when speaking. Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It has the most speakers of the North Germanic languages. Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descending from the older rural dialects still exist, the spoken and written language is uniform and standardized. – Source: Wikipedia

2. SWEDISH RESOURCES: LEGACY

Swedish Courses, Supplements, etc.

DLI Swedish Basic (1960s – 1970s) -- NONE

DLI Swedish Headstart (1970s) -- NONE

E.I.L. Swedish Basic Audio-lingual Course (1970) by Maiken Thurston; Experiment in International Living
In the late1960s-early1970s, Experiment in International Living, a private educational institution, published a series of elementary audio-lingual-method courses each of which was accompanied by approximately 8 hours of AUDIO recordings. The texts of many of these courses are freely-available via the U.S. Government’s ERIC website.

FSI Swedish Basic (1982), 704 pages, by Ingrid Beach et al.
Swedish: A New Basic Course (1982), 704 pages, by Ingrid Beach et al.
Audio-lingual method. Approximately 12 hours of AUDIO recordings. Although often referred to as “FSI Swedish Basic” and so-titled by the Foreign Service Institute, an alternate title was assigned to this course by authorized publishers, Audio-Forum and Multilingual Books, as “Swedish: A New Basic Course”, a matter which complicates searches of these materials on the internet.

Linguaphone Swedish (circa 1970)
The current edition of Linguaphone Swedish dates back to the early 1970’s at a time when the publisher commissioned a major revision to most of their language courses.

Spoken Swedish (1950s), 261 pages, by Fritz Frauchiger and William R. von Buskirk; Foreign Service Institute
Spoken Swedish (1971), 261 pages, by Fritz Frauchiger and William R. von Buskirk; Spoken Language Services
Audio lingual method. Supported by 24 AUDIO cassettes. Although the first public appearance of this course was in 1971, reprinted by Spoken Language Services, the preface to the FSI Swedish Basic course (1982) by Ingrid Beach et al., includes the following statement: “FSI Swedish Basic course developed from a need to provide a more comprehensive and up to date curriculum than had been afforded by an earlier work, ‘Spoken Swedish.’ The latter had been produced in the 1950’s by William R. Van Buskirk and Fritz Frauchiger of the FSI linguistic staff, with the assistance of members of the staff of the Post Language Program of the American embassy in Stockholm.”

Spoken Swedish: Including a Basic Words List (1945) by Einar R. Ryden; Edwards Brothers, Inc.
Advanced Spoken Swedish (1947) by Martin Soderback; Augustana Book Concern
Listed here with a view to alerting anyone who might be searching for a copy of the “Spoken Swedish” course manual (similarly-named titles). In today’s context, these materials would be of historical interest only.

Teach Yourself Swedish, (1947), by R.L. McClean; English University Press Ltd
lowsocks wrote:
An earlier version of "Teach Yourself Swedish", by R.L. McClean, is available for free at the Internet Archive: (https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.165963). It appears it was first published in 1947, though at the end of the preface, it says this is the third edition, from 1950. Note that the archive page says that no preview is available at this time. But you can still download a pdf of the file from the link on the right-hand side of the page. There is no accompanying audio, as far as I can tell. But Part I of the book is a 40-page description of Swedish pronunciation, which uses the IPA, I am pleased to note …
U.S. Peace Corps Swedish (1960s – 1990s) -- NONE

3. SWEDISH RESOURCES: CONTEMPORARY

Swedish Courses, Supplements, etc.

Assimil Le suédois (circa 2012) by William Fovet
Assimil Schwedisch ohne Mühe (circa 2012) by William Fovet
Available in FRENCH and German only. CEFR A2-B1. Reviews on Amazon, on the HTLAL, and on the LLORG are positive.
     
Beginner's Swedish (2002), 280 pages, by Scott Mellor; Hippocrene Books
Basic course. CEFR A1. Two hours of AUDIO recordings. Amazon customer reviews are generally quite positive.

Colloquial Swedish, (4th ed., 2016) by Philip Holmes et al.; Routlege
Colloquial Swedish: AUDIO recordings; Routlege
Series is highly-regarded. CEFR A0-A1. Two (2) hours of AUDIO recordings. Amazon customer reviews mixed but generally positive.

Complete Swedish (2nd ed., 2018), circa 300 pages, by Anneli Haake; Teach Yourself Books
CEFR A1 staple course. Amazon reviews are resoundingly positive.

DLI GLOSS Swedish – NONE

DLI Headstart2 Swedish - NONE
     
From English to Swedish 1, 2 (2018) by Bengt Hällgren and Carol Hällgren; Independently published
From English to Swedish 1 - YouTube
Most Amazon customer reviews are quite positive.

Glossika Swedish
Not a course of study. Exercises for developing automaticity.

Hugo Swedish in Three Months (circa 1990), approx. 200 pages, by Peter Graves, Gunilla Blom; Dorling Kindersley Publishers
Out-of-print, but copies can still be found on the internet. Supported by three (3) AUDIO cassettes or CDs. Amazon customer reviews for the series are positive.

Michel Thomas Foundation Swedish (2000s) by Roger Nyborg et al.; John Murray Learning Few members of the language forum are unfamiliar with the (all audio) Michel Thomas Method courses.

National Foreign Language Center (NFLC) – University of Maryland - NONE

Parlons suédois : Langue, histoire et culture (avec 1 CD audio) (2009), 506 pages, by Corinne Péneau; Editions L'Harmattan
Available in FRENCH only. Amazon customers report that this is not a course in spoken Swedish, but more of a grammatical overview of the language.
     
Pimsleur Swedish
Well-known, and renowned, all-audio programme.

Rivstart (series) 2nd edition (2nd ed., 2014) by Paula Levy Scherrer et al.; Natur Och Kultur
Rivstart - Website      
Rivstart - YouTube
The Rivstart series of instructional books, published in Sweden by Natur Och Kultur, with supporting audio recordings, covering CEFR A1 through C1, are designed for presentation in a classroom by a qualified instructor. Despite this, a number of LLORG members enthusiastically recommend their use for the self-instruction of Swedish. At present, a simple search of the LLORG yields 137 threads in which the word “Rivstart” appears, many of which include comments on members’ positive experiences with, or plans to use, these materials. They can’t be ALL be wrong!

Swedish: Advanced
Elenia wrote:
… A few Swedish only courses that run to a more advanced level, or cater for advanced learners.

Form i fokus A, B and C; and Text i fokus 1 and 2. Form i fokus focusses on grammar. I have made a little use of book A and didn't much like it, and extensive use of Book C, which I didn't like either. Nonetheless, the grammar exercises are numerous and well worth looking for anyone needing a bit more work on specific points. I much preferred Text i fokus which, as far as I remember, consists of non-fiction text extracts. The extracts in each book are categorised A, B or C in terms of difficulty. Each text is accompanied by comprehension and vocabulary exercises. Both books are by Cecilia Fasth and Anita Kannermark and are published by Folkuniversitets förlag.

The Avancera series which comprises Avancera Grammatik (grammar), Avancera Läs (reading), Avancera Hör (listening) and Avancera Ord (vocabulary); all by Marianne Mathlein, published by Liber. I have only used the first two. Both are quite slim volumes, nonetheless expensive. The answer key for the grammar, reading and vocabulary books are available for download from the publisher's website. I would recommend the grammar book for someone who felt that they really, really needed the extra practice, but not for anyone who needs help understanding the concepts, as grammar concepts are not explained.

Språkporten 1 2 3, by Monika Åström, published by Studentlitteratur. This book focuses on reading comprehension, using texts taken from a range of different sources. Some texts are written by the author of the book. The book is well organised into thematic sections containing glossed readings, simple comprehension questions, vocabulary exercises, discussion questions and writing prompts. Each section ends with a few pages on grammar. Purchase of the book also gives access to a digitised version of the text and an audio recording, as well as extra exercises. Unfortunately, the digital version can't be bought separately. The book is designed to take B2-ish learners to a C1 level.

All three publishers offer other books for Swedish learners, as well as books for learners of other languages.

Swedish Phrasebooks, Language Guides, etc.
This list is not exhaustive, it is a sample of the numerous phrasebooks and language guides available for Swedish.
          
Berlitz Swedish Phrasebook & Dictionary (2018), 224 pages; Berlitz Language

Fast Talk Swedish (2018) , 96 pages, by Pär Sörme, et al.; Lonely Planet

Kauderwelsch Schwedisch, by Karl-Axel Daude et al.; Reise Know-How Verlag
Kauderwelsch-Sprachführer Schwedisch - Wort für Wort (15th ed., 2014), 128 pages
Kauderwelsch- AusspracheTrainer Schwedisch – AUDIO recordings
Available in German only. Phrasebook and AUDIO recordings (extracts only). Sold separately.

Swedish-English/English-Swedish Dictionary & Phrasebook (2002) , 137 pages, by Julie Hansen et al.; Hippocrene Books
           
Swedish Grammars, Verbs, Phonology, etc.
This list is not exhaustive, it is a sample of the many grammars available for Swedish.

======= Grammars: General =======

Basic Swedish Grammar (3rd ed., 1976), 168 pages, by Beite Hildeman et al.; Arthur Vanous Co.

Concise Swedish Grammar: Svensk Grammatik Pa Engelska (1997), 156 pages, by Ake Viberg; Natur Och Kultur
     
Essentials of Swedish Grammar (2nd ed., 1993), 159 pages, by Ake Viberg; Passport Books
xxx (19xx), xxx pages, by xxx; xxx

Swedish: An Essential Grammar (3rd ed., 2020), 234 pages, by Ian Hinchliffe; Routledge
Basic Swedish: A Grammar and Workbook (2018), 194 pages, by Ian Hinchliffe; Routledge
Intermediate Swedish: A Grammar and Workbook (2019), 198 pages, by Ian Hinchliffe; Routledge
Grouped together as they form a commonly-encountered series from this publisher.

Svenska Akademiens språklära (2010), by Tor G. Hultman; sidottu, ruotsi

======= Phonology =======
     
Phonology of Swedish (2014), 384 pages, by Tomas Riad; Oxford University Press

======= Verbs =======

201 Swedish Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses (2nd ed., 1998), 248 pages, by Richard Auletta et al.; Barrons Educational

2000 Common Swedish Verbs: Quick Reference to the Essential Forms Including Many Phrasal Verbs (2001), 76 pages, by David Hensleigh; Non Basic Stock Line

Swedish Verb Conjugation (online); VerBix

Swedish Dictionaries, etc.
This list is not exhaustive, it is a sample of the many dictionaries available for Swedish.

Berlitz Pocket Dictionary Swedish (2nd ed., 2018), 616 pages; Berlitz Language

Hippocrene Comprehensive Dictionary: Swedish-English (1996), 887 pages, by Davidovic Mladen; Hippocrene Books
          
Langenscheidt Universal Dictionary Swedish (2018), circa 800 pages; Langenscheidt Pons

Prisma's Swedish-English Dictionary (3rd ed., 1998), 640 pages; University of Minnesota Press

Swedish-English/ English-Swedish Practical Dictionary (2011), 432 pages, by Harald Hille; Hippocrene Books

Swedish Readers, Literature, etc.
This list is not exhaustive, it is a sample of the of some common sources of Swedish reading materials.

Learn Swedish - Bilingual Book – Amazon.com Search Results
Rather than attempt at creating a list of bilingual readers for the supplemental study of Swedish, which would take up a significant amount of space in this thread, I have attached this link to the Amazon Search Results for such items.

Languages on the Web: Swedish
NOTE: There are actually two (2) lists of books: those accessible via the left-hand listing, and those accessible via the centre listing.
           
Wikipedia, den fria encyklopedin

Swedish Miscellany
Copief from Yoytek’s excellent “Swedish resources for beginners and those at A1-2 levels” thread … If you’re going to steal, steal from the best.
Voytek wrote:
Some minimal pairs to get to know Swedish sounds:
https://rhinospike.com/audio_requests/ballroom/27943/

You can found those words on forvo: https://forvo.com

A great pronunciation course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEQVgbDPZ4I

An audiobook with the letters that helps to get used to the Swedish orthography and phonetics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6IcHajCzUo&t=3s

An excellent digital course: http://www.digitalasparet.se/

Internet press for beginners: http://www.sesam.nu/

Some short cartoon fragmets in Swedish: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQxhJS-92vn9MhVFyIFO Olnm_qyc1IKq

There`s some stuff for 3-8 yrs old kids which is perfect for Swedish language learners at A2 level:
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt?programid=4785
You can find here (^) some more demanding stuff too.

Folktales:
http://oaks.nvg.org/folksagor.html
http://www.las-en-bok.com/en_himmelsk_fard.pdf

Voytek wrote:
Two video courses for beginners:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy64ifnSS4s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofc76rXlpT8

The Swedish frequency word list:
https://spraakbanken.gu.se/swe/kelly

Voytek wrote:
Here you can find a great dictionary with Swedish transcriptions (phonetic);
http://www.dict.com/Swedish-English

Here you can find a dictionary with Swedish sounds (You will need FireFox to download them):
https://glosbe.com/

Here you can find a dictionary with exemplary Swedish sentences.
http://en.bab.la/dictionary/swedish-english/

And another course material where you can find simple dialogs in Swedish:
http://skola.karlstad.se/sfitingvalla/

Unga Radioteatern - a great radio series for kids:
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt?programid=3171

Voytek wrote:
News (txt) in simple Swedish:
http://8sidor.se/

Radio news in simple Swedish:
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=493

A Swedish online dictionary:
http://lexin.nada.kth.se/lexin/

A Swedish internet TV with subtitles (Swedish ones):
http://urplay.se/

Also here:
http://www.svtplay.se/program?filter=utomlands

An here without subtiles (sometimes they are added):
http://www.dplay.se/kanal5/#!/play/program/226052/video/1993 66232|/program

A guide to the Swedish pronunciation if someone still need it:
http://www2.hhs.se/isa/swedish/chap9.htm

Another one:
http://freddegredde.com/swedishpronounciation.htm


Voytek wrote:
Her you can get to know everything you need about the Swedish pitch accent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06QimoXQMcc

It`s a very good explanation of this crucial matter.

Voytek wrote:
And here you can find films for kids in Swedish:
http://ktv.io/sv

An internet radio in easy Swedish (slow speaking):
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=4916

An internet TV in easy Swedish:
https://www.svtplay.se/svt-nyheter-pa-latt-svenska


Voytek wrote:
Swedish movies and movies with Swedish dubbing you can watch for free:
http://dreamfilmhd.sh/movies/genres/swedish/?page=0

Some of them have additional subtitles in the language.

CompImp wrote:
Not sure if this is on here yet but:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx29fm1G-J3KwJmVezyCPdw Anita Pihl Sfi How to learn swedish

Some really good videos, loads of them in fact, and they're all totally in Swedish.

4. IMPROVING THIS FILE?
Please feel at liberty to post your own recommendations and/or comments and I’ll see what I can do about incorporating them into the lists above.

5. SUBSEQUENT COMMENTS
Visitors to this file are encouraged to review the subsequent comments, posted below, as they include members’ suggestions concerning materials and form a running commentary on resources for the study of this language.

EDITED:
Completely revised: April 2020



1 person has voted this message useful



If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.1719 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.