Swedish the comprehensive way

This page contains the content that I have used for my journey (still on going) with Swedish. I hope it will help you who have decided to learn the language for whatever purpose. It’s quite nice to be able to express yourself and understand others in another language, so I warmly encourage you on in path. Kämpa hårt för det och lycka till!

My approach has been comprehensible input from the beginning and then adding on some structural with courses and exam prep. You can rearrange and use the materials as your wish. For a thorough explanation of comprehensible input, a google search will return so much info about this method. I passed all 4 disciplines with 3s, not the most impressive scores. However, given the different kind of effort I have made and how much fun I got, it was a surprise to me. It took me around 9-12 months (I couldn’t remember the exact time). Yes, it’s not a 3 months cramp or a secret method that engrain language into your head in weeks. However, the whole learning process to me was enjoyable and I managed to get to know about so many Swedish things along the language. So I would do that again if one might ask.

What I did

Now looking back, I think we can divide my effort into 4 phases.

Phase 1: Building

~60% of your total time before the exam In this phase, you would like to get on-boarded with the most basic things of the language (the phonetic, the common phrases, …). This means a lot of hours exposed to the language. I have to be honest here: it’s gonna be really uncomfortable, at least for the first few weeks. However, we need to be patient with ourselves and trust the process: change your setting, use youtube, listen to music, find what you is interesting to you in the target language, … We need to also be creative using comprehensible input.

Phase 2: Structure

~30% of your total time before the exam This is how we put some structure into the input we have been taking in. It means some language courses that are not to easy, self-study with books, reading books and newspaper.

Phase 3: Exam

~10% of your total time before the exam Some specialized courses for the exam, 1-1 courses, exam cramp, topic specific preparation are expected here.

Phase 4: Maintain

The language has been a part of your lifestyle. Keep using it now and then. Maybe 15 mins a day in the morning. There might be other priorities that take over the time you can spend on the language, but if one used the comprehensible input method to acquire a language, it’s usually quite natural to pick it up again.

The materials

Books

• Course book -> Rivstart: A1+A2 and B1+B2. Great books for beginners. You might need the latest version if you go for courses provided by the City of Helsinki or Espoo. I personally took the A1+A2 as the main resource and then a part of B1+B2. Somebody has claimed that they managed to pass the YKI with just A1+A2, but I wouldn’t limit the study with just that.
• Any easy to read book that you have read or any children book. From my list:
  • The little prince - Den lille prinsen (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
  • Hallå världen (Bana Alabed)
  • En stad mitt i världen

Youtube channels

It works best if you have a separate profile for the target language. It helps with the suggestions and also isolate the content in the target language from the content in your native language. Suggestions for Swedish:

• Hej Sverige - With the easy to understand content. They have great videos and series that cover the Swedish culture and the daily life topic (e.g. secondhand shopping, cafe, thinking positively…) The duration is usually around 10 mins, which is quite good for the attention span. The Swedish style is quite obvious in the videos and it’s really interesting to see the culture and the language together. I would say it’s a must for the beginners.
• Swedish Linguist - A bit longer format, but the content ranges from A2 to B1 or even B2. Fredrik (the host) has a very clear pronunciation and focus on the comprehensible input. The topics are really language related, but they are really interesting and useful for the learners. Strongly recommend for the beginners and intermediate learners.
• Svenska med Anastasia - Amazing content for beginners and intermediate learners. She tries to pronounce the words as clear as possible and there are a lot of videos in slow Swedish. The ‘Uttal’ (pronunciation) series was extremely helpful for me to get the pronunciation right. I would say it’s a must for the beginners and intermediate learners. There are also many videos in the vlog form which introduces the daily Swedish life.

A bit more advanced content

• Sejdeborns - They are native and the content is not specifically for the learners. If you are into travel, you might find the content really interesting. They are currently doing the road trip from Sweden to Sahara. It’s quite challenging at first, but you will get used to it after a while especially if you have a series of events to follow.
• Jesper Hedlund - Travel vlogger. He travels around the world and shares his experience in Swedish. The content is quite interesting and the language is quite natural. It’s a bit more challenging than the previous channels, but it’s really good for the intermediate learners.
• Eric & Bianca - Basically a Swedish couple with different lives. Great for young and adventurous souls.

Music

I think this is personal and one needs to find his or her own taste. My personal list contains a mix of old and young artists in different genres: Victo Leksell, Hov1,Miriam Bryant, Mando Diao, Bolaget Records, Darin, A36(samma gamla vanliga).

Movies and series

This is when things get funny. I think this is the category I have spent the most time on. It doesn’t require too much Swedish to begin with especially if you are an English speaker. For Netflix and Youtube, I use the chrome extension Language Reactor. I have to say this is an amazing amazing amazing extension. There are multiple features to support language learning like: in-line translation, dual subtitles, sentence rewinding (with one button you can return the video to the beginning of the sentence), … I have been using it for all the series I watch in Swedish and it’s really helpful. I would say it’s a must for the learners who want to use movies and series as their input. Try to have just the Swedish subtitles only and hide the English ones. It will be a bit challenging at the beginning, but you will get used to it after a while.

I recommend having a separate note for Swedish words and phrases that you find interesting in the movies and series. Writing them down and reviewing them from time to time will help you to remember them better.

Now to the series I want to recommend.

• The Swedish connection - A diplomatic dance between Sweden the the Nazi Germany to save Jewish lives.
• Bonusfamiljen - A comedy about a blended family. It’s really funny and and heartfelt and the same time. A really weird family (and a big extension of it) is on its constant journey to find the balance between the different members.
• A list of scandinavian crime and noir: the Åre murder, the unlikely murderer, Deliver me (I dina händer), Snabba cash (dope music, check this out), the helicopter heist, a nearly normal family, the glass dome, the break through, caliphate (must watch)
• Minä, Zlatan - You know what is about from the name, right?
• Love forever - a cute short rom-com about a chaotic wedding day.

Courses and lessons

• Courses from https://ilmonet.fi are legit to me. I tried to take all the intensive courses when they are available(A1-A2-B1). I preferred the courses which use Rivstart.
• Courses from https://learnswedishlab.com/yki-exam-preparation: I took about 8-10 sessions with them as the exam prep. I have seen people taking this as the main way to prepare for YKI too, but it’s up to you. My teacher was nice and supportive. She responded to all my questions in time and they clearly have some experience on the exam prep.
• Lessons from people speaking your native language: try to look for people in your community if they are providing YKI prep service. In some cases (as in Vietnamese), there are teachers with lower fee, but of course it depends on the quality of the service. It’s best to book some lessons with them and see if it works for you or the teachers provide the right support for you and you have a nice interaction with them.

Events

I prefer this than the speaking lessons. It’s more fun and you can meet people with the same interest. If you are in Espoo or Helsinki, there are some options list provided by Lukan

Applications

I haven’t used any app for Swedish, but from my experience with Spanish, Italki or Preply can be good options if you want to have some 1-1 lessons with native speakers and they can taylor the content to your needs. It can be a bit more expensive than the previous options, but it’s really good for the speaking practice and also for the personalized feedback. So I would suggest to use this strategy like when you want to have test speaking exam or a list of questions to practice for the exam.

To me, Duolingo is not a good way to acquire a language. You will only get better at doing their tasks rather than really learning something useful. I would suggest to use your time better with other resources.

Final words

There’s gonna be a click moment when you start to decypher the language and understand more and more. I hope this helps you in some way and I wish you a nice journey with Swedish. It’s a really rich language with its own color in the cultural spectrum. You will get to know so many interesting things about the culture and the people along the way.

If you have any questions or want to share your experience, feel free to reach out to me.

Lycka till!