A Swedish Language Course
Introduction
Contents of the Course
Swedish Cultural Links
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No new lessons will be added until at least the spring of '07. In the meantime, please send any comments, corrections, or questions.
Last updated August 26, 1999 (lessons); October 23, 2006 (links). Though I rarely modify the content, this site is still maintained.
Introduction
Svenska, as the Swedes call their
language, is spoken by the approximately 8 million inhabitants of Sweden, as
well as another 300,000 people in Finland. It belongs to the North Germanic
sub-group of the Indo-European language family (English is in the West Germanic
sub-group), which includes Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese. It is
extremely similar to Danish and Norwegian, especially in written form. Its
grammar and syntax are very similar to English, more so than German or French.
Many Swedish words are easily recognizable by English speakers, and even more
so by German speakers. So naturally, Swedish is a relatively easy language for
English speakers to learn. Pronunciation is a little difficult at first,
especially due to the vowels, and a beginner should listen to a native in order
to get a good idea of the Swedish sounds.
This course was designed for beginners and no previous knowledge
of Swedish is assumed. However, the lessons may also be helpful for those
people who have had previous experience and would like to improve their grammar
or just simply practice or brush up.
Contents
Note: A graphical browser (netscape 2. or higher) is required in order to view the special Swedish characters.
Alphabet and Pronunciation
Lesson One: Vad är det?
Lesson Two: Var bor du?
Lessons Three: Possessive
Lesson Four: Numbers 1-10 and Plurals
Review of
Lessons One to Four - plus Greetings and more (Coming)
Lesson Five:
Definite and Possessive Plural (Coming)
Other Swedish-Related Links
(all are unaffiliated with this course)
Lättläst
Publisher of books in easy Swedish. Great for learners!
Online Swedish-English
Dictionary works both ways.
Svenska Dagbladet Swedish daily newspaper online
(in Swedish).
Swedish Museum of Natural History
Pronouncement Software makers of
"Hear it in Swedish", a commercial product, also includes a
comprehensive list of places to learn Swedish.
Yahoo Index of Swedish
Sites
World Newspapers - Swedish
a list of Swedish media (news and radio) on the web.
Swedish
Grammar
8 Sidor a newspaper in easy Swedish for
learners. Also includes audio.
Swedish Alphabet
Pronunciation - a great site, where you can hear how the letters are
pronounced.
Another really
great site is the Travlang Swedish for
Travelers Pages, which include sound. Click below to go there.
Also check out my Online Hungarian Course
This page was created 5/6/96 by Aaron
Rubin and has been accessed times since 9/2004.
© 1996, 2006 Aaron Rubin. No part of this page may be reproduced without
permission from the author.
