Sunday 22 July 2012

swedish diary #1





Seen as I'm spending my summer trying to learn some Swedish, I thought I'd start keeping a bit of a record of it. If you know me, you'll know that languages fascinate me. I ordered an actual textbook to work from this afternoon, so hopefully I'll be able to structure it better soon, but for now I'm pretty content with how I'm doing things.

For the actual vocabulary, I'm using my Byki Swedish app. It costs £5.49 from the iTunes app store, but you get a fair amount of vocab (here's a tip - make sure you go into 'downloads' and download the rest of the vocab that you've paid for).

So far, I've completed 15 of the vocab lists provided by the app, plus a couple of extra sets of vocab that I compiled myself (food and colours). So far, one of my main problems is putting 'det' in the wrong part of sentences. Another is forgetting to put accents on letters. I usually remember 'å' but other accents are usually forgotten unless the pronunciation of the word is completely clear in my head and I'm aware that there must be an accent on certain letters.


I gave myself a massive vocab test this week (it was out of 189, eek!) and got 81%, which I was happy with. I mainly got things wrong if I hadn't really understood them at the time that I covered them (i.e. lots of phrases along the same theme - ''your *blank* is *blank*) and I wasn't great at colours either.

I'm hoping that when the book I ordered arrives, I can properly look into grammar. I have my 201 Swedish Verbs book (tack så mycket, Sophie) but it's literally just that, so I'd like to figure out some of the rules before I start using the book. I know from studying Spanish that grammar is usually the barrier that holds you back from progressing as much as you'd like, so I'm going to spend some time figuring the grammar out when I can.

Overall, I'm really enjoying being able to see that I've made actual progress. When I've tried to learn in the past, it's never been something I was able to really stick at and continue with, so I'm happy with the fact that I've got the time to make sure it gets done at the moment.

Are you learning Swedish or any other languages at the moment? Share your experiences below!

More soon! Vi ses senare,

Rx

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4 comments:

  1. Rosie27 July 2012 at 01:54

    WOW I love this post so much! I am a fellow language geek! Language just fascinates me so much, I love it :) I've been teaching myself Italian for about a year or so, and it's just amazing! I've had a bit of a break during my uni exams, but am so looking forward to cracking on with it next year! I'm off to Italy this summer so am looking forward to proper practise.

    Do you find that with learning languages, reading the language comes most easily but understanding the language when spoken by a native is super tricky? So glad i've found a kindred spirit! :)

    www.ciderwithrosiebee.blogspot.com

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  2. Rachel4 August 2012 at 12:21

    Thanks for the comment! Sorry for the late reply, I've been away this week.

    It's always good to hear from another language geek ;) It's strange with me, because in Spanish (which I've studied in school/college for 5 years now) my reading is my worst skill, yet in languages that I've never formally studied it's my best. I definitely find it difficult to understand the language when spoken but I do now know that as you learn more, gain more grammatical knowledge and pick up more vocab, it gets easier.

    Good luck with your Italian. The buzz you'll get from speaking it to native speakers will be totally worth all of the studying :)

    Rachel x

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  3. Ida-Marielle Svanér6 August 2012 at 15:23

    This is so inspiring and interesting!
    I come from Sweden and I'm studying to be a swedish teacher. (sorry if my english is somewhat wrong here and there, hopefully you'll understand what I mean anyway :) )

    Can I ask you why you want to learn swedish?
    From what I've heard from people who's not from Sweden, Swedish is a hard language to learn, do you find it more/less difficult to learn than Spanish?
    I would love to know what you find tricky to learn, if you are willing to share it with me of course! :)

    Lycka till med din svenska, hoppas det går bra i fortsättningen.

    / Ida

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    Replies
    1. Rachel7 August 2012 at 08:27

      Tack så mycket för din kommentar, Ida :)

      I first developed an interest in Swedish in 2007 when I also started studying Spanish in school, but I'm not really sure why. Now, I want to learn it because the language itself interests me, but also because I'm generally interested in Sweden as a country and its culture.

      It's difficult to compare them because I've studied Spanish for a lot longer, but in some aspects Swedish is easier (for example, the vocabulary is often similar to English - hus/house, lampa/lamp etc) and in some aspects I think Spanish is easier (for example, having studied Spanish for longer, I can do the grammar).

      Because I'm still in the really early stages of learning, I don't have much to share at the moment. If you check back occasionally I'll be sharing it in more posts like this :)

      Rachel x

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