Speak Swedish with Confidence
Brand New : 3 Audio CDs
We've all travelled abroad with the best of intentions when it comes to speaking the language, only to falter when it comes to the crunch. This quick and constructive course gives you the Swedish you need to talk to the locals - and crucially, the confidence to put it into practice.
As well as providing essential vocabulary and phrases, the course also aims to improve your understanding of spoken Swedish, so that you can feel sure of yourself in two-way conversations.
Based on the ten situations you are most likely to find yourself in while travelling abroad, the course builds your knowledge and understanding gradually, and is suitable for complete beginners.Â
A booklet is included, with the dialogues and their English translations. A glossary of the words and phrases used also provides you with a handy phrasebook while you travel.
By the end of this course, you will be at Level A2 of the Common European Framework for Languages:Â Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions. Can communicate in simple and routine tasks.
- TEN REALISTIC CONVERSATION SCENARIOS - the words and phrases you'll need
- NO GRAMMAR - make progress fast, without learning boring rules or unnecessary vocabulary
- ALL-AUDIO COURSE - use anywhere
- LOTS OF OPPORTUNITY FOR PRACTICE AND REPETITION - improve your confidence
- HELP IN UNDERSTANDING WHAT IS SAID BACK TO YOU - strategies for understanding what you hear, so you can have true, two-way conversations and not be thrown by the replies you get
About the Swedish Language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by more than nine million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the �land islands. It is to a considerable extent mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with Danish (see especially "Classification"). Along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era.
Standard Swedish 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 descended from the older rural dialects still exist, the spoken and written language is uniform and standardized. Some dialects differ considerably from the standard language in grammar and vocabulary and are not always mutually intelligible with Standard Swedish. These dialects are confined to rural areas and are spoken primarily by small numbers of people with low social mobility. Though not facing imminent extinction, such dialects have been in decline during the past century, despite the fact that they are well researched and their use is often encouraged by local authorities.
The standard word order is Subject Verb Object, though this can often be changed to stress certain words of phrases. Swedish morphology is similar to English, i.e. that words have comparatively few inflections; there are two genders, no grammatical cases, and a distinction between plural and singular. Adjectives are compared as in English, and are also inflected according to gender, number and definiteness. The definiteness of nouns is marked primarily through suffixes (endings), complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles. The prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a comparatively large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless dorso-palatal velar fricative, a highly variable consonant phoneme. |
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