Ok, I can't only have a class for total beginners. What are all the other people, who knows a little bit of Swedish, going to do? So on the same day as the beginner class starts, the intermediate lesson is following: October 11th at 21.00 in Sweden.
Yes, it may be late in the evening for those of you already living in Sweden, but for all parents of young children, it's probably perfect. And the very hard working ones has time to come home. In north America, it could be perfect to put your lunch box in the microwave and enjoy your lunch break while learning Swedish from your teacher in front of the computer. For you in Great Britain/Ireland, 20.00 is regular evening course time, so congratulations! I guess in Australia... do you like very early morning studies?
I guess, with a global virtual classroom, there is never a time that is good for everyone.
This intermediate course, which also has a duration of 8 weeks, 1 hour/week, is for those who has some basic knowledge of Swedish, but is missing quite a bit of words and grammar understanding. Here is an example of what the course covers:
Phrases while shopping, groceries, Swedish traditions and customs, describing the way, phrases while at the doctor, talking about the weather (last subject VERY important in Sweden!).
Of course this course also includes quite a bit of grammar (also explained in English) and pronunciation drills. And just like the beginner course, you will have a chance to ask questions in writing, test your understanding of the last lesson and practice more on your own before the following lesson. You will be guided to free online study material related to what the last lesson covered and you will also be provided with Swedish2go video tutorials containing the same grammar as the teacher has taught you.
Please look at the Swedish2go website for full course description!
When interested in trying the first lesson for free, please write an email to info@swedish2go.com and let me know! Don't forget to say which course you want to participate in. (You are of course welcome to join both!)
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
The date is set for beginner Swedish class - distanskurs i svenska!
October 11 at 19.00 Swedish time!*
That is the date you can look forward to starting your Swedish language lessons. And you don't have to come to me. I will come to you - in the computer. The meeting will be all online. For one hour, you will hear me teaching you about grammar, words, phrases, pronunciation. You will also be able to ask questions in the chat function.
Between each class, which will be once a week for 8 weeks with last class ending November 29, you will be directed to specific work material online - free material for those who wish, payed online textbooks for those who want something more thorough. This material will help you increase your reading and listening comprehension. Along with that you will also get access to related tutorial grammar and/or pronunciation videos from Swedish2go.
The first lesson is free of charge - you don't have to commit to anything. However, you do have to register to get access to the online meeting. If you decide to continue, all you have to do is pay the 399 Swedish kronor (approximately US$ 65) and you will have access to all the following classes in the course, including extra material.
This is a beginner course in Swedish, Nybörjarkurs i svenska på distans, and the special thing about it is that you will get a lot of Swedish grammar explanations in English, to help the understanding of the rules. Grammar is hard enough, so we don't have to do it ALL i Swedish!
After this course, you should have a basic understanding of the most important Swedish rules of grammar and pronunciation. You will also know how to talk about basic topics, such as time, family, introduction and hobby.
Below is a description of the course content:
Svenska online, nybörjarkurs (Swedish beginner course)
Lesson 1, October 11th 2012 @ 19.00 - 20.00 Swedish time:- Phrases to (greet)
- Presentation phrases
- Grammar:
- Verb: present tense
- Questions/answers (question words/yes/no-questions)
- Pronouns, subjective form
- Pronunciation
- Room for questions by chat
- Optional homework, and sheet of questions in relation to the above topics for you to check that you have understood
- Presentation cont.
- Week days and ways of saying time
- Phrases to greet (cont.)
- The Swedish vowels (short/long)
- Grammar:
- Prepositions in presentation phrases
- Conjunctions
- Pronunciation
- Room for questions by chat
- Optional homework, and sheet of questions in relation to the above topics for you to check that you have understood
- Telling time, the clock
- Grammar:
- Verb: present tense + imperative
- Word order
- Pronunciation
- Room for questions by chat
- Optional homework, and sheet of questions in relation to the above topics for you to check that you have understood
- Phrases to be nice
- Translating "Like"
- Vocabulary: verbs
- Grammar:
- En/ett
- Adjectives, indefinite form
- Pronunciation
- Room for questions by chat
- Optional homework, and sheet of questions in relation to the above topics for you to check that you have understood
- Hobby and free time activities
- Grammar:
- Verb: Present tense, helping verbs + infinite form
- Sentence adverbial (satsadverb)
- Pronunciation
- Room for questions by chat
- Optional homework, and sheet of questions in relation to the above topics for you to check that you have understood
- Talk about family
- Grammar:
- Objective pronouns
- Possessive pronouns
- Pronunciation
- Room for questions by chat
- Optional homework, and sheet of questions in relation to the above topics for you to check that you have understood
- Talking in helping verbs
- Grammar:
- Past tense
- Definite/indefinite form of subject/adjectives
- Pronunciation
- Room for questions by chat
- Optional homework, and sheet of questions in relation to the above topics for you to check that you have understood
- Repetition of the course, in a bit more advanced level - getting ready to move on
- Grammar:
- Word order - repetition
- Verb tenses - repetition
- Adjectives - repetition
- Pronunciation
- Room for questions by chat
- Sheet of questions in relation to the above topics for you to check that you have understood
Monday, 10 September 2012
Swedish online lessons live!
Swedish2go is adding on to its selection of how and what to study. Keep your eyes up for Swedish online classes live! Coming soon, in different Swedish language levels, are oportunities to sign up for a series of Swedish instructional classes online! After each class of Swedish grammar and pronunciation you will be guided to extra material related to the topic in the live meeting so you can work with the new Swedish grammar knowledge by yourself.
The beginner levels will be supported in English, with lots of translation help. As you move on to more advanced levels of Swedish, classes will be in Swedish for the most part.
Follow this blog to see when we go live, or keep an eye at www.swedish2go.com. You can also send an email to info@swedish2go.com and we will keep you posted on when everything starts!
The beginner levels will be supported in English, with lots of translation help. As you move on to more advanced levels of Swedish, classes will be in Swedish for the most part.
Follow this blog to see when we go live, or keep an eye at www.swedish2go.com. You can also send an email to info@swedish2go.com and we will keep you posted on when everything starts!
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Time to go outside!
Svamp
Languages are interesting. It shows how different interest areas are valued higher in some languages than others. Take "mushrooms", for example. Yes, of course there are different names of the mushrooms in the English language, but I find that it's only the gourmet lovers who actually use the different type of words. For most people, a mushroom is a mushroom! Ah ah. Not for a Swede. We would never go to a store and ask to buy "mushrooms". That's like going into a candy store asking for "candy". There are so many kinds to choose from!
Swedes are nature lovers, and one thing we love to do while out in the nature is to pick "mushrooms" (or blueberries, lingonberries etc). It's a big hobby. Many fanatics find their favourite spot in the woods to come back to year after year. And if you do find your gold mind (the chanterells are called "the gold of the forests") you don't tell anyone! Keep it a secret, so you can enjoy your variety of mushrooms to yourself!
Time to harvest the wild delicacies is from later summer until frost. That's now! So here are some vocabulary for you:
Languages are interesting. It shows how different interest areas are valued higher in some languages than others. Take "mushrooms", for example. Yes, of course there are different names of the mushrooms in the English language, but I find that it's only the gourmet lovers who actually use the different type of words. For most people, a mushroom is a mushroom! Ah ah. Not for a Swede. We would never go to a store and ask to buy "mushrooms". That's like going into a candy store asking for "candy". There are so many kinds to choose from!
Swedes are nature lovers, and one thing we love to do while out in the nature is to pick "mushrooms" (or blueberries, lingonberries etc). It's a big hobby. Many fanatics find their favourite spot in the woods to come back to year after year. And if you do find your gold mind (the chanterells are called "the gold of the forests") you don't tell anyone! Keep it a secret, so you can enjoy your variety of mushrooms to yourself!
Time to harvest the wild delicacies is from later summer until frost. That's now! So here are some vocabulary for you:
- Plocka svamp - pick mushroom
- Lingon - lingonberry (Ikea sells this jam all over the world if you haven't tried it and if you don't live in Sweden)
- Vilse - lost
- Svampställe - favourite place for your mushroom picking
- Champinjon - champignon (or common mushroom)
- Kantarell - chanterell
- Karljohanssvamp - king bolete, or cepe
- Flugsvamp - death cap/fly agaric (non-edible)
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Summer is over
A long summer has past and for Swedish2go it's been a summer filled with packing and moving. For the following year (until summer 2013), Swedish2go will have it's base out of Canada. That's the best part of new technology: it's totally global! You can learn just as much Swedish from Swedish2go no matter where in the world you or we are!
Why Canada? Swedish2go owner Åsa Bouck (me) is married to a Canadian and to get a portion of Canadian air, language (English) and culture into the family life, it's important with a real life experience. But Sweden is still our first choice home, and we'll be back!
So what's going on back in Sweden?
Kräftskiva! (=Crayfish party)
During August this is the most popular parties to get invited to. And if you are doing the very real thing, it's a full weekend event: putting out traps in the lake, collecting your crayfish in the night, cooking them alive the next day and enjoying it, off course together with white wine and snaps (special Scandinavian shooters) and singing while wearing funny paper hats (not just the kids). If living in Sweden or ever visiting Sweden in August, do your best to get invited to a Swede having kräftskiva!
Understand Swedish? Read this article about kräftskiva.
Surströmming! (= Rotten herring)
Well... the nice translation for it may not be rotten herring, but fermented Baltic herring. Agneta Lilja, Södertörns högskola is explaining that because of it's very special smell and flavour, it divides the population into two sides: for and against it. The author of the text can unfortunately not be proud and say that I've eaten or even smelled this delicacy. Here may be some of the reasons:
Read in Swedish about surströmming!
Why Canada? Swedish2go owner Åsa Bouck (me) is married to a Canadian and to get a portion of Canadian air, language (English) and culture into the family life, it's important with a real life experience. But Sweden is still our first choice home, and we'll be back!
So what's going on back in Sweden?
Kräftskiva! (=Crayfish party)
During August this is the most popular parties to get invited to. And if you are doing the very real thing, it's a full weekend event: putting out traps in the lake, collecting your crayfish in the night, cooking them alive the next day and enjoying it, off course together with white wine and snaps (special Scandinavian shooters) and singing while wearing funny paper hats (not just the kids). If living in Sweden or ever visiting Sweden in August, do your best to get invited to a Swede having kräftskiva!
Understand Swedish? Read this article about kräftskiva.
Surströmming! (= Rotten herring)
Well... the nice translation for it may not be rotten herring, but fermented Baltic herring. Agneta Lilja, Södertörns högskola is explaining that because of it's very special smell and flavour, it divides the population into two sides: for and against it. The author of the text can unfortunately not be proud and say that I've eaten or even smelled this delicacy. Here may be some of the reasons:
- It's rotten.
- It's not only fermenting before the conservation of it, but also inside the cans, making the cans round-shaped !
- It's such a pressure in the can when you open it that you're advised to open it outside and under water.
- You are after opening the can advised to eat the rotten herring inside, since it attracts too many flies.
- It stinks (says everyone, even the rotten fish-lovers).
- It's an old Swedish tradition.
- It tastes much better than it smells.
- You eat it with tasty sides like, flat bread, butter, onion and potatoes.
- It's cheap!
Read in Swedish about surströmming!
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Swedish vocabulary for May happenings
Many people love this time of year in Sweden. The nature is exploding, the hockey interest is at its peak (world cup, this time in Stockholm!) and the music expectations are high (the Eurovision song contest is coming up). Here's therefor a list of useful and up to date Swedish terms to learn (not always litterally translated):
So sit down and study this vocabulary and you'll be able to follow all the most important happenings in Sweden at the moment.
- Eurovision song contest = stora melodifestivalen (well mayby not formally, but gereally speaking)
- World cup of hockey = hockey VM
- Favorite to the gold = guldfavorit
- To win = att vinna
- To loose = att förlora
- To underestimate = att underskatta (exempelvis länder som Vitryssland)
- GO Sweden GO! = Heja Sverige!
- Blooming = blommar
- It's starting to get green = Det grönskar
- Bad weather = svenskt vårväder
- Barbeque = grilla
- Sit outside and eat, even though it's freezing = njuta av vårkvällen
So sit down and study this vocabulary and you'll be able to follow all the most important happenings in Sweden at the moment.
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Hold the thumbs!
Sweden needs all the thumbs we can get - in a Europe cup of handball. This is a country full of handball fans - and we love our national team.
So the saying "Det viktigaste är inte att vinna utan att kämpa väl" (= The most important is not to win, but to try hard) does not apply here. That's just a sweet way of trying to teach the kids to be good losers - although once overheard a father saying in the gym by the 8-year old's soccer game: the most important is to win. Hmmm... the old saying was something like that, but not really.
By the way: Holding the thumbs is Swedes' way of showing hope and luck. Kind of like crossing your fingers in the English language (Swedes cross their fingers when telling a white lie, by the way!). So hold your thumbs hard, when Sweden needs all the wins they can get in a handball-crazy Europe. The importance is not to try hard - but to win!
Follow it on EHF Euro 2012
So the saying "Det viktigaste är inte att vinna utan att kämpa väl" (= The most important is not to win, but to try hard) does not apply here. That's just a sweet way of trying to teach the kids to be good losers - although once overheard a father saying in the gym by the 8-year old's soccer game: the most important is to win. Hmmm... the old saying was something like that, but not really.
By the way: Holding the thumbs is Swedes' way of showing hope and luck. Kind of like crossing your fingers in the English language (Swedes cross their fingers when telling a white lie, by the way!). So hold your thumbs hard, when Sweden needs all the wins they can get in a handball-crazy Europe. The importance is not to try hard - but to win!
Follow it on EHF Euro 2012
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