the quiet one: Svenska - Making it work

You may recall a while ago me mentioning email correspondance with a student called Natalie about language software, programs etc. Well, I told her in an email that I'd ''soon be doing a post about learning Swedish''. I then started college again, and then my laptop broke on me. So AGES later, here we are. Tonight's post is fuelled by RIX FM and boredom. Du ar valkommen.

OK. So, here's my approach to teaching myself Swedish. Firstly, I should begin by admitting that I haven't done anything on it since August, except listen to RIX FM which, if nothing else, contributes to listening skills a little. Half term is approaching, though, and I WILL pick it back up again.

Step one to self-teaching Swedish, for me, was to establish how I wanted to be taught the language. Software, textbooks, apps? Well, none of them. Not on their own, anyway. The only way I've ever successfully learnt another language has been through the conventional school-taught method. So that's what I'm doing - pens, paper, worksheets, dates and objectives.

With this in mind, I went out and bought myself a folder - blue, to match the Swedish flag. I also used letter stickers to spell out Swedish words all over the front, but they don't show up well in the picture. In here, I place my work at the front, and any additional sheets I have in the back. When I finally start building it all up properly, I'll probably purchase some file dividers and organise it a little like my Spanish folder (which may be a post in itself, actually).

Another big thing for me is that the date, lesson title, any other titles and all instructions are all written in the language I'm studying - so in this case, in Swedish. I make a point of always writing the date in Swedish - this means that, hopefully, I won't need to spend much time learning days or months - the more you use them, the more naturally they come to you. Plus, it's always useful to know the date. I may actually start writing out the numbers too, just so I memorise those quicker as well.

This is typically how I set out the page. If it's a totally new subject, the ordforrad (vocabulary) goes under the title, followed by 3 or 4 activites on the vocab given.

When writing out the vocab, I always write the Swedish in blue, and the English in black. As with the folder colour, the blue helps to associate the word with the language, plus it creates a visual difference between the two languages. I don't do this throughout the whole lesson, but it's not uncommon for it to spread into the activities I set myself.

This is typically the sort of activity I would set myself to begin with. Again, all of the instructions are written in Swedish (and English, until I have the translation covered and memorised), and I also make the language I'm translating from/to clear by either writing SV till EN (short for Svenska till Engelska) or EN till SV (Engelska till Svenska). I mark all of the work simply by referring back to the vocab.

I also think it is really important to take note of the resources used during the lesson, so I always write a lesson reference box on the bottom of the paper once the lesson is over. This includes software, websites, translators, apps, phrasebooks, dictionaries etc. I typically use the BYKI Deluxe Swedish software I have, and each lesson is centered around one vocabulary list from there. In the example to the right, I was using the first vocabulary list on Meeting and Greeting - there are usually a few on the same subject, so they make up several lessons. I occasionally add to the vocabulary by looking up other words or phrases that aren't listed, but I think tie in with what I'm learning that day.

A few other pictures of the resources I use etc...