Teach Yourself Swedish Book/CD Pack (Teach Yourself Complete Courses)

This is a terrible book. Not only does it have, as a previous reviewer pointed out, a total lack of structure it also has a very steep learning curve. It starts at the usual greetings and then, improbably, goes straight to talking about having dinner, and then a section on what time people get up in the morning.

The book has long passages which are beyond the language skills of the person at that particular point in the book, and not enough useful phrases or summaries of vocabularly.

I even showed the book to my swedish girlfriend who found the book baffling and in parts inaccurate and explained that some of the expressions were very old indeed.

All in all, steer well clear of this course.

A valuable resource (4/4 people found this helpful)

The book and CDs together really do make a complete course for you to follow at home. Presentation in good within the constraints of the small format and lack of colour printing/illustration. Each chapter is very well organised and follows a logical format. Grammatical points are explained succinctly. There are exercises and dialogues and also a focus on an aspect of Swedish culture within each chapter. The variety is very welcome. There is a lot of information in each chapter, and you should not expect to progress particularly quickly after the first few chapters. The CD is essential as a guide to the sing-song pronunciation of Swedish. I do not think this book could be improved within its price bracket. It does take a more scholarly or academic approach to the learning of a language. If you have learnt another language previously, you should feel at home with this format

LEARN SWEDISH THE EASY WAY! (49/52 people found this helpful)

This teach yourself book on how to learn the Swedish language was one of the first books and tape packs I got on learning the Svenska. It starts really as a kind of story book following the Taylor family who arrive for a vacation in Gothenburg. It tells the story as well as learning you useful phrases on how to say things for a trip to Sweden. The beauty of this book is that unlike most teach yourself language titles it does not start with My name is....?

It in a way throws you in the deep end learning what would happen when you arrive at a ferry terminal. The tape included guides you throw each stage and is presented by two Swedish speakers.

In my experience as this was the book I got first on teaching myself Swedish over 6 years ago, I still refer to it as one of the best to start learning a new language. I am about to aqquire the Finnish one in the same format to begin a new language yet again.

A good guide to the Swedish language (33/33 people found this helpful)

This is definitely one of the better items in the Teach Yourself series. The grammar parts bring you a surprisingly long way, and the topics covered induce a wide vocabulary for a book for beginners. If you need Swedish only for your holidays you can still decide to skip the passages dealing with history, the school system, etc. The one decidedly negative aspect is that not enough emphasis is laid on the tonal system of the language. This is essential from the earliest stages on and therefore it would deserve more attention. The cassette is quite helpful in this respect but still questions with respect to tone are left open.

Not the easiest of books for complete beginners. (14/15 people found this helpful)

Grammar is explained well when it is explained. Reading passages attempt to give too much information about lifestyle, politics and background history so vocabulary lists become extensive and full of words the average tourist will never use again. There seems to be a lack of structure throughout; one lesson does not appear to build on the last. This is not a book for someone who wishes to learn Swedish merely for a holiday in the the country although it may be of use as a second book to someone planning to live there. As a past fan of the Teach Yourlself series - this did not live up to expectations.

Teach Yourself Swedish Book/CD Pack (Teach Yourself Complete Courses)

Vera Croghan

Reader Reviews:

Avoid (0/1 people found this helpful)

A valuable resource (4/4 people found this helpful)

LEARN SWEDISH THE EASY WAY! (49/52 people found this helpful)

A good guide to the Swedish language (33/33 people found this helpful)

Not the easiest of books for complete beginners. (14/15 people found this helpful)

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