Swedish Resources (version 2.0)

[Speakeasy]

Thank you very much, Elenia! I have opened an "Advanced" section and inserted your post ... steal from the best!

[lowsocks]

An earlier version of "Teach Yourself Swedish", by R.L. McClean, is available for free at the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.165963

It appears it was first published in 1947, though at the end of the preface, it says this is the third edition, from 1950. Note that the archive page says that no preview is available at this time. But you can still download a pdf of the file from the link on the right-hand side of the page.

There is no accompanying audio, as far as I can tell. But Part I of the book is a 40-page description of Swedish pronunciation, which uses the IPA, I am pleased to note. Also included is a discussion of intonation or pitch accent.

Like many of the language books in the old, original Teach Yourself series, this uses grammar-translation as its teaching method. For some of you, that is enough to stop reading this post immediately As for myself, I rather like this approach, at least when it is well executed, as seems to be the case for this book. But to each his own.

For the rest, I cannot say much more about the book, as I have no knowledge of Swedish. (Though this book does make the language look interesting.) I also know that with all the excellent resources which Speakeasy has already listed, people are very unlikely to choose this old book, which has no audio and uses an outdated pedagogy, as their main course. But I think it may still serve as a useful supplement, whether for reference, or for additional translation exercises to work on. (A full answer key is, of course, provided.) And finally, it is free.

[Speakeasy]

Thank you, lowsocks. Given the year of publication, I have appended your post to the “Legacy” materials section.

[Ug_Caveman]

Assimil Swedish (Le suédois) (2012 ?) by William Fovet – Assimil
Although the Assimil Swedish course is not yet available from an English base, and may never be, given the well-deserved, very solid reputation of this publisher’s courses, excluding them from this list of resources would be, in my opinion, an unpardonable oversight. There are at least two generations of the Assimil Swedish courses. Whereas the current generation is available in French and German, the previous generation was available in French, German, and Dutch.

I must say, I was beginning to think copies of this book never actually existed and Assimil just said they made them to start people on a never ending fools errand to find them, however, after much searching of the deepest corners of the web, I can now proudly say I now own a copy:

image1.jpeg

Sadly wasn't able to get a copy with CDs/tapes, but as I understand it the audio is the same as used from the German/French versions of the same generation - nonetheless, really happy to actually have such a specific pursuit pay off for once

[Speakeasy]

Congratulations on your purchase, Ug_C! Should you not be able to locate a set of the audio recordings (audio cassettes, CDs) matching your course book, you could try communicating with the publisher via the “Contact” portal of their website. While they do offer the recordings in several formats for the current edition, before placing an order, it would be important that you confirm that those available match your edition of the book (also, perhaps they have the previous edition’s recordings in their archives). To do so, I suggest that you quote the ISBN of your book and list the titles of the first few lessons. Please refer to the links below. Good luck with your quest!

Assimil Le Suedois - enregistrements.JPG

Assimil
http://fr.assimil.com/

Assimil Le Suédois
http://fr.assimil.com/methodes/le-suedois-278#enregistrements-usb-mp3