Really hard going
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Now I would say of myself that I'm of average intelligence. I won't be helping with work on the International Linear Collider nor will I be sporting a tracksuit while appearing on Trisha.
With that in mind I would like to say I've found this book seriously hard work. In the two years I've had this book I have to say I can't seem to make it past(don't laugh)the first part. It's not something I had a go at once an gave up I've had several goes at this to no avail. It throws you from the off draggin you through a long winded look at pronunciation which when you start off trying to learn is just confusing as you've probably had no knowledge of how these sounds fit in with the language.
Once you get passed that you get to the meat of the book. 'Passet, tack'! Which tries to recreate the situation of going through customs. Now I've been to Sweden several times so this part seems like a bit of a white elephant really as they never really ask any questions an if they do they see you aren't Swedish from you're passport and speak to you in English. Which i find is aslo the case with most Swedes as they Generally have a higher standard of English than most English people.
What I would've prefered would have been to pick up some USEFUL phrases to get a bit of confidence then once I have those under my belt learn about the construction of them an progress into making my own sentences.
I have in the time I've owned this title picked up a little Swedish and thought that if i went back with that knowledge I'd get through "this time" but alas no.
I've not learnt any Swedish from this product nor did I find the content had any relevance to Swedish culture (you can't get to Sweden from England by ferry) and the accents used are like none I've encountered in Sweden.
It's back on the shelf for now maybe one day I'll have another go.
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The best resource I have found so far
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This book has achieved the right balance between grammar and user-friendliness. You are encouraged to learn useful phrases and words from the start, using dialogues and realistic contexts. Your learning is supported by grammar points in each chapter, which really help you to understand and 'own' the language, so that you can create your own sentances. This is a much better system than those which work on you supposedly memorising phrases without understanding, or systems which are ver grammar-heavy. There is a lot of 'content' in every chapter, so you don't feel that you are progressing very fast sometimes, but understanding comes fairly quickly. For me, the CD is essential, for pronunciation and comprehension. The native speakers go at their normal pace, which is fast for a learner, but that's how it's going to be when you get to Sweden, so I have no problems with that. I think the book is lacking an index to enable the user to look up grammatical points quickly. I also like that the book tells you something about the culture of Sweden.
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