Complete Swedish Beginner to Intermediate Course: Learn to read, write, speak and understand a new language (Teach Yourself)

I've been deeply regretted to see how this helpful and comprehensive self-teaching book was unfairly dismissed by many online resources recommending the materials for learning Swedish language... Because contrary to popular belief, you don't need a magical super-effective and at the same time easy-to-understand book to send all knowledge to your brains directly and give you all almost effortlessly. When it comes to self-teaching process, all you need is a bit of determination, a good plan and clear focus. A few weeks or even years of frustration can lead to a long-lasting rewards, and this book is that kind of source which allows to start working your motivation, take self-promise as seriously as the obligations for others, and stick to your workout plan for that long. Contrary to another popular belief, Swedish isn't so difficult for those who speaks English, because Swedish grammar structure tends to be subject-verb-object based (that's probably why Swedes are among the best speakers of English as a foreign language). Moreover, Swedish and English share 1558 words. Joking aside, the magic always starts from our promises to ourselves and commitment to them in any learning process, we just must be specific and sincere about what we do when getting started, and this book is a great tool and really excellent helpful resource.

This is now the fourth Complete (formerly Teach Yourself) language series kit I've used, and again I am very satisfied. I previously completed Brazilian Portuguese, Old English And Indonesian and I've found them all very clear and helpful. Bear in mind that this series is much more suited to people with linguistic predilections and those who can cram grammar and vocabulary the old fashioned way (this is not Rosetta Stone...shudder). The four native speakers who voice the characters represent an older man and woman and a younger man and woman. I found their voices very clear. This set basically has all the major grammar of the Swedish language. If you've studied Germanic languages before, this stuff will be familiar. The grammar of Swedish is simplified from that of German. My goal has been to learn basic Swedish in anticipation of a weeklong trip I'm taking shortly, and I completed this kit in about 4 months of spending about 15 minutes on my studies 5 days a week. The last third or so was very involved and I think I fell behind, but that was only by choice. I didn't want the vocabulary level they were reaching. Keep in kind this company is British, so their vocab, accents and cultural info are geared toward a British audience. As with all languages, the Complete Swedish kit is best paired with a good dictionary...or access to Google Translate.

Haven't made it all the way through this to say I can speak it, but it is pretty straight-forward and to the point. There are some areas in which what they teach you in the lessons and then what they test you on in the practices don't seem to line up to the establish rule set. The CD itself makes a difference in actually knowing what to listen for, though I did have some trouble following along in the book as it seems to skip around a bit without any clear warning. One thing I found interesting was that when I first popped the CD in, it seemed like it had been mislabeled and by the track titles I thought I had instead received a CD for learning to play guitar. It was the Swedish CD though, so it worked out.

This is a good combination of book and CD. The book is a good early grammar text and the CD's fill in the pronunciation. The complaint about CD1 being about learning the clawhammer banjo is interesting. When I open the CD with Windows Media Player I too get the incorrect titles for each track and the cover art for the banjo book by Michael J Miles. However, when I open the same CD1 with iTunes I get the correct track titles and artwork. So the correct track titles are there. Perhaps the Windows media suite is going out to the net and getting the wrong information and using that rather than the CD1 info. At any rate, iTunes reads the CD's correctly and whatever magic WMP is performing thinks its a banjo lesson. Any Windows experts out there?

As a fair Swedish speaker this book is an excellent resource for anyone who speaks Swedish at a secondary level. It is not ideal for someone who is beginning the language because the kindle version does not include audio cds therefore pronunciation of the phrases can be challenging if one is not familiar with Swedish phonetics or alphabet. I didn't have much difficulty with the book because of my basic knowledge of the language beforehand. The kindle edition is a great convenience !However, if the book is purchased with the cds it can be useful for those who are anxious to speak more than "tourist" Swedish. It is a great addition for anyone seeking a slightly advanced Swedish language book.

I was searching around for Swedish books. Found this one, and it sounded good - it has audio CDs with it, and cheap, too! I thought the cheapness of this 2011 edition was due to the fact that there is now a 2014 edition. All the reviews mention audio CDs except the kindle version. I didn't notice other versions specifically WITH CDs, the item description doesn't mention that this is the book only, and the book cover says "everything you need to speak, read and write". So surely, this includes CDs, right? Wrong! I was surprised when I received my order, and there were NO CDs! Doing more research on ISBNs for specific items, it turns out there is a "combination" product that includes book and CDs, and a book-only product without the CDs. Of course, the book-only book still makes reference to the audio content that it doesn't come with.... (The audio purchased separately is not easily found, and $20+!) Amazon has COMBINED the reviews for both items, however. The book may be fine, I haven't looked at it closely, as I haven't decided whether to keep it. My 1 star is to get attention so someone else doesn't make my mistake....

Because this was a gift I don't know very much about it except what I learned during the ordering process and then some glimpses nd snippets once my daughter had opened it. I am a languague teacher myself and it seemed to be the most complete teach yourself Swedish pack I could find on Amazon; because of the CD's it trains listening and speaking skills,as well as reading and writing. The set looks and feels very professional and the recipient is delighted with it.

The CDs are very helpful but are certainly not for beginners. Often there will just be a few minutes straight of someone talking Swedish but there is no translation or step by step breakdown of what they are saying, so you have to be a pro to benefit from the CDs. If you are already proficient in Swedish then I am sure you will find this an excellent resource for brushing up

This is a very useful course in the usual Teach Yourself format. The main criticism I would have with this is that the vocabulary comes rather 'thick and fast' without enough time to assimilate those words before the next onslaught of vocabulary. I do however, like the scenarios and situations; it presents a lively introduction to Swedish culture and history; this enlivens the learning.

The book is overall good but (here is the but!) It has some incredibly odd words l, why on earth is the word cesiumhalt (ceasium content) in a book for beginners. This is not a complaint I just feel its akin to duolingos random sentences like "the duck kills carrots on Wednesdays" its not that its wrong its just it feels odd when very weird terms you would never use in english or Swedish crop up.

downloaded this onto kindle to get the speaking parts. As a total beginner was a tad overwhelmed with all the new letter sounds. I need more spoken stuff in smaller doses..But that is just my needs perso. Have very quickly run flat as need both notepad and pen next to me to try and remember stuff....