Ever thought of practicing Swedish by singing? Or why not start a blog about your language learning? It’s fun and helps to keep the motivation up! Here are some suggestions for more fun ways to learn and practice Swedish.
1. Act like it
Why not gather some friends for a night of charades? Come up with some crazy sentences – in Swedish – and let the fun begin! You need to be at least four people to play, in teams of two. A good idea might be to make sure that at least two of you know Swedish well and can help the others. May the best team win!
2. Sing it out
Listening to music in the language you want to learn is a great way of learning the language. Not only is music an important part of life to many of us, it is also a mirror of our culture and the time we live in. By listening to popular Swedish songs, say, you will indirectly learn more about the Swedish folk soul, while practicing listening comprehension. When you know the songs your colleagues and friends grew up to, listened to when they had their first heartbreak, or partied to at university, you will be able to relate to these people on a whole new level. You can start out by just seeing how much you can understand from a song, maybe jotting down the words in a notebook or translating them in your head. By now you are probably curious about what the song is really about, so why not go online to find out? Search for the lyrics and maybe even write your own translation. A good advice here is to look at least two different sites to compare the content of the text. Now that you know the lyrics, you can sing it out. Et voila, now you are practicing pronunciation! A plus is that music can bring so much joy and singing is known to increase well-being, helping you to stay in the moment and release stress.
If you are a Spotify user, you can follow our playlist where we have selected some popular songs from well-known Swedish artists over the last six decades. You will find that many Swedes have special memories to the songs in the list, or at least an opinion about them.
3. Express yourself!
Keep a journal of what you have done during the day and write everything in Swedish. This way you will practise expressing yourself in Swedish to account for thoughts and events in your everyday life. Set aside 15-30 minutes every night for this and make sure to enjoy this time as you review your day while making progress in your language learning at the same time. Maybe a cup of hot chocolate or tea could be in place, together with some nice (Swedish?!) music, to set the mood?
4. Blog!
Start blogging about your learning experience. Blogging is a fun and motivating way to keep track of and share your progress. Depending on your level, choose to blog in predominately Swedish or English. If you are a beginner, maybe start out with just writing a few of the new words you have learned during the day or week, and what they mean. Vary this with some notes about how you like living in Sweden and maybe some advice on places to visit and things to see. Soon you will be able to advance by writing a few lines in Swedish per week and translating them to English (to help others learn with you). If you are an advanced learner, challenge yourself by writing longer entries in Swedish. Set up goals for how often you will blog (how many entries per week) and stick to them. Ask readers to comment to give you feedback and select a few trusted friends, who know Swedish well, to help you correct any mistakes in order for you to make faster progress. Promote your blog on social media and maybe link to it on LinkedIn. Suggestions of blog sites free of charge: wordpress.com, blogger.com, blog.se, blogg.se, bloggo.nu, bloggsida.se, bloggplatsen.se, blogproffs.se, bloggorama.se, myblogg.se
If you do decide to start your own Swedish blog, please feel free to share the address to your blog with us and our readers in the field for comments below. We would love to hear about your experiences and progress, and are sure that our readers can learn a lot from reading each other’s blogs!
Good luck – and have fun! 🙂
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