Product Description

This stand-alone, all-audio course can be used by those who have little or no knowledge of the language, by those who want to learn or brush up basic conversation skills, and by more advanced learners who require extra audio material to complement their current courses.

The ten units or 'conversations' cover the situations you are most likely to find yourself in while on holiday or on business abroad. They are divided into two parts, with a dialogue in each part. The dialogue in Part 2 reuses the vocabulary and phrases from Part 1 in a slightly different context. Both parts start with an introduction to the words and phrases you'll need, followed by the dialogue. Finally it's 'Over to you': you take part in the same dialogues following the English prompts, playing all the roles in turn. So you get lots of opportunity to practise! Frequent track markers divide the CDs up into short, easy-to-use clips.

Vocabulary and phrases in the first two CDs are kept to the basics and are introduced gradually with lots of opportunity to repeat and practise, to improve your confidence in both speaking and understanding. The third CD concentrates on helping you improve your understanding, so that you will be able to hold two-way conversations with people who speak very fast or use words and phrases you do not know.

The course comes on three 75-minute CDs and has an accompanying 48-page booklet which gives the dialogues and the translations of the dialogues, for those who like to see the written word or want additional practice. The booklet also provides a basic glossary of the words and phrases used.

This is the perfect complement to 'Teach Yourself Swedish'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28976 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-29
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

Review
"I am a big fan of this series. Commercial packaging, simple concept and a competitive price make these well worth trying....One to watch." (The Bookseller )

About the Author
Regina Harkin is a qualified secondary level teacher with an MA in Swedish, English and Swedish as a second language. She teaches Swedish at Trinity College of Dublin and at the Swedish School, in a proect funded by the Swedish government. Regina has also worked as a translator, working for Microsoft, Dublin translating English software into Swedish.

Customer Reviews

A great way to learn quickly
I've been really impressed with this little course. The format is listening and repeating, but I found the most useful aspect the exercises where you are given the English phrase and you have to turn it into Swedish. Some of the vocab choices are a bit odd (I learned the Swedish for "Bumper Car" before "food" for example!) but it helps keep it fun. Grammar is only explained where it really helps you form the sentences and is quite cursory but that suits me fine! The 3rd CD is more of an emphasis on listening but contains more useful vocabulary. The little book contains the scripts for the first 20 conversations but sadly none of the words from the 3rd CD are in it so a dictionary comes in handy. Great for listening in the car. I feel I learned a lot in a very short time. How about a volume 2 please?

Fast learning for time strapped
This was great for learning on my commute to work - I've rarely used the book as the CDs are so well structured. I have also got the Swedish original Teach yourself CDs, and German Conversation/Original Teach Yourself CDs, and can honestly say the 'conversation' series is a better format as I simply don't have time to sit down with books and pencils. If you need to learn enough to get yourself around fast these are what you need - I'm not at the level of translating law documents, but haven't used 'Do you speak English?' in Sweden or Germany for a long time.

Teach Yourself Swedish Conversation
This is a very well conceived short course and is really fun to follow. The format of explaining what the next conversation will deal with before it is played is a good one and the conversations are all very relevant to actual experiences you might have in shops, restaurants, travelling etc. The basic grammar and structures are also very clearly explained with just enough information. It is a pity the 3rd CD has no accompanying booklet as although I have enjoyed trying to write the conversations out as dictations, I got stuck a few times and would have liked to have had something to refer to! The only bad thing about the course is the MUSIC which becomes unbearably irritating after a short time as it is repeated so often!