Bengt Hällgren

From English to Swedish 1: A basic Swedish textbook for English speaking students (black and white edition)

From English to Swedish 1 & 2 is a series of textbooks for English speaking students who would like to learn Swedish. The first book covers level A1 and the second book level A2 of the European CEFR-scale. Unlike most Swedish textbooks they provide vocabulary lists, grammar explanations, and text commentaries in English. To help the reader learn Swedish pronunciation, a series of videos linked to the first book is available on YouTube (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEQVgbDPZ4I). The texts of the two books tell the story of an American girl who comes as an exchange student to live in a Swedish family. She struggles to learn Swedish and adapt to Swedish culture, but in the process runs into a number of culture clashes, all based on the authors' real life experiences. Åke Daun, professor of ethnology from Stockholm University and a specialist in Swedish mentality, has examined the first book and describes the way it introduces Swedish mentality as "innovative and entertaining". To facilitate the student's learning the books take advantage of the close relationship between English and Swedish. Many of the words appearing in the texts are similar to their English counterparts. Having finished both books, the student will have acquired a vocabulary of slightly more than 1,500 words including 57 % of the 2,000 most frequent words of the Swedish language as defined by Språkbanken (the Language Bank), a data base published by the University of Gothenburg. In an appendix to book 1, the similarities between English and Swedish are explained from an historical point of view, and over 300 related words from different areas are presented. Each chapter in the books contains a short grammar section presenting essentials in Swedish morphology and syntax. All grammatical terms, except the most common ones, are explained. At the end of each book there is a grammar overview with definitions of concepts and references to relevant chapters. Each lesson includes a number of exercises, where students are encouraged to practice their newly gained grammar knowledge, repeat vocabulary, and answer questions in connection with the texts. As the students' vocabulary develops, the questions become increasingly open-ended in order to stimulate reflection and discussion in class. Furthermore, a number of songs with simple vocabulary are included, mainly children's songs by classic song-writers. Finally, each book contains answers to the exercises and a complete alphabetical glossary. Judgments about From English to Swedish 1: "I'm just learning Swedish, and this book is wonderful. The style & methodology are ideal. Highly recommend." (Amazon, USA) "A brilliant book. … The words and pronunciations are well explained with examples given. Common Swedish vocab is also used in lessons. Quite amazing that by lesson 2 (Lektion 2) I was understanding and translating simple paragraphs and answering questions in full sentences without much difficulty. The two books are a must buy for people looking to learn the Swedish language. … The second book is just as good as this one." (Amazon, England)