Learning Swedish With SFI Update

A while ago I wrote a blog post about starting to learn Swedish with SFI (Swedish For Immigrants) that you can read here.

I figured it was probably timely to give an update. Guess what? I am now fluent in Swedish!

I wish!

I have made progress though so there are some positives (and I need to remind myself of that).

My Journey So Far

After an initial assessment and test with SFI, I was enrolled and started on course SFI B. There is only one course before that for complete beginners and I remember thinking at the time that I firmly believed that was my level.

Nevertheless I completed SFI B and have since also completed SFI C.

At the end of each course your teacher will select those at the required level and put you forward to complete a National Test (Nationella Provet). There are four parts including:

• reading (läsa)
• writing (skriva)
• listening (höra)
• speaking (tala)

You have to reach a minimum grade and then you can move on to the next level. I find it a little odd you do not get a full breakdown of your tests and instead are just told if you passed (G – godkänt) or failed (IG – Icke Godkänt). Personally I would find it useful to know what I did right and what areas I need to focus on more.

What Level Am I At Now?

I am currently on course SFI D and I have to admit I feel a bit overwhelmed. It is a very large and very interactive class. Whilst I fully understand the benefits of it being interactive, I do feel like the bulk of the class appear to speak fluent Swedish, whilst I do not! I often find myself sat there and in my head I am wishing that the teacher does not ask me a question in case I am unable to answer in front of others.

I am continuing with the online learning in Lunis alongside the weekly lessons and on my own I feel ok but in the real world when someone Swedish speaks to me I have complete brain failure and panic.

I find the grammar the hardest to be honest. I know that will come with time but right now I find I might know the word but often do not use the correct tense, which changes the word. For example using the word läsa, which means read:

• Infinitiv – this is the basic form of the word – läsa (read)
• Imperativ – this is when you give a request to someone or tell someone to do something – Läs! (read!)
• Presens – present tense – läser (reading)
• Preteritum – past tense – läste (read)
• Supinum – this is Swedish grammar that does not have an equivalent in English and refers to verbs that pair with har or hade (have/had) – läst (read)

In Addition To SFI?

I have continued with Duolingo (currently on a 1,047 day streak) and it is now a religious obsession to continue with this. Is it good? Honestly to know words then yes, but I feel like I know a lot of words but do not always know how to use them in a sentence. I have become a pro at this phrase though: Jag kan många ord men jag kan inte alltid använda dem i en mening. This basically explains the predicament!

I did, however, find an amazing online resource called Slow Swedish and it is amazing! This is a channel on Patreon that is a subscription with regular lessons from Katrin. It is all slow and she goes through everything in Swedish and English. There are resources to download if you subscribe and she has super active social media channels. Honestly cannot recommend her enough!

I also recently bought a book called Colloquial Swedish: The Complete Course for Beginners, which has just arrived. I found this book while looking online at ways to help with learning Swedish and it seemed to keep coming up as the best/most highly recommended resource so I am hoping that in addition to the other things I am doing will help!