Advice for my son who is attempting to learn Swedish

[misskrystal1982]

He has been using Duolingo in order to learn Swedish, but he needs some way to practice his understanding.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I had thought about maybe finding some tv shows for him to watch but would have no clue what would be suitable for a 12 year old boy.

Thank you so much!

[zurcminister]

That is still one of the best ways for one to learn a new language and this includes your twelve year old son. Another way to best learn the language would still be to have him speak with a native language speaker and in this case, swedish men or women or children that can speak the language.

[kurdapia]

Duolingo is helpful for me. I also have it as an app on my device so learning a new language is now more convenient for me. I think your son is still young and is still receptive to learning something new like a language. Have him make friends with kids of his age that are from Sweden and have a friendly video chat.

[Richard.H]

Hello there

personally I'm not familiar with Duolingo so I can't really tell you how useful will it be for your son.

I had really great results studying with Pimsleur's audio courses though. Which is what I highly recommend to start with, well any language.

Top reasons for my recommendation:

1. Phrase approach - Pimsleur doesn't teach you words and make you build sentences with them. It teaches you phrases and sentences you are likely to use the moment you arrive in the country of your chosen language. Through these phrases and sentences the narrator (male us english speaker) will teach you the words and will explain the grammar involved with that particular sentence.

2. One lesson a day. One lesson is only 30 minutes long. My attention span is really poor so I really appreciate how short the lessons are. So if your son is busy with school and such it's really easy to keep this up.

3. You repeat the words after native speakers so it really polishes your pronunciation. Not to mention your listening..

The problem with my recommendation:

The problem with Pimsleur is that it's rather short in your case. Swedish doesn't seem to be a very popular language so they have only 1 month worth of lessons. So it will make for a good introduction to the language but not a good long term material.

I don't study Swedish so I don't know any good books or anything which I could recommend but the internet has always been eternally good to me. So if you do some searches for best books to learn from I'm sure you could come up with some great stuff. (PM for a link, I don't know what I can post here or not, I just created my account so I'm not really familiar with the rules here sorry)

Summary:

Pimsleur will be great for your son to improve listening and speaking. Combine that with a good book or two and he'll be on his way to mastering the language for sure.

Hope this was useful!

Good luck to you and your son!

Richard

[misskrystal1982]

Thank you for your suggestions!  I will bring them up to him when he comes home from school today.  I think a pen pal would be great for him, and it was something I hadn't thought of.  He has become so very interested in Swedish lately!

[CorieHens]

That is still one of the best ways for one to learn a new language and this includes your twelve year old son. Another way to best learn the language would still be to have him speak with a native language speaker and in this case, swedish men or women or children that can speak the language.

I agree with this. I also think that the best way to learn a language, particularly for the children is to talk with a native speaker. When we were in Vietnam last weekend, I was able to befriend the owner of a boutique shop so I had learned to say a few phrases like CAM ON to mean thank you.

[missbookworm]

I have never tried using Duolingo before, but I have already heard/read positive reviews about it. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, right? And yes, I believe one of the best ways to learn another language is to be familiarized with it through watching movies and shows. Also, make the best out of the internet and online resources.

[lushlala]

It's a good thing that you're having your son start so early, because he'll be able to learn it quicker and more easily. I find that Scandinavian languages are very difficult to learn. My step dad is Danish and I remember when I was younger but older than your son, he tried to teach me and I had to give up because I just couldn't get the pronunciation right! I probably should have started a bit earlier. I hope that your sone does well with Swedish

[Trellum]

He has been using Duolingo in order to learn Swedish, but he needs some way to practice his understanding.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I had thought about maybe finding some tv shows for him to watch but would have no clue what would be suitable for a 12 year old boy.

Thank you so much!

Swedishpod101, for real, I  tested the dutch version and let me tell you the way they teach languages is really efficient. I really recommend your son to try it. Also if your son wants to improve his understanding and learn more new words, then he should really give Memrise a try.