How well did you achieve your goals?
- I think I did really well achieving my goals this semester. I wanted to become more comfortable speaking and understanding Swedish and I think that through practicing with Louise and listening to a lot of Swedish outside of class time I was able to accomplish that. I'm also getting more comfortable with reading. At the beginning of last semester any attempt I made to read an article or book in Swedish was thwarted by the fact that I had to look up every other word. Now that I know basic verbs and tenses, prepositions, pronouns, etc. I'm able to attribute meaning to sentences without having to look up words. I'm also getting much better in my reading and listening comprehension at getting to the gist of what is being said/written and not getting bogged down by every single word. I'm getting very comfortable talking about myself and just situations around me and my feelings on a daily basis which is important as I plan on using my Swedish to converse about normal day-to-day things with Freddie's family.
What were the stumbling blocks you encountered?
- At the beginning of the semester I think all three of us were feeling like we had reached a plateau. It was challenging because we had learned so many of the basics and had covered most of the basic topics/areas of vocabulary by the time we hit the start of this semester. So we kind of had to go back to the drawing board and figure out what exactly we wanted to achieve and how we thought we could get there. We ended up ditching the "learn a long list of vocab words in one category, take quizzes on the words, and turn the words into sentences" and instead focused more on conversations, with the assumption that we would continue to pick up vocabulary on our own.
How were you able to overcome them?
- I think this new strategy we adopted was really good because we combined reading/summarizing/translating with listening to Swedish in songs and videos and then conversing naturally in Swedish about these things. We even practiced interviewing each other and Louise's brother Freddie when he was in town. While we were still picking up new vocab words left and right, it felt like we were putting more of a focus on conversations and speaking/listening comprehension and I think this helped us with going in the right direction for our goals.
What was most/least interesting to you?
- I'm starting to really like the way Swedish sounds and just absorbing it so much more. When I first started learning I could understand so little when I heard the Anderssons speak or attempted to translate an interview/conversation in Swedish. Now when I listen to songs in Swedish or hear Swedish spoken I can pick up on so much of it and it only encourages me to absorb more! A few weeks ago Freddie was on the phone with his mom speaking Swedish while my mom and I sat and listened. He was telling a really funny story and I was giggling beside him and my mom was just looking at me like 'how are you getting this and why is this so funny?'. It was a cool moment for Freddie and me because I could see how proud he was that I was understanding so much-- and maybe wary of speaking Swedish around me in the future...? :) I guess the least interesting part is still when grammar-related issues come up and don't get resolved. For instance Malory or I will say something and Louise will correct us but then won't be able to explain why (which is totally understandable-- it would be impossible for me to explain the particulars of English grammar to someone and I would probably just say that it "sounded right" which is very unhelpful!). So then Malory and I will look up the rule and find nothing conclusive or understandable about that particular phenomenon... I think it will just take more practice for us to get to the point where things just "sound right" because we've heard them said that way for long enough.
What would you like to do next?
- It's going to be tricky for me in the coming year to continue my Swedish education simply because I won't have Louise nearby or the structure of SDLAP. I think I want to sign up for some sort of Swedish education class while I'm working and living in DC. I will definitely continue to read and listen to as much Swedish as possible while I'm there but I think speaking Swedish will be more challenging while I'm there on my own. I think maybe at some point in the future I should start talking to Freddie and Louise exclusively in Swedish-- I know it will be very hard and Freddie won't love it but I think it will be good for my language acquisition and practice! I also think that while I'm starting my new job in a new city it will be nice to have a special project/passion that I can focus on when the workday is over. I'm very open to suggestions about goals for the next year and resources I can use if you have any input. I am pretty anti-Rosetta Stone but would be willing to pay for classes. I definitely think I should come up with a goal system and be making sure every month that I'm meeting those goals.
Still need to work on?
- Pronunciation, fluency, speed of comprehension, Swedish tonality, rhythm.
Comments