As the semester comes to a close I feel much more confident in my Swedish speaking and listening abilities, especially. Louise, Malory and I had dinner with Louise's brother Fredric and we practiced interview questions on him. I was happy to see how much I understood of his answers and my ability to get the gist of what a Swede is saying even if I can't identify every single word. I think it's important to not get hung up on that one word you didn't understand and just let your ears keep listening. We've also been practicing a lot more with listening and having conversations so for instance Louise will say something in Swedish and we will have to understand what she said and respond. It's helpful because now I feel confident that I could carry on somewhat of a conversation with a Swede.
However, I do feel like we are at another critical juncture where we know a lot but that also means that we realize how much we don't know. I find myself struggling to talk around what I want to say because there are words missing from my vocabulary. Even still, I think just practicing with Louise and attempting to communicate our thoughts/feelings is a great step. I feel pretty well prepared for our final just because we have learned so much this year and it will be fun to show it off.
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