04_Swedish Language Course
　　　　　　 - Hej!! Jag heter Katrin

Pei-Shan Chien jps_catherine@yahoo.com.tw

Learning Swedish well is really a hard challange for foreigners. Therefore, almost a great part of studiers will give up halfway. There is no denying that the statement is probably true for us who had been used to English usage. Not only the spellings of some words are different from English, but also the pronunciation and the number of the alphabet are obviously different, especially the particular retroflexed pronuciation of the alphabet “r.” In the begining of study, we often felt difficult even frustrated. Fortunately, we overcame the problem and did better gradually under the teaching of our teachers. Cecilia and Barbro, our Swedish teachers, always used many vivid and vigorous teaching methods to help us learning better. The contents of course include some basic grammar, vocabularies used in everyday life, conversations, and greetings. In addition to the textbook, there are other additional matters for teaching such as videotapes and computers used for listening and pronunciation practice. Usually they interacted with us through some simple games during class. By having fun while learning, we not only gain knowledge, but develop a desire to learn.

Besides studying in the classroom, we also participated in some activities planned and scheduled by the language center after our daily lesson. In these activities, we joined together with other students of language center. The activities included getting on a boat to isles around Goteborg or going on a tour round Goteborg for short distance, or visiting the biggest amusement park of Northern Europe--- Liseberg. In addition, we have the chance of listening to the singing performance held in it, rowing boats on a beautiful and placid lake in Goteborg, playing the famous traditional ball games of Sweden--- brannboll, strolling to visit streets, buildings in Goteborg with introdution of history by the officer of language center. Through them, we not only gained much experience but also had more opportunities to communicate with people from different countries in the world. The most important of all, we knew much more about the customs and the history of Goteborg and Sweden than before. In our opinion, these activities are really interesting and meaningful!

It is a good way to understand the culture of a foreign country by learn -ing and contacting its language. The twenty-day language course is a little bit short but brings great benefit and many precious experiences to us.

Swedish course is fresh for all of us.

It is a lot of fun learning Swedish.

Folkuniversitetet hold many activities for us.

photo by Chien-Chih Chen