Conference turris::scandia

    Was the Berlitz Schools of Languages among the companies you tried?
    They have a "cassette" or "travel" pack you can get for $15.70.
    That includes the cassette tape and a small phrase book.  They have
    *all* of the Scandinavian languages, even Icelandic.
              
    The company has an office at 437 Boyston St. in Boston
    [tel. (617) 266-6858].  The lady who answered the phone said some
    bookstores also carry these products.
    
    Some of their language centers have taught Swedish.  I know because
    a friend of mine taught a night course for them a few years back.
    That was in the San Francisco area, however.
    
    Neil

    Thanks for looking into it Neil.
    
    I was looking for a more in-depth cassette course (more than just
    a travel phrase course).  I don't have the time to take a class,
    but could use cassettes in my commute to work.  Berlitz has only
    the in-depth cassette courses in German, French, and Italian.
    
    Any other ideas?
    
    George

    O.K. How's this:
    
    The Experiment Press
    Kipling Road
    Brattleboro VT 053301
    
    Tel. (802) 257-7751  x357   Ask for Tim McMaines 
    
    Scandinavian language courses: 
    
    Swedish - Textbook, 7 cassette tapes in series
    Danish  - Textbook, 7-10 tapes [he will check]
    Norwegian - Textbook [pretty sure he has tapes, but is checking]
    
    I explained your situation in .2; he recommends you buy the textbook
    of your choice and the first cassette tape in the series.  If you
    want more after playing it, then buy succeeding tapes as you need.
    
    Textbooks are $10; tapes are $3.50 each.
    
    Neil

    Barnes & Noble offers 2-cassette tape courses for $14.95 in Finnish
    and Swedish.  They may have Danish and Norwegian also.  They are
    advertised in their book catalogs but I would imagine the Boston
    store would sell them also.  Publishers Central Bureau, I believe,
    also offers the 2-cassette course for about the same price.  In
    addition, they offer a 4 0r 5-cassette course with workbooks, etc.
    for $99.  Incidently, if you're interested in Finnish, the Kaleva
    Society, Mechanic St., Fitchburg, Ma 01420 offers a 10-week (1
    nite/week) course at the beginner, intermmediate, and advanced levels.

    After checking with the people in 56.3, I found out that the Swedish
    tapes are currently reel-to-reel, with cassette version to be released
    shortly.

    This may be rather late, but I would venture to suggest the    
    Linguaphone Institute of London, who sell tape or record courses
    of nearly every widely spoken language in the world.
    

    Afternote:
    
    The US State Department foreign language courses (made by the
    Foreign Service Institute) are sold through a private company
    1-800-243-1234, and include most all Scandinavian languages (40
    languages in all).  Although the courses are about 20 years old,
    they are considered the best.  They run about US$135 per course.
    Each course has 12 lessons.  There are usually two courses per
    language.
    
    -George

    AudioForum (they have a number which you can get from 800 information)
    carries a detailed course in Danish.  Perhaps they have the other
    Scandinavian languages as well, since they have everything else under
    the sun.  I have their Danish and Egyptian Arabic sets and have
    been very pleased with them.
    

In the US, specifically at the new Tower Record store in Boston, I bought the
Conversaphone Swedish course.  100 lessons, 2 cassettes, book, and final exam
(self graded, I think).  I like it so far.  As an introduction it seems to be
working for me, and is more than a phrase book but only what one would need for
a long albeit strained party conversation.  If I can finish it then I would
consider my interest to be founded well enough to graduate to a more expensive
live course.

[The Conversaphone courses are packaged as if they held a 12 inch record, don't 
be fooled.]

Idag �r m�ndag (sorry, that's from lesson 6)

\bob
/\

    From: [email protected] (David Walden)
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    Subject: Swedish language tapes

    Swedish tapes
    -------------

    THE BEST DETAILED NITTY-GRITTY HOW-TO-PRONOUNCE-EACH-SYLLABLE TAPES
        ^^^^                                                
    
    This has got to be the multi-reel set that goes with the text book
    "Svenskt Uttal" by Siv Higelin, Gun Ekroth, Agnete Hjorth and P�r
    Wistrand, published by Sveriges Radios F�rlag, Stockholm, in 1972.  The
    book is printed by Kristianstads Boktryckeri AB of Kristianstad,
    Sweden.  But the tapes, which reside on about 34 (I think) 4-inch reels
    are out of print.  :-(   I listened to several reels of this set at the
    Kulturhus at Sergelstorg in central Stockholm.  They would probably let
    you copy them if you brought your own tape recorder, but it would take
    several days to copy them all.  I have spent a couple days calling
    around Riksradio, checking at bookstores and trying to contact the
    authors, but to no avail.

    These tapes go into excruciating detail on pronunciation of each vowel
    (long & short forms and exceptions) and each consonant combination. 
    The leader on the reel that contains the pronunciation of the * sound
    (you know, that devilish sj/stj/sk/skj sound) is quite worn, and the
    corresponding pages of the text are rather floppy. :) When the speakers
    say "sju", they do not say "shew" but stick with the non-condescending
    "*ew".  Swedish instructors that I have spoken to have all heard of
    this set of tapes and would like to have copies, but not one knows
    where to get a set.  


    MULTI-CASSETTE SETS THAT GO WITH "LEARN SWEDISH" TEXTBOOKS

    S�g Det P� Svenska -

    There are two sets available.  One is the 5- or 6-cassette set that
    goes with the group of texts that teach grammar and vocabulary. These
    cassettes have pronunciation and dialog that parallel the material in
    the books.  The other set, consisting of two cassettes, accompanies the
    text "Uttals�vningar" and it concentrates on speach melody, rhythm and
    intonation.  The speakers on both these tape sets speak, for the most
    part, standard Riksradio or Stockholm Swedish. This herd of material is
    published by Studief�rlaget, Box 386, 751 06 Uppsala, Sweden.

    Nyb�rjarsvenska -

    There are also two sets available.  One is the 5-cassette set which
    parallels the grammar/vocabulary and the work books.  It has
    pronunciation exercises and dialogs that appear in the texts.  The
    other "set" consists of one cassette that concentrates on pronunc-
    iation.  The speakers on these tapes are a mixture of people with
    Sk�ne, Stockholm and Riksradio accents.  The Sk�ne accents are quite
    strong.  My one complaint about these tapes is that the pronunciation
    of sj/stj/sk/skj starts out "sh", and then half-way through the set it
    changes to "*".  Thankfully, the dialogs are all "as the normal Swede
    speaks", i.e. "*".


    SINGLE-CASSETTE TAPES OF SWEDISH AS-SHE-IS-SPOKE

    This series, by Skriptor F�rlag and printed by Tryckeri AB Allehanda of
    Trelleborg, Sweden, features speakers representative in accent of
    various parts of Sweden.  Titles are:

                Annika fr�n Stockholm
                Bror-Erik fr�n Norrbotten
                Margareta fr�n G�teborg
                G�ran fr�n Malm�
                Familjen Nilsson

    The text book contains an essay by the person in the title and
    exercises based on it.  The text in turn is based on a personal
    interview of the person, the transcript appearing in the text and the
    vocal recording on the tape cassette.  I have "Anninka fr�n Stockholm",
    and it primarily serves to remind me how far I have to go before I can
    follow Swedish spoken by a 19-year old introspective and, at times,
    gushing girl from Stockholm.


    SOURCES

    The materials still in print can be purchased from Akademibokhandeln at
    M�ster Samuelsgatan 32 in Stockholm.  You might be able to arrange a
    mail purchase by writing to their Instruction Material Dept. (L�romedel
    Avdelning ?), Akademibokhandeln, Box 7634, 103 94 Stockholm, Sweden, or
    by calling the L�romedel department at country code 46, city code 8,
    21-97-40.

    A source in Southern California is Nordic Books at 260 E. San Jose, in
    Claremont, California.  They don't have a showroom, but they do have a
    stock of books and a limited stock of tapes.  They will order materials
    from the Swedish publishers for you, but expect mail delays to exceed a
    month.  Their phone number is (714) 621-1273.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I hope this helps someone.  If you want to know the name of a good
    English<->Swedish dictionary, look for the one published by Prisma and
    the University of Minnesota.  It's in two parts, one called Prisma's
    Modern Swedish-English Dictionary, and the other called Prisma's Modern
    English-Swedish Dictionary.  (I don't know how they came up with those
    off-the-wall names.)  They are printed separately in soft cover or
    combined as a hardcover edition.  Same sources as above.

    From: [email protected] (Shahin Kahn)
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    Subject: Re: Learning Swedish
    Date: 24 Mar 90 10:03:13 GMT
    Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
 
    In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Jon Forrest) 
    writes:
    
    >so you'll pick up more words and expresssions. Maybe some Berlitz
    >tapes would help.          
 
    The two-cassette Berlitz tapes are so-so.  They are OK for memorizing
    expressions without any explanations of what the words are. The next
    best one is the Hugo tapes.  4-tapes and a book that one can sort of
    study.  I concluded at some point that this was the best deal since it
    wasn't too expennsive. The next best one is the more than $200
    tape-set, I guess these are the extended Berlitz. 
    
    Another good choice is to go the language laboratory of the nearest
    college that teaches Swedish and borrow their tapes and buy the
    accompanying textbook.
 
    [For] a comprehensive posting on all sorts of Swedish tapes by
    David Walden [, see reply .10].
    
    Lastly, I don't think it is *that* difficult to learn foriegn
    languages, especially Swedish which is so similar to English.  If one
    studies one hour per day, one will go quite far in a pretty short
    priod. (My own swedish is nothing to write home about, by the way, but
    when I did study an hour a day, the progress was quite rewarding and
    noticable.)
 
    Shahin.

    From: [email protected] (Dave Walden)
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    Subject: Re: English-to-Swedish-language elementary textbook needed
    Date: 12 Mar 91 21:44:55 GMT
    Sender: [email protected]
    Organization: USC-Information Sciences Institute
 
    > [email protected] (Peter Anvin) writes:
    >.....Is there anyone who knows where it would be
     a good elementary Swedish textbook for English-speakers?
 
 
	   Hej p� dig!!  Hur st�r det till??  Hur �r l�get?  Jag hoppas
	att det g�r bra med dig.  Are you sick, yet?  No matter, I'll
	still tell you how I managed to get so fluent!  :)
 
	   At UCLA they use a text and workbook called "Nyb�rjarsvenska".
	It's good for about 4 quarters of Beginning Swedish (along with
	some additional Swedish bedtime stories).  There is also a
	small ordlist (dictionary) which defines the words used in the
	in the two books.  Especially helpful is the set of audio cassettes
	which is available to accompany the books.  As I recall, the set
	of tapes alone costs about $60 or $70 and is well worth the price.
	There is a variety of Swedish accents recorded in the tapes, but
	since the material was produced in Lund, Sk�nska is well-represented.
 
	   "Nyb�rjarsvenska" (both printed and audio material) is available
	through Akademibokhandeln's L�romedel section in Stockholm.  A
	direct phone call will start the ball rolling.  Alternately, you
	might try calling Nordic Books & Translation Service in Claremont,
	California.  They import Scandinavian text books and they keep a
	small supply of the Nyb�rjarsvenska books and tapes on hand.  Their
	phone number is (714) 621-1273.  The bookstore at the Univ. of
	Minnesota might also be source.
 
	   Another plan might be to call the Swedish department at the
	Univ. of Minnesota.  They use a different text, as I recall, and
	they would have more suggestions.
 
 
 
				H�lsningar.
 
 
				Dave Walden
				[email protected]

BoS can order these tapes for you.  Current price for 8 80-minute
cassettes and 384 page text is $300.  They get it via International
Solutions, which also supplies 55 other languages besides the
Scandinvian ones.  They advertise it as the course developed by the
U.S. State Department.

I have these on order myself and will post a review when I have finished them.

While you're here, take a visit to BoS anyway.  They carry some very
high quality wares, from furniture to art glass, as well as more
pedestrian items like Vlkommen mats, Dalarna horses (one is 3 feet
high) and placemats.  The owners are Swedish and very friendly.  Hours
11-7 weekdays, Saturday 10-6, Sunday 1-5.  Located opposite (and a
little west of) Builder's Square on 101A.

\bob

    From: [email protected] (Eugene Holman)
    Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
    Subject: New video course in spoken Swedish
    Date: Wed, 04 Jan 1995 18:05:10 +0200
    Organization: University of Helsinki
                                                                         
    This is to announce the publication of 'Talar du svenska?', an
    audiovisual course in spoken Swedish.
 
    'Talar du svenska' consists of:
    - a 56-minute video film (VHS-PAL)
    - a 40-minute audio cassette
    - a 150-page textbook (A5 format)
   
    The purpose of the video film is to teach modern, colloquial Swedish. A
    dramatization of a trip to Sweden, it was filmed in Stockholm and stars
    popular Swedish actors Douglas Johansson, Marika Bergstr�m, and Michel
    Riddez. The film is broken up into short episodes, each of which is
    preceded by a few screenfuls of the most important sentences read in
    allegretto delivery. In the actual episode everything is spoken in
    normal allegro delivery. The video also gives information about
    everyday Swedish life, customs, and culture (including how to eat
    surstr�mming). Swedish is the only language used in the video.
 
    The audio cassette contains all the material in the video as well as
    additional dialogues dealing with everyday topics spoken in largo
    delivery by one speaker. Swedish is the only language used in the audio
    cassette.
 
    The textbook, written by a team of Swedish, Finnish, and Estonian
    experts on language teaching methodology, contains detailed information
    about Swedish pronunciation, all the material in the video and audio
    cassette with parallel translations, a systematic exposition of Swedish
    grammar, a Swedish-to-source-language glossary of all lexical items
    used in the course giving a phonetic transcription as well as all
    principal parts of inflected words, and a frequency list with
    grammatical analysis of all word forms occurring five or more times in
    the course.
 
    The course can be used with or without a teacher; although best suited
    for students who have already worked through an elementary Swedish
    course ('advanced beginners'), it is also suitable for beginners. It
    covers a vocabulary of approx. 1,000 lexical items as well as the most
    important grammatical structures in spoken Swedish.
 
    The textbook was originally written in English. The Estonian version
    has just been published, and English, Latvian, and Russian versions
    will appear shortly. Produced in Estonia, the course is 'competitively
    priced'.
 
    We are interested in contacting people involved in teaching or studying
    Swedish as a foreign language to determine the size of the market for
    the soon-to-be printed English version of the textbook.
 
    With best regards,
    Eugene Holman
    University of Helsinki
    Pangloss Publishers Inc.
 
    Talar du svenska? (Estonian version) 
    Pangloss Publishers, Tallinn 1994, 
    ISBN 9985-809-13-0
 
    English, Latvian, and Russian versions of the textbook will appear
    shortly. The video and cassette are available now.
 
    A clean printout of the English textbook (A4 format) is available now. 
 
    For for further information please e-mail me: [email protected]