here are some quick tips to learning Swedish on your own.

The school is lacking in funds and instructors, and in the 4 months I have been attending I have had 9 different instructors.

SFI might help you learn Swedish but it will certainly not be enough or the only source of your education.

1)Set clear goals.

Like anything else in life, it helps to know what you want to achieve in order to achieve it.

Do you want to converse, read or simply have daily conversation in Swedish? How many words do you want to know and learn daily?

2)Do your research

There are dozens of free Swedish language resources available online. Check the famous Swedish Pirate bay – hint hint-

I cannot recommend any book as all Swedish language resources are outdated from what I have gleamed in the exciting world of applicational lingustics.

Svenska Utifran is not bad.

But go ahead and download books here (must register)-

http://uztranslations.net.ru/?category=swedish

I will do a review of electronic language resources, in the meantime, here is a quick list of links.Gogle for more resources!

Picture dictionary Swedish

http://lexin.nada.kth.se/lang/bildteman/

SAFIR

http://www.integra-ab.se/Filer/SAFIR/safir/startsida.htm

LEXIN

http://lexin.nada.kth.se/lexin-en.html

3)Do not be afraid to fail.

Every time I have a chance to talk to someone in Swedish, I take it. Anti-EU rally? Talk to the people handing out materials.

Trains not running on time on Sunday?- Talk to the conductor. Sales person offers help at a store? Take it!

Dont be afraid to look foolish- go out there, say “today I will be an Idiot Foreigner speaking broken Swedish! ”

Do not admit you speak fluent English, have a slight accent to your English if you can. Do not admit you are from an English-native country. Otherwise everyone will just speak to you in English. Better use English for help with words you do not understand, but insist on learning Swedish by speaking it only.

4)Practice every day

30 minutes every day is better than one whole day once a week.

If you found this entry useful, please make sure to link to my project, www.EcoHouseFilm.com

about building an ecological house in Sweden!

Addressing the urgent need to green our built environment, Kjellgren Kaminsky Architects have conceived of a Super Sustainable City

that re-envisions Gothenburg, Sweden as a future-forward ecotopia. Designed as a dense and interconnected urban area, the master plan incorporates everything from green rooftop gardens to water and energy harvesting roadways, towering solar arrays, and soaring wind turbines. These measures address the issues of density, energy, and food production, while staying true to the city’s architectural heritage.

One of the smartest steps we can take towards a more sustainable future is to build denser, more efficiently designed cities. In doing so we stand to cut down on the materials required for buildings and infrastructure, decrease the distance residents need to travel, and provide space for the world’s surging population.

By 2020 the city of Gothenburg, Sweden will be growing at a rate of 8000 new inhabitants per year, and thus far the majority of this growth has taken the form of lateral sprawl. The Super Sustainable City addresses this issue by forming a dense city center that will house one third of the city’s growth until 2020 while forming a strong connection between each bank of the site’s river. The plan is inspired by the architectural heritage of Gothenburg, and will feature traditional yellow bricks, streets paved with granite, and plenty of markets and canals.

More at inhabitat