Rating: 
Summary: Frustrating for beginners
Review: Everyone learns differently. I personally like to know what I am saying, not just memorize a phrases. Yes, your brain picks up phrases best when in practical use, but it needs footholds to gain ground and confidence. Unfortunately, this book provides few such footholds and much confusion. From the unhelpul and pompously-British pronunciation guide ("prounced rather like in French..." ) to the colloquial speech, regional dialects and complex grammer used throughout the book, this is not a book for true beginners. This book could, however, be useful as tool for someone with more experience to *hear* the language (albeit in stilted situations).
In general this series leaves me cold. I have tried several of the books and found them all to be too complex grammatically, and not "real world" enough either. So I am confused as a beginner but, by God, thanks to this series, I can say "French cheese" and "the dog is upstairs" in Japanese. This Swedish one is actually a little more useful in trems of credible situtions; but, par for the course, I doubt that I will need to learn to say "I am in training at an import-export firm" (lesson one)
My advice: Skip this book. Instead buy the Viberg grammer and a language software program. Better yet, if possible take a class ( there is no subtitution for actual language class or real world experience)
Rating: 
Summary: Great buy if you know your parts of speech
Review: Hello. I think this book is a wonderful find for people who want to learn Swedish. The pronunciation guide isn't the best, but after listening to the recordings you get a general sense of how things are pronounced. The recordings are great because you can get used to a few different dialects and accents within the Swedish language. The one thing is, and this goes for all language-learners, you need to really study up on your parts of speech before you try to learn a foreign language. I say this because this book doesn't do the best job explaining parts of speech. In addition to this book I would reccomend "Essential Swedish Grammar" which is published by Dover. Have fun learning!!
Rating:
Summary: Great buy if you know your parts of speech
Review: Hello. I think this book is a wonderful find for people who want to learn Swedish. The pronunciation guide isn't the best, but after listening to the recordings you get a general sense of how things are pronounced. The recordings are great because you can get used to a few different dialects and accents within the Swedish language. The one thing is, and this goes for all language-learners, you need to really study up on your parts of speech before you try to learn a foreign language. I say this because this book doesn't do the best job explaining parts of speech. In addition to this book I would reccomend "Essential Swedish Grammar" which is published by Dover. Have fun learning!!
Rating: 
Summary: Worth buying if used with other textbooks
Review: I found this book very useful and after getting to lesson 4 I am able to hold simple conversations with my Swedish colleagues. I see that a teacher is critical of this book, but as a student I am finding it useful, firstly because it addresses usual situations you might find yourself in, like the vocabulary used when visiting someone, having something to eat, etc. and is discusses the grammar in small digestible chunks. I learnt German some years ago and the books I had then were nowhere near as good. I also have looked at some 'Teach Yourself' books German/Swedish and find them very clumsey. I don't mind at all if there are different dialects on the tapes because that is exactly how you are confronted with the language when you start speaking to Swedish people and additionally it trains the ear. So far so good - I have been able to write my first small letters to my Swedish step daughter and I thinks thats not bad going.
Rating:
Summary: I am learning fast!
Review: I found this book very useful and after getting to lesson 4 I am able to hold simple conversations with my Swedish colleagues. I see that a teacher is critical of this book, but as a student I am finding it useful, firstly because it addresses usual situations you might find yourself in, like the vocabulary used when visiting someone, having something to eat, etc. and is discusses the grammar in small digestible chunks. I learnt German some years ago and the books I had then were nowhere near as good. I also have looked at some 'Teach Yourself' books German/Swedish and find them very clumsey. I don't mind at all if there are different dialects on the tapes because that is exactly how you are confronted with the language when you start speaking to Swedish people and additionally it trains the ear. So far so good - I have been able to write my first small letters to my Swedish step daughter and I thinks thats not bad going.
Rating:
Summary: A language teacher says "not good"
Review: I really found this book difficult to use, leaving you with a small stock of colloquialisms but no knowledge of the actual structure of the language. Why has the "Teach Yourself" series changed their format so much? I have a copy of the "old" Teach Yourself Swedish as well, and while it's short on dialogues it certainly covers the entire grammar of the language, as well as giving a complete explanation of the pronunciation.With the tapes, this book can guide you to some skill in pronunciation, but I suppose any book with tapes can do that. Aside from that and some of the cultural notes I didn't get much from this book. The material produced by the Swedes themselves is much better and written for literate adults, which doesn't seem to be the case here.
Rating:
Summary: very well
Review: I started learning swedish one year ago with this book, and I found it very useful: funny, clear, interesting. It was everytime simple in teaching grammar - not like some others TY's books...- through shorts sections, rich of images - that's markedly useful for a non-english born people as I am - and full of interesting informations about people and everyday life in Sweden. After the eigth chapter I took a trip to Stockholm, and I could cope with many situations; after finishing the course, I could get started in reading swedish books - with a good dictionary, however...- and I could came back to Stockholm and speaking to everyone without great problems. Yes, if you can have a teacher, it will work faster and better, of course. But if you can't, as I couldn't, so TY Swedish will be the best way for a beginner. Be aware that swedish pronounce is unique in the world, so the cassette version might be necessary. I checked my pronounce by Garmarna's songs...
Rating: 
Summary: Student's Opinion
Review: I'll be studying in Sweden for a semester, and I picked up this book to help me learn pronounciation and basic ideas to start with. It's not set up in the most user-friendly way, but it does contain some good information.
Rating:
Summary: Learn Swedish On Your Own!
Review: So, ya wanna learn Swedish? Then thank your stars for Vera Crogan's "Swedish: A Complete Course for Beginners". This book is custom-made for people just like yourself who have always wanted to learn Swedish, but never quite found the appropriate study guide to use. The book contains 18 lessons, each broken up into 8 parts: a dialogue, the vocabulary to the dialogue, a true or false test, things you need to know about grammar and culture, important words and expressions, language patterns, exercises, and further dialogues testing your comprehension. The book is very easy to get through. You can go at your own pace, and you can also use the book as a grammar reference once you've advanced to a higher level. With this book, you're bound to advance quickly if you're serious about learning Swedish!
Rating:
Summary: Good Pronounciation, Too much English
Review: We bought this book and CD for my wife to brush up on her Swedish before going to Sweden. The book starts out with the basics and steps gradually through the learning stages of the Swedish language. There is a lot of explaining text that is in English. As someone who has learnt English and German without translation, it seems that the easiest way to learn a language is by not translating the words. The Swedish on the CDs has good pronounciation in Swedish. It would have been nice if at least the CD had only Swedish on it so that the person listening would not have to go back and forth between the two languages, but instead get into the Swedish language.
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