Simple Swedish Podcast - #288 - Topp 10 sätt att öva din talade svenska

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

Här kommer de 10 bästa sätten att öva på att tala svenska. Dessa tio olika metoder passar olika personligheter, olika nivåer, och olika livssituationer. Vilken är din favorit? Om du vill veta mer om Language Gym - klicka här Transkript Ja, men då hälsar jag dig välkommen till Simple Swedish Podcast. Och idag ska vi prata om ett väldigt viktigt ämne om man vill lära sig flytande svenska. Det handlar om att hitta människor att öva svenska med, att öva på att prata svenska och vi ska gå igenom 10 olika sätt att öva på att prata. Och det här är ingen topplista eller så, utan jag går igenom tio olika sätt. Jag pratar om vilka fördelar det finns, vilka nackdelar det finns, vem det här passar, alltså vem är det här sättet bra för. Jag pratar om hur svårt det är, eller hur svåra de här olika metoderna eller situationerna eller kontexterna är. Ja, så tio olika sätt att öva på att prata svenska. Så först, såklart, ska jag tacka några patrons. Så det är Somil, Amrel, Clau, Rhod, Jurgita, Kathleen, och 龙伟 Så tack, tack, tack till er för att ni stödjer den här podden. Okej, så vi kör på direkt här med nummer 1. Och nummer 1 är främlingar. Alltså människor som man inte känner, till exempel människor man träffar på stan, människor man pratar med i butiker. Det kan vara folk som jobbar i butikerna eller en restaurang eller det kan vara någon man träffar på en bar eller på gatan. Man frågar någon på gatan till exempel var ligger det här och det här. Ja, främlingar helt enkelt. Och det här, jag tror att människor ofta tänker på det här som någonting som är vanligt någonting som man vill kunna göra. Alltså, när folk tänker på att "Åh, jag ska lära mig det här språket" så att jag kan prata med främlingar på stan. Och man kanske tänker att man måste börja göra det här direkt. Alltså, man börjar lära sig ett språk och man känner okej, jag måste börja prata med främlingar på stan. Jag skulle säga att det här är bland svåraste man kan göra på ett språk som man lär sig. ..om du vill läsa hela transkriptet, klicka här

Welcome to Simple Swedish Podcast! Well, then I welcome you to Simple Swedish Podcast! Today we will talk about a very important topic if you want to learn fluent Swedish It's about finding people to practice Swedish with, to practice speaking Swedish and we will go through ten different ways to practice speaking And this is not a top list, I go through 10 different ways I talk about what advantages there are, what disadvantages there are

Who this fits, who this method is good for Who is this fit for? Who is this way good for? I talk about how difficult it is or how difficult these different methods or situations or contexts are. So 10 different ways to practice and speak Swedish First of all I want to thank some Patrons So it's Somil, Amrel, Klau, Rod, Georgita or Jorjita, I don't know how to say that Kathleen and Longway So thank you so much for supporting this podcast Okay, so we will start with number one

Number one is strangers so people that you don't know for example people you meet in the city people you talk to

in stores it can be people who work in the shops or a restaurant Or it can be someone you meet at a bar or on the street You ask someone on the street, for example, where is this and this Yes, strangers, quite simply. And I think that people often think of this as something that is common, something that you that they can talk to strangers in the city And you might think that you have to start doing this directly

You start learning a language and you feel like you have to start talking to strangers in the city I would say that this is among the hardest things you can do in a language you learn that you learn because they are people that you don't know you are not used to talking to these people it is often short conversations

so you don't have time to get into the conversation and get into the language So I would say that this has a very high degree of difficulty So it suits people who is already quite advanced Or if you are quite relaxed socially If it is easy for you to talk to foreigners in general Then maybe it's not that hard even in Swedish

even if you don't have a very high level yet but generally it's quite high pressure both socially and purely linguistic that you need to know pretty good Swedish already, generally But of course, it is a big advantage with this method, you could say Because if you are in Sweden, you have a lot of opportunities to practice a lot. So there is a big advantage to talking with strangers in different places and so on. So if it doesn't stress you out too much, it's a very good way to practice a lot. And you feel free to say, ok I can actually speak Swedish with strangers so that gives a lot of freedom

so yeah, that was my comments about speaking with strangers people in the city and in shops and so on so number 2 is at the workplace, for example with colleagues. And the advantage because you go to work every day so if you speak Swedish at work you have a big chance of getting a lot of practice and yes, so if you can speak Swedish with just one colleague then that is of course a big advantage and the more you can speak Swedish at work, the greater the advantage is

and the ultimate is of course to work on Swedish Because if you work on Swedish and become fully integrated in the Swedish society In Sweden, a job with Swedish colleagues is the best thing you can do. But the level of difficulty is in English and you only have one colleague who you speak Swedish with, it's still very positive. Generally, you need a higher level to be able to do that Because it's quite high pressure, both socially and linguistically And I think the only job I had in Spanish was when I worked at a hostel And that was of course very positive, but I also spoke a lot of English there But yeah, so that was number two, job and colleagues Number two, job and colleagues. And number three is very interesting, because it is about the close relationship.

So the close relationship is friends, family, partners, such things. And speaking Swedish in a close relationship is also one of the best things you can do. to reach a level where you speak completely fluently you need people you talk to, and you should talk about it a lot. And to have relationships with the language is very very effective but there is it's also difficult in many ways for example, say that you have a Swedish partner ok, and I have had

many many students in that situation and it depends I have had many students in that situation and it depends a lot on the partner because you can't force your partner to want to speak Swedish with you it must be the partner who wants it. Because when you don't have the same mother's goal, and I know that because I have a girlfriend who isn't Swedish right now, and I have had girlfriends that are not Swedish but the language becomes... you don't have the same level in other languages so for example if you have a Swedish partner

and you speak Swedish, then your partner has a little advantage. and risks that it becomes a dynamic that is a bit teacher and student and it doesn't have to be like that it can be a bit tricky sometimes but if the partner actually likes to speak Swedish, it can be very good. And I have seen that. For example, we had a person at a bootcamp who had Swedish partner and they had always spoken English, but there they started to speak Swedish with each other and then they started to speak more and more Swedish with each other

and it became more and more natural so it can be a process but it depends of course on the partner however, the partner's family usually has a lot of chance to get a lot of practice there like that it becomes natural and the same thing with friends especially if you are in a group then it can be a very good context If you have a group of Swedish friends If you have one Swedish friend, then the same thing, it depends of course on that friend

If that person likes to speak Swedish or not Because you can't force people to want to speak Swedish and sometimes I hear people say that they try to talk with their children in Swedish, for example if you have a Swedish partner and have family in Sweden or so. Generally I don't think that's a good idea. I personally don't understand why you don't want to talk about your mother's goals with your own children. I think that's pretty obvious, that I want to talk about my mother's goals with my own children. Because that's the most personal thing for me but I don't have any children yet so we'll see how it goes but yeah

that was about the close relationship and friends, partner, family and so on it's a very important part of learning a language If you don't have a family, of course you get friends who you speak that language with And... Yeah, so that's a big point on this list. The next point is hobbies and other social contexts. So I always say that finding a way to do things in Swedish

to find a hobby or start doing your hobby or find social contexts because as I said we have to integrate the language in our lives and do it personally if we want to reach a high level so this is not for beginners but if you try to get advanced

reach an advanced level so then it is important to find something you like to do and people you like to communicate with and talk to and so the advantage is of course that you integrate the language in your life you do it personally, you build social contacts and so on. The downside is that it can be difficult to find or difficult to start with. And you also need a medium level in any case.

maybe a medium level, at least. And the more advanced you become, the easier it is, of course. And also more important. So yes, to find hobbies and social contexts and so on. And it can be just reading books, for example If you love reading, then reading in Swedish is absolutely very important What you like to do, do it in Swedish But now we're mainly talking about finding a way to speak Swedish so finding hobbies and social contexts is perhaps one of the best ways to practice speaking

and then we have number 5 and that is teacher. So, to have a teacher has many advantages so you don't have any pressure, for example because you have paid for this time so you don't have to feel like you're taking someone's time and you know that no one is judging you because the teacher has seen all the mistakes you make

the teacher has seen it a hundred times and probably much worse so it's very low pressure, so you can relax more, you can have a teacher even if you are a beginner, even if you have a low level. The teacher also knows what you need to practice So you can get more structure maybe So there are many advantages with teachers And I think it's a very good way to learn Especially when you are on a lower level So when you are at a lower level so

and the disadvantage is of course that it is a professional relationship first and foremost, even if you can get a very personal and nice relationship between teacher and student but it is first and foremost a professional relationship. It costs money, of course. And you only do that

for a certain amount of time, a certain day. So you can't reach a high level only with a teacher. But generally a very good way to practice the language. Then number 6 we have have language partners. So a language partner is someone who can learn the language you learn, who also learns your own language. So, jag hade till exempel en språkpartner när jag lärde mig ungerska. Så att det var en person som lärde sig svenska. En ungersk person som lärde sig svenska. And we met every week, maybe one hour in Swedish and one hour in English

For example And you can do that both live and via an app or video call It is also a very good way to practice, because you have the chance to practice a lot and you build a personal relationship, because this can become a friend, which is very positive, so as I said, building personal relationships in the language is very important and it also has low pressure, because you are both in the same situation, so both of you are learning a language so you learn your language partner's language and your language partner learns your language. So you are in the same situation. So it feels completely okay to make mistakes. So dialogue pressure, personal relationship and chance for a lot of practice. The downside is that it is sometimes difficult to find a good language partner,

but if you do that, it can be very, very positive. Another downside is that you don't just speak Swedish, you also speak your own language So it's not quite optimal, because nothing is quite optimal And it fits people who are medium or advanced It's a bit difficult to be a beginner, but maybe it works too. So that was Språkpartner. And number 7 is Språkmöten. Well, at a cafe, I actually arranged the language meeting in Swedish when I lived in Budapest And then people came who wanted to practice Swedish And you have a rule that we only speak Swedish at this language meeting and that is of course...

we have the advantage that yes, we get a social context where it is quite easy to speak so it is not so difficult So it's not that difficult for most of the people who are students of the languagebacks that often there aren't that many Swedes Sometimes there aren't any Swedes So that can be a small drawback

because often it's nice to have a little mixed up. And that fits people on a medium level, I would say. But it can work for all levels. Sometimes it can be a little difficult to find a language meeting But if you do that I strongly recommend to go to the language meeting I have personally gone to the language meeting for

Chinese, for Spanish, Portuguese Absolutely very good thing to do. Number eight is that, yes, if you don't find people to talk to, then you can talk to yourself or with your pet, for example a dog or a cat and the downside is of course that there is no feedback no one answers you, so it's only you who talks.

So, yes, you can of course not only do that and reach a very high level. But it is something that you can always do and that have very low pressure. So there are absolutely positive aspects of talking to yourself or talking to your pets and so on. And as you can see, I talk a lot about pressure, because how much pressure a situation has, has a very big impact on how difficult it gets. If you have high pressure, it gets much harder So if you are not very advanced yet it is always very good to find situations where there is not so much pressure So that was talking to yourself and with pets Number 9 is to talk with an AI So in the later years there are many different apps that you can talk with

I have tried a website called Teacher AI You can talk with an AI, a bot You can write or talk with a normal AI The advantage is that you can practice anytime, anywhere And it's of course low pressure Because it's not a real person, it's a computer program It can also give you input on grammar and pronunciation and so on. So there are absolutely advantages with AI teachers and apps with AI and so on.

I personally have noticed that I have zero motivation to talk to an AI I just think it feels very boring to talk to a computer program I don't know what other people think It would be interesting if you could comment this episode and tell me what you think about talking

with an AI but I personally think it's boring anyway but it can fit different levels, maybe best for people with a medium level Okay, and now we have reached point number 10 And that is actually Language Gym.

Language Gym is the project that I am a part of. And that is that I have talked about this before. It is our program where you learn Swedish together with other people in the same situation. So you spend most of the time speaking Swedish about different subjects together with people who also learn, who has a similar level as you in small rooms, virtual rooms with about three people, three or four people in each room and this has many advantages it's a bit like a language meeting with a teacher. So you can practice every day, wherever, whenever. It has low pressure, because the others are in the same situation as you. There is a social context, so you have the chance to meet new people, get new friends.

Many of the participants at Language Gym have become friends, really. And there is also teacher and lesson material. So I have personally seen that there are many advantages to this. If I were to say a disadvantage, it is that before or after you also have to talk to the mother tongue speaker so if you want to reach a very high level you also have to talk to the mother tongue speaker and this suits you, who already have learned you Swedish is a bit

and can maybe conversate, but maybe not so good yet You understand a whole part of Swedish, but you feel that you need to get started to speak because that's what this is

about, to get started and speak. It can also be very positive for you who may have difficulty finding ways to speak Swedish, finding contexts to speak Swedish and you need to practice in a context with low pressure Or if you just feel like, ok, I need to start speaking a lot. So then Language Gym can be a good way for you. Not for beginners right now. It's best if you are past the beginner level and start to become more medium level so that you can actually have conversations in Swedish

Yes, that was all ten ways to speak Swedish It was a very long episode I also just wanted to say that if you actually can't speak Swedish or have time or find a way to speak Swedish right now or sometimes it's just possible or sometimes it just takes time

like you might have a... I notice that I have been talking for a long time now I'm starting to get tired No, but if you have a time where you don't really find the time to speak Swedish but you feel like you want to maintain that then it's very important that you make sure to maintain that in other ways that is, get a lot of input, read, listen and so on That is of course always important.

But especially if you don't have so much time to talk then you also have to maintain that in another way. But yeah, I hope you have gotten a lot of tips on how you to speak Swedish Comment this episode and tell me what you like the most What you think suits you best when it comes to speaking Swedish and yeah, I'll see you in the next episode I'll leave a link to Language Gym

I hope to see you there So that was all for today, have a good one!