FSI Swedish Basic Course

What is the FSI Swedish Basic course?

The FSI Swedish Basic course is one of the more recent FSI courses, first appearing in this form in 1982 as an update of an older version that was used back in the ‘50s. It was developed as a way to give US diplomats a solid grounding in the Swedish language before being sent to the country to work.

Like other FSI Basic courses, it consists of a wealth of learning materials, including dialogs that present new vocabulary and grammar, drills, and exercises for working on fluency and many hours of audio to help you master Swedish pronunciation.

Since Swedish is not such a common language for speakers of English to learn, you have fewer choices when it comes to study materials. For this reason, this free Swedish course is among the most comprehensive resources available for this language.

How was FSI Swedish Basic originally used?

This course was designed to be used by American diplomatic staff taking part in full-time intensive study. This means they would spend six hours a day in class and were also expected to spend a further two hours per day doing homework. Furthermore, even when they weren’t studying, they were expected to speak Swedish among themselves, and under such perfect conditions, they made rapid progress, allowing them to achieve a high level of proficiency in only six months.

How can you use FSI Swedish Basic?

Although it is impossible for most people to recreate the ideal conditions enjoyed by full-time students, one of the advantages of the FSI Swedish course is that it was specifically designed to be of use to students engaged in autonomous study.

This means that by working through the course more or less as it was intended, you can still benefit from this fantastic resource. You probably won’t be able to dedicate 8 hours a day for six months, but by using FSI Swedish either as your primary material or as supplementary to another course, you are sure to see your ability in Swedish increase rapidly.

Taking it further

As any successful language learner will tell you, no matter how good the course materials, you won’t be able to master a language without practicing it. For this reason, after starting this free online Swedish course, we also urge you to take your new Swedish skills and try them out in the “real world”. If you can find some Swedish friends who can help you use what you have learned, you will be able to impress them with everything you already know – and you will also probably surprise yourself with how quickly your Swedish ability grows.