By: Kornelia Januszewska

There’re many different ways to learn a new language. You can take classes, download Duolingo, watch TV series with subtitles, or go abroad and surround yourself with the culture of a chosen country, and the language itself. It isn’t easy, it takes time, but (dare I say) it’s a lot of fun.

My journey

Moving to Sweden for a semester, I knew I wanted to at least try to learn the basics of Swedish. Not only to make my life easier when shopping, or ordering a burger, but also to understand my surroundings a little better. To communicate in a foreign language, you should get somewhat comfortable in its four common aspects: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and writing – Swedish is no exception.

I found myself struggling a LOT with the Swedish language pronunciation (if your native tongue comes from the Slavic branch of languages, you’d probably understand my frustration trying to grasp the idea of such vowels as ä, å, or ö). I decided to listen to Swedish songs, familiarizing myself with the tongue-twisting sounds, and so should you! It’s a great way to learn new vocabulary, perhaps some slang you wouldn’t hear otherwise and maybe (but just maybe) to find your newest favorite song, you never know..

While searching for Swedish artists I could listen to, I stumbled across quite an interesting bunch I’d love to share with you. Here you have my list of Swedes that know how to do music, and they do it very well:

Veronica Maggio

Viktor Lyksell

Norlie & KKV

Håkan Hellström

Myra Granberg

Molly Sandén

estraden

Newkid

Don’t worry if you don’t understand a thing. With time you’ll notice a change and start picking up on new words in eavesdropped conversations (shh!). Be patient and realistic with your goals, and I promise you’ll enjoy the process of acquiring Swedish much more.

Good luck and lyssna på lite musik!

PS. Did you know that Spotify is a Swedish company with its headquarters in Stockholm?
Pretty cool, huh?