Learning Swedish: any TV tips?

Thirith

My wife's been taking a Swedish course for beginners, and she's looking for ways to practice beyond the course material. One thing she'd like to do is check out some Swedish TV, but there are two problems:

1) Much of Swedish TV that's online is also country-restricted.
2) She doesn't really know which series can be watched by a beginner, i.e. what's happening on screen helps fill in the gaps left by her still fairly small vocabulary.

Any tips on where she can find some things online to watch legally outside Sweden that aren't too hard on beginners (ideally with Swedish subtitles)?

Siska

If she likes dark stuff "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy is on Netflix streaming. Looks like "Let the Right One In" has been taken off the streaming service but you can of course get the disc if you're signed up for that. Both of these are Swedish with English subtitles, though. You can probably import DVDs with Swedish subtitles, if that is really important. You would need to have a region unlocked DVD player. Not too hard to get.

For something less dark more whole family, all ages, I recommend Fanny och Alexander. That movie is older though so might be hard to find.

Thirith

Thanks for your suggestions. The thing with watching stuff with English subtitles is that it becomes too easy to use them as a crutch; at least that's what it's like when I watch a French movie with English subs. I've found that subtitles in the foreign language you're watching makes it easier to parse the phrases.

Fanny och Alexander... I've had that one on my to-watch pile for about ten years but haven't yet got around to watching it. I really should.

WiseManTobes

Does she have any favorite movies? Like the kind she can almost recite from memory?

Try and find some of those in Swedish, without eng subtitles, she'll have the base knowledge of the scene dialogue from memory, without the full cheat of the subtitles.

Thirith

Good point. We've seen a couple of Swedish series (e.g. Beck, Real Humans), and I'll probably try to get my hands on those, in the original and with Swedish subtitles. In no time she'll be fluent in police vocabulary and AI lingo.

Siska

There is of course also YouTube. Lots of skits from Swedish TV on there, especially comedy and kids stuff. Will probably come and go as they get taken down and most likely wont have any subtitles at all.

List of things to search for on Youtube
Släng dig i brunnen (stand up)
Galenskaparna (comedy skits, 100s over the years)
Emil i Lönneberga (kids movies based on Astrid Lindgren books)
Madicken (another Astrid Lindgren movie/tv-series)

BlindZenDriver

In general programs meant for children is a good place to start (just avoid the "Swedish" Chef in Muppet Show).

Here is a link to the Swedish national TV ie. the Swedish BBC. Content there may be blocked for viewing outside of Sweden, but there is ways round that just look for proxy Sweden to learn more.
svt.se/

Also this for a good list of movies to look for: imdb.com/search/title?languages=sv%7C1&sort=moviemeter,asc&title_type=feature

Echo

We have SVT Play and TV4 Play for streaming some Swedish television, but yeah, probably content-gated to Sweden. SVT is the state television without advertising or commercials.

Thirith

I haven't checked out TV4 Play, but SVT Play is definitely content-gated. I have no experience as yet with the workarounds for these things, but I guess that's what the internet is for. (Echo, since you're a mod: can you tell me if talking about those workarounds is off limits on the forums? I gather they're in something of a legal grey area, depending on where you live.)

Fiendishrabbit

I don't know if it's gated, but Utbildningsradion (www.ur.se) has a ton of different stuff. Some of it's texted, some of it isn't, all of it's educational.

Panda4You

I find it hard to come up with something to watch as a newbie at swedish? Preferrably not spoken too fast and with decently "rikssvensk" pronunciation. I imagine stuff like Galenskaparna will be too hysterical and full of accent, not to mention the adage of humour having a expiration date of ~10-15 years, to be really accessible...
But the old Beck movies, the originals, should be a fit? These ones were made 1993-1994, are adaptions of the original books and are a quite good and grounded detective series, iirc. I find the new ones from 1997 and onwards a bit too desperate for attention... (although Spår i Mörkret is one the finest moments in swedish comedy!)
Brandbilen Som Försvann
Roseanna
Mannen på balkongen
Polismördaren
Polis polis potatismos
Stockholm Marathon

Another good tv series that should be comprehensible is Lasermannen, a sort of raw n' bleak but also quite realistic screen adaption of real events that took place in '91-92.

I've understood it as swedish being really tough to learn with all the exceptions and non-congruence there are in the grammar? I hope the wife makes something of it!

Thirith

I agree with you on the early new Beck episodes (and yes, the one you mention is quite dreadful, funnily so), but after the first series or so they got better, and the team of characters is pretty good. I do suspect my wife may have a think for Mikael Persbrandt's Gunvald, though.

My wife is finding it pretty difficult - at least to learn it well - but that's also in part because as a kid and teenager she was great at languages, and at 40+ it's simply not as easy as it used to be. She's still miles better at learning foreign languages than I'd be, mind you.

Morran

Another thing you might try is radio. There is a daily news show called "radio sweden på lätt svenska", with very slow and clear pronunciation. Might not be as entertaining as a tvshow, but it could be an option. The episodes are just a few minutes long.

Thirith

Great, thanks! I'll forward the info to my wife.

Panda4You

Thirith wrote: »

I agree with you on the early new Beck episodes (and yes, the one you mention is quite dreadful, funnily so), but after the first series or so they got better, and the team of characters is pretty good. I do suspect my wife may have a think for Mikael Persbrandt's Gunvald, though.

Is there anyone who doesn't?