What Language Is Spoken in Sweden?
In Sweden, virtually everyone speaks Swedish, or as they call it “Svenska.” Spoken by around 10 million people, you’ll not only find it in Sweden but in Finland and many bordering cities of Denmark, as well.
Sweden is also an increasingly popular travel destination, especially for people looking to study abroad, and the language is in high demand. Fortunate for new learners planning a stay, the language is widely considered among the most accessible of all the Scandinavian languages, with a grammatical structure similar to English and a fair amount of highly-similar vocabulary.
Spoken by about 10 million people, you’ll not only find the Swedish language useful in its homeland, but in Finland and many bordering cities of Denmark, too. Sweden is also a popular travel destination, especially for people aiming to study abroad, and the language is in high demand from many employers with international contacts.
Rosetta Stone’s language-learning program is designed to build confidence in speaking and understanding Swedish. Whether you’re a beginner or an intermediate speaker looking to advance your fluency, we have you covered. Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion® methodology teaches you to speak the language, not just memorize the words.
Learn Swedish
Many say learning the Swedish language can open the door to understanding other Scandinavian languages like Danish and Norwegian. Swedish is the most widely-spoken of the Scandinavian languages, and Swedish culture enjoys notoriety around the world from the aesthetically clean designs of IKEA and H&M fashion to music superstars such as ABBA and Roxette.
Getting comfortable with general day-to-day expressions can help provide a great foundation for learning Swedish. After all, they’re likely what you’ll use in travel or casual interactions with others. Adding in a deeper understanding of verbs, nouns, general grammar, and pronunciation is the natural next step. Here are a few basic phrases you’ll find useful:
• Hur mår du? = How are you?
• Tack = Thanks!
• God Morgon = Good Morning
• Ursäkta = Excuse me
• Förlåt = Sorry
• Hej Då = Goodbye
• Snälla = Please
Swedish grammar and sentence structure are similar to English, with the added benefit of having fewer irregularities. While the Swedish language does have significant differences in pronunciation, thanks to their Germanic roots, Swedish and English share thousands of cognates that have similar sounds and meanings. Here are a few Swedish cognates English speakers will find comfortingly familiar; access, digital, salt, and tunnel.
Swedish uses the Latin alphabet, but it has nine vowels that include some additional letters like å, ä, and ö. This rather extensive inventory of vowels makes for as many as 17 vowel phonemes—which can be challenging for beginners looking to master Swedish pronunciation.
On the topic, developing your Swedish pronunciation requires that you receive real-time and accurate feedback. Rosetta Stone embeds our patented TruAccent™ speech-recognition engine into every language lesson. It provides precise and instant feedback to help you match your pronunciation and accent with that of fluent Swedish speakers. Such feedback will allow you to make any needed corrections to your pronunciation. From there, you can practice until you get a feel for how to shape the sounds of the language.
After you have learned basic Swedish words and how to pronounce them, you can move onto learning the longer phrases that make up so much of everyday conversation. Rosetta Stone’s digestible,10-minute lessons are built to help you learn in exactly this way—structuring vocabulary acquisition in context with real-world situations. Rosetta Stone’s proven and practical approach to language learning can help you learn to understand and confidently speak Swedish.
Try Our Award-Winning App
Surround yourself with Swedish whenever, wherever with the Rosetta Stone app.
Download a unit and knock it out on the train or a flight. Select a 5-10 minute lesson and sneak it in while you wait in line or for your ride to show up. And explore dynamic features, like Seek and Speak, where you can point at an object in the real world and get a translation.
The best part? You don’t have to choose between app or desktop. Both come with your subscription and sync, so you can switch between devices seamlessly.
