Swedish/Gather Resources

Here we list what kinds of items to get, why, how to keep track of them, and how to keep this as affordable as possible.

Throughout Swedish we include resources from other Wikimedia sites (e.g. Wikipedia or Wikivoyage) along with content from academic articles, books, government reports, etc.. You will need to find and pick what is best for you—and keep those items accessible!

On top of using Swedish there are resources you should keep on hand as you learn. When choosing resources take care to ensure quality. Wikiversity has a course with information on assessing content you find online (Information literacy and researching skills).

Gabriel Wyner, author of Fluent Forever, suggests people should look into having the following seven resources as they learn and why.^[1] Wyner became invested in learning a new language from having to quickly learn French (he lied about being able to speak it) and singing opera (singers often need to sing lyrics to non-native languages)^[2]. This just goes to show how many different reasons one can have to learn!

1. grammar book - fluency requires a strong understanding of how sentences are constructed.
2. phrase book - phrase books often contain the bare essentials needed to speak a new language due to its limited space.
3. frequency dictionary - certain words are used far more often within a language than others. For example in English the word 'important' is used more frequently than 'paramount' which makes it more useful to learn.^[3]
4. pronunciation guide - these guides will help you understand how to create and string different sounds together.
5. bilingual dictionary - for learning new vocabulary in the beginning.
6. monolingual dictionary - as you progress you should be able to rely on the target language's dictionary vs a bilingual one.
7. thematic vocabulary book - if you have a specific career field or interest that would benefit from being able to speak another language (e.g. Nursing, Public Transit, Legal Aid Worker) make sure to learn its vocabulary.

Wikibooks has a few built-in tools for users to keep track of its information detailed in Using Wikibooks. Users can download and/or print off articles. This feature is under the Tools menu. To the left of the Tools menu is a white star with a black outline. Once clicked, that page will be saved to your Watchlist (only available to people logged in to their Wikimedia account). Your Watchlist is linked at the top of the Wikimedia webpage next to your Personal Settings menu.

Wikibooks also allows users to store a "collection" of articles to send to a book publisher called PediaPress.The Collection Creator has a step-by-step instructions with images. You can also go to the category Collections to see what other users have made for inspiration.

Websites such as svenska.se or italki.com and many more can prove useful at anytime while learning Swedish. Creating a separate bookmark folder in your browser ensures you will not forget your new favorite resource. You can just save the home page or save specific pages within different websites.

Overtime you can acquire dozens of eBooks, PDFs, jpgs, etc.. Keep them together in the same folder (e.g. your smartphone's Document folder, a file hosting service like DropBox) where you can access them at anytime.

Some file hosting services like DropBox allow users to save some files for offline use at no extra charge.^[4] Check to see what features your chosen services have that makes content as accessible to you as possible.

Most smartphones allow for users to create folders. Keep all language learning apps together.

When you first start browsing try to see a sample of the text before you purchase it. Check and see if your local library system has any of the books you are interested in reading. If they don't ask what their process is for getting new books. You can also look at book resellers (Examples in the USA are Thrift Books and Half Price Books) or used-book sections on major retailer sites (An example in the USA is Barnes & Noble) to purchase more affordable copies.

Keep any books you purchase out and visible. They should be immediately accessible from the space you study in.

1. ↑ Wyner, Gabriel (2014). Fluent Forever: how to learn any language fast and never forget it (in English-US) (1st ed.). New York: Harmony Books. pp. 11–15. ISBN 978-0-385-34811-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
2. ↑ Keeley, Colin; Wyner, Gabriel (2017-10-16). "From Opera Singer to Founder of the Most Successful App Kickstarter Ever - Gabriel Wyner / Founder of Fluent Forever". Tech In Chicago. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-opera-singer-to-founder-of-the-most-successful/id1091061082?i=1000393609282. 
3. ↑ "The Oxford English Corpus: Facts about the language". Oxford University Press. What is the commonest word?. Archived from the original on December 26, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
4. ↑ "How to make a file or folder available offline in Dropbox". DropBox. 2024-12-12. Archived from the original on 2025-07-05. Retrieved 2025-07-21.