…when you have no one around to practice with is today’s request topic and in order to figure this one out, we’ll definitely need your help. You people out there all over the world, how do you practice your Swedish when you are thousands of miles away from us? The general and very true opinion is that there’s no better or more efficient way to become fluent in a language than to actually live or spend a lot of time in that specific country. But for most people, that is not the case.

We have gathered a few tricks on how to practice your Swedish (leaving out any kind of language classes, courses and software), but please drop a comment if you have more advice and I’ll be more than happy to make the list longer and more useful.

Read Swedish:
The good old internet is a treasure and with a simple .se – it’s all there, in Swedish!  A great help is The Google Translation Toolbar that instantly translates any page from Swedish into English (or whatever you’d prefer). Okay, it’s far and ever further from perfect, but it’s alright these days and works if you just need a quick helping tool.

News: Dagens Nyheter (The News of the Day), Aftonbladet (The Evening Post) and Svenska Dagbladet (Swedish Daily Paper) are three big news sites where you find international and local news, blogs, reviews, guides, job ads and much much more.

Blogs: Blogs are not only a great source of information, they can also give you a little glimpse of the Swedish you won’t be taught in a language class and in many cases (personal blogs), probably not correct Swedish either. But it’s a fun and interesting way of getting familiar with the language. On Bloggportalen, you can find over 50 000 links to Swedish blogs about everything and anything, personal and professional, divided either into categories or geographically.

Twitter: Twitter might be less daunting than blogs, since it’s only 140 characters in one go and there are plenty of interesting Swedes tweeting out there. Or, simply just type “Sverige” and you’ll get a fun and random selections of Swedish tweeters to follow.

Books: Bokus is a great online bookstore that ships to other parts of the world and has a great selection of “normal” books, e-books and my favourite, audio books –  an excellent way of actually hearing Swedish. If there’s a library where you live, they can probably help you to get a hold of Swedish books. I even found a few Swedish titles in our local library in Bristol! And remember, never underestimate the great value of children’s books!

Hear Swedish:
Web radio is a brilliant thing and with just a click or two you can listen to radio from all over the world. You can find Swedish public service radio (Sveriges Radio) here and there you can listen to any of the following radio stations:

P1 = Mature and intellectual. Lots of talking about science, art, literature and philosophy.
P2 = Arty and international. Broadcasts in different languages and lots of live jazz, folk and traditional music.
P3 = Young and trendy. Lots of music and entertainment but also documentaries and news.
P4 = Broad and popular. The biggest of the bunch with lots of music for all ears, news and sport. Every day, at 6pm, P4 broadcast a news program called “Klartext”, news in easy Swedish, easy to understand. A great source for Swedish beginners!

“See” Swedish:
Another amazing thing is Web-TV! I haven’t lived in Sweden for two years, but I can still keep up with my favourite shows and even watch our Melodifestivalen or different Swedish award ceremonies (Guldbaggegalen = our Oscar, Grammisgalan = our Grammy) live! You can find Swedish public service TV (Sveriges Television) here  (Click SVT Play to watch) and the biggest commercial channel, TV4, here (Click TV4 Play) . News sites like Aftonbladet has their own web-TV with lots of different programs.

Speak Swedish:
This is where it gets tricky. How to speak Swedish if there are no Swedes around? One advice I got from my language studying friend in Mexico is webcam chats. She has found a few people to talk with through My Language Exchange and has had a few web cam chats with the people she met there. I have never tried My Language Exchange and don’t have any opinion about it, perhaps anyone of you have?

Again, please share your best How to maintain your Swedish when you have noone around to practice with-advice!

And, last but certainly not least, the Swedish Blog at Transparent is of course a must on your way to become a fluent Swedish speaker. But I reckon you have already figured that one out.