Slöjd vloggers? Other Swedish vlogs and podcasts?

December 28, 2014 12:59 PM

I'm trying to learn Swedish (I'm just starting) and I'd like to find some podcasts and vlogs to listen to.

I'm unlikely to have any contact with Swedish speakers anytime in the near future, but I'd like to develop some comprehension of the spoken language. I'm also a carpenter, and I'm fascinated with skolslöjd. If there's a slöjdlärare who has a vlog about instructional methods, exercises and theory, that would be right up my alley. I'm interested in recommendations for podcasts and vlogs on other topics too, so anything you think is good or interesting is great (especially if it's not too technical or slangy). Podcasts specifically aimed at or appropriate for beginners would be especially great.

posted by nangar to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

Best answer: So there are sljöd-related videos here:
http://www.teacherondemand.se/kategori/58/slojd.html

The videos are called Podcast-filmer; my Swedish buddy informs me it's en podcast, flera podcaster, den podcasten. But I saw podcasts in Swedish as well. :-)

Mostly I'm finding podcasts and mostly about things other than slöjd. Here's an article that talks about the popularity of American podcasts in Sweden and a new Swedish podcast on knitting.

I think your Swedish might benefit from Swedish Television's SVT Play, which has a bunch of shows available on demand. I'd start with Julkalendern. Between December 1 and December 24th is a 12-minute episode of Julkalendern every year, each year a different, usually charming story for the whole family that ends happily on Christmas Eve, the day Swedes celebrate Christmas.

The first episode is here. You can turn on subtitles (in Swedish) by clicking on the T (for text) on the right of the navigation bar. Or just browse through the programs. Not all are available outside of Sweden but many are.

Lycka till!
posted by Bella Donna at 11:41 PM on December 28, 2014

Oops, forgot to mention that Julkalendern is available for a limited amount of time. 25 more days for the first episode, FYI.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:44 PM on December 28, 2014

Best answer: Great advice from Bella Donna, just going to ad that some SVT content is blocked by region, in which case get the Hola plugin for your browser. Swedes also use the phrase "pod" (plural pods or poddar) on its own. I did a quick youtube search for slöjdlärare (slöjd teacher) and got this guys channel. He has a bunch of stuff, not speaking in all of it though. His accent is rural but quite understandable. He also has a blog linked from there. Then there's this dude Magisterslöjd, a little more youthful in his presentation, far fewer but much longer videos. If you weren't already aware, Duolingo also has a beta-version for Swedish now.
posted by Iteki at 2:53 AM on December 29, 2014

It's been nearly 5 years since I lived in Stockholm, my Swedish is merely okay and I had no idea folks were using pod on its own. Thanks, Iteki! Is there a Swedish word for vlog?
posted by Bella Donna at 9:26 AM on December 29, 2014

Response by poster: Thank you both! I like the Magisterslöjd guy. He explains everything he's doing in painstaking detail. That's good for language learning. Just watching a little bit I've picked up some tool names. And I'll watch stuff on SVT. I think there's enough stuff there, even with restrictions, to keep me busy for a while. Tack!
posted by nangar at 4:28 PM on December 29, 2014

Bella Donna: I think videoblogg is more common than vlogg and videopodd is more common than that. I've seen podd-tv used a bit, people do talk about poddradio and poddcasting. Vlogging seems to be used a bit more for purely personal videoblogging of the Blondinbella type (young women's personal style blogs).

Nangar, I would also suggest media-wise that you look into Allt för Sverige and Welcome to Sweden, two shows that mix Swedish and English while taking place in Sweden. One is a reality show and the other is a semi-fictitious comedy show about Amy Poehler brother moving to Sweden!
posted by Iteki at 12:21 PM on January 1, 2015

Best answer: You should also maybe check Sommartorpet. I think it can be seen from where you are. It's two seasons of renovating an old sharecopppers dwelling to a summer home. SVT Flow has a lot of media available abroad. You might like Gina's Värld, Stjärnorna på Slottet or Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar. The last of those is by Jonas Gardell and is his history of the AIDS epidemic within Stockholms gay community in the eighties. This has nothing to do with carpentry but I was surprised to see it available online and most of the country watched it last year. Jonas Gardell has lots of stand up about Swedish culture and attitudes and is basically semi-royalty here. He also enunciates reallllllly well so he's good for language learning.
posted by Iteki at 1:00 PM on January 1, 2015