The pronunciation of K changes depending on the following vowel.

We separate the vowels into two categories, "hard" and "soft" vowels.

Hard: E, I, Y, Ä, Ö Soft: A, O, U, Å

(Doing this reminds my of the posters in my classroom in 1st grade)

K will become that "sh" sound whenever a hard vowel comes after.

• Kedja (Chain)
• Kikare (Binoculars)
• Kyckling (Chicken)
• Kärlek (Love)
• Kök (Kitchen)

All of these words have the same "sh" instead of "k" in the beginning.

This also goes for the letters C, G, and the combination SK.

• C is pronounced S when before hard vowel.
• G is pronounced J when before hard vowel
• SK is pronounced similarly to what K was above, "sh", when before vowel

I hope I did not confuse you too much, this will all come with time.

Yes you are. I was wondering the same but it actually is pronounced like that depending on the vowels https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5523440$comment_id=5523519