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Norwegian Profile | ||
Tags: Norwegian | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Collaborative writing |  | |
| Metacognition Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6288 days ago 23 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Norwegian | Message 17 of 25 27 November 2007 at 3:00pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Any advances?
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| Ra Diglot Newbie Norway Joined 5919 days ago 14 posts - 19 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: German, French | Message 18 of 25 04 February 2008 at 12:36am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Landsmål is the pre-1938 version of Nynorsk, and is in practice what we today call Høgnorsk (although the name Høgnorsk also has some other connotations). It is still used by a small minority. Riksmål is very much alive, being governed by Det Norske Akademi and promoted by Riksmålsforbundet. And with the latest Bokmål reforms it is almost possible to write perfect Riksmål without conflicting the Bokmål rules. I prefer using Riksmål myself actually. And it is true that Riksmål does not have any differentiation between the masculine and feminine gender, while the other dialects do.
Well, the Samnorsk-project was supported by the government, but that is a thing of the past. There are also some present government-imposed regulations that are seen as promoting the use of Nynorsk. Edited by Ra on 04 February 2008 at 12:37am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| densou Senior Member Italy foto.webalice.it/denRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5912 days ago 120 posts - 121 votes  Speaks: Italian* | Message 19 of 25 25 February 2008 at 7:50am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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almost Danish/Swedish TV program (aired on NRK/TV Norge/etc) have subtitles in Norwegian and viceversa although I think they're quite close as languages (or my ears are definitly bad)
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| Ra Diglot Newbie Norway Joined 5919 days ago 14 posts - 19 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: German, French | Message 20 of 25 27 February 2008 at 3:22am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Yes, they are very close. But still, many norwegians find spoken danish hard to understand, and I guess some also have trouble understanding spoken swedish. But then again, there are norwegians who are not able to understand some of the norwegian dialects. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Ra Diglot Newbie Norway Joined 5919 days ago 14 posts - 19 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: German, French | Message 21 of 25 03 March 2008 at 1:57pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Well, in lack of better things to do I began an attempt to write a profile. I've used some of the suggestions earlier in this thread, either in part or completely (e.g Travel Opportunities as suggested by Steve). And some of what I've done so far would probably be better off written by a non-native speaker.
It is not yet complete, and I would appreciate it if someone else took care of the parts concerning difficulties/grammar, or at least made suggestions for what to write. Grammatical corrections, and comments in general, are welcome and probably needed! INTRODUCTION Norwegian belongs to the North Germanic language family, and is part of what may be seen as part of a continuous series of more or less mutally intelligible Scandinavian dialects. It has an estimated 4.7 million speakers, but due to it's similarities with Swedish and Danish one may, with some effort, be able to communicate with about 20 million people using only Norwegian. USEFULNESS Norwegian is helpful when you travel to Norway, including Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Where it is the national language. Depending on where you go, you can get by with knowing much or little of the language as many norwegians speak English. Speaking Norwegian is also helpful in Denmark and Sweden due to the similarities between the languages. If you are aspiring to master the North Germanic language family Norwegian is probably the best starting point. CHIC FACTOR Given it's exotic nature Norwegian definetively has somewhat of a chic factor and charm. It may also serve as an effective conversational icebreaker with what is one of the most socially reserved populations in the world. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE Due to the familiarity with English among norwegians the economic importance of the Norwegian language may be seen as relatively small. The CIA World Factbook puts Norways GDP at 257,400$m (thus ranking 40th). Some of the main industries are: petroleum and gas, fishing and food processing, shipbuilding and shipping, pulp and paper products, metals. TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES Norway is an incredibly expensive country to travel through for most, however, once you're there, you'll be in no doubt that the spectacular beauty of the countryside is worth the hassle of having to starve yourself for a few days. Norwegians are always happy to help you, but will most often speak to you in English as the vast majority of people under the age of 40 can hold their own in the language and will probably make you feel a little ashamed. However, a little knowledge of Norwegian will go a very long way, as Norwegians do not expect you to learn their language, any attempt to do so is seen as rather commendable. It's also useful to have some knowledge of the language when leaving visiting the countryside, especially if you come across older folk. COUNTRIES Norway, including Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Scandinavian settlements in the USA (the midwest in particular). SPEAKERS An estimated 4.7 million in 2007 (Source: Statistisk Sentralbyrå). VARIATIONS There are two officially recognized forms of written Norwegian - Bokmål, also called Dano-Norwegian due to it's Danish influence, and Nynorsk, created from various traditional dialects as a reaction to the danish influence. Bokmål is by far the most popular (used in 92% of all written publications), and is the written dialect most commonly taught to foreign learners of the language. Due to the rugged landscape of Norway, and the norwegians love for settling in forlorn places with austere weather conditions, there are great variations in how the language is spoken throughout the country. Some dialects may be problematic to understand until one gets familiar with them (however most norwegians will be able to help foreign learners by speaking a more standardized form). A dialect often refered to as "standard østnorsk" may be regarded as the spoken variant of Bokmål. CULTURE Norway has a rich literary tradition with works by authors like e.g. Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun being regarded as international classics. Knowing the Norwegian language opens a vault of impressive literature from a variety of genres. A partial list of authors can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Norwegian_Writers Norway is also known for it's music, wether it is the haunting traditional music, classical or more modern styles. One of Norways biggest cultural exports is black metal music, a genre that has sparked interest in Norwegian language and culture among many foreigners. Also with regards to visual arts and architecture Norway is internationally renowned, with painters like Edvard Munch and Odd Nerdrum, and the peculiar architecture of the stave churches. DIFFICULTIES To people familiar with English Norwegian should be relatively easy to learn compared to other languages. The greatest difficulty probably lies in the pronunciation, and becoming familiar with the various spoken dialects. GRAMMAR PRONUNCIATION Norwegian pronunciation should not pose as a big threat to most people. The letter 'r' seems to be the biggest problem to people with English as their first language, as it is normally pronounced like the "rolled 'r'" found in e.g. Spanish and Italian, but could also be pronounced like the more guttural French 'r' (common in southwestern and southern dialects). VOCABULARY Most of the Norwegian vocabulary is inherited from Old Norse, with the biggest source of loan words being Middle Low German. TRANSPARENCY Norwegian is close to the other members of the Germanic language family, especially the North Germanic languages. It shares some vocabulary with English, but is not considerably close in other regards. SPELLING TIME NEEDED A wild guess would be 250-300 hours to be able to have normal conversations. BOOKS "Norwegian: An Essential Grammar" by Åse-Berit Strandskogen and Rolf Strandskogen, Routledge, 1994. ISBN-13: 978-0415109796 "Norwegian Verbs And Essentials of Grammar" by Louis Janus, McGraw-Hill, 1999. ISBN-13: 978-0844285962 SCHOOLS LINKS Bokmål dictionaries: http://www.dicts.info/dictlist1.php?l=Norwegian_Bokmal Norwegian pronunciation guide: http://norskklassen.ce-service.biz/sounds-g.htm Edited by Ra on 04 March 2008 at 7:17pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| MNL Tetraglot Newbie Norway Joined 5780 days ago 39 posts - 39 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, French, German Studies: Italian, Mandarin | Message 22 of 25 04 July 2008 at 8:32am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
To clarify, bokmål has three genders, but the use of the feminine varies. Masculine indefinite article: En Feminine indefinite article: Ei Neuter indefinite article: Et Examples: En gutt (a boy) Ei jente (a girl) Et dyr (an animal) In writing, most people use the feminine form when the noun is in the singular definite form. Jenta (the girl) Feminine nouns end with "a", the masculine ends with "en" and the neuter with "et" (in Norwegian the definite article is placed at the end of the noun as apart of it, instead of being placed in front it). However, you will not be corrected if you write "jenten", with the masculine ending. In addition, most people I know write "en jente" and not "ei jente", even though they write "jenta". Another example is "vogn" (carriage, wagon, cart) which can end in a and is therefore a female noun. However, this noun is almost always written and spoken as "en vogn - vognen". Every Norwegian feminine noun can be written using the male articles. While very few choose to do that with all feminine nouns, most people living in and around the capital does it with many nouns. In daily speech most people say ei jente and jenta, but en vogn and vognen. Usually, it is only with the most self-explanatory feminine nouns (like woman, girl, cow, mare etc) that one uses the feminine articles in speech. Of course, this will vary from person to person. In nynorsk (new-Norwegian) and many dialects, the three genders are preserved and clearly distinguished from one another both in speech and writing (mind you, written dialect is not a formally recognized written standard and is only used in chat, personal letters etc). Edited by MNL on 04 July 2008 at 8:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Metacognition Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6288 days ago 23 posts - 28 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Norwegian | Message 23 of 25 20 July 2008 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Is that good enough to go up on the front page yet, then?
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| feanarosurion Senior Member Canada Joined 5061 days ago 217 posts - 316 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish, Norwegian | Message 24 of 25 13 June 2010 at 8:50pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
I'd just like to point out that usefulness in Finland would be VERY limited, as the Swedish speaking minority is somewhere in the 5 - 10% range, and the majority of them speak Finnish as well. As for Finnish, Norwegian won't help you with that. Completely different as most of you should know. But either way, even the Swedish minority wouldn't expect a foreigner to know either Finnish or Swedish, and if you came up to an average Finn speaking Norwegian hoping they'll know what you're talking about, many wouldn't really know what to do. Granted, the amount of Finns that speak Swedish as a second language is also relatively high, but I wouldn't go around speaking Norwegian, I would try to get by on a little Finnish first. So, unless you legitimately come across a group of Swedish-Finns and want to chime in on the conversation, I expect that you wouldn't find much usefulness for Norwegian in Finland at all. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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