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Norwegian: Most Difficult Language? | ||
Tags: Norwegian | Difficulty | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Skandinavisk & Nordisk |  | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4433 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 9 of 36 28 June 2013 at 11:35am | IP Logged | |||||
You are right of course, but dialects can be difficult in many languages. The first time I went to Glasgow I talked with a taxi driver whose Scottish dialect was almost unintelligible to me, and I had to ask him to repeat what he said all the time. I also have colleagues who speak very well English, but the moment they have to interact with a native English-speaker, (we often use consultants from the UK) even if it is someone from the Southeast, they find it difficult to understand everything. My point is, regardless of language, most people do not speak the standardised version you learn in a language course. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| caam_imt Triglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 4656 days ago 232 posts - 357 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2, Finnish Studies: German, Swedish | Message 10 of 36 28 June 2013 at 11:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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I suppose that mastering ANY language can be a daunting task (can languages ever be
mastered?). Of course Norwegian would be extremely difficult to master, as well as any other language (I don't think even natives master they own language, plenty of stuff to learn). I think that no matter whether the language is a grammatical nightmare or a rather simple one (Spanish, like so many seem to agree with), they all level out in the end. It becomes a matter of precision, catching subtleties, understanding culture and knowing what to say at the right time. Even knowing when native speakers make mistakes and being able to replicate them, without sounding weird. Isn't all that quite tough? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| jazzboy.bebop Senior Member Norway norwegianthroughnove Joined 5212 days ago 439 posts - 800 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian | Message 11 of 36 28 June 2013 at 10:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
Being from Glasgow myself, I can understand the difficulty you must have faced sometimes when over here! While it is true that the problem of dialects for foreigners to get used to exists in any country, it appears to be a little more pronounced in Norway than in many other countries. The variation in dialects can be very great and I've found that many of my Norwegian friends struggle to understand some people because of their dialects. Many people seem to just speak their dialect unless it completely hinders communication like when speaking to a foreigner. Most people in the UK don't speak in a way that is all that different from standard written English anyway, they just have some local vernacular thrown in, commonly known informal constructions and variations of words and phrases, and a local accent. The case is a bit different in Scotland however due to the legacy of the Scots language with elements of Scots appearing in the modern dialects. Now that can certainly cause difficulty if you are not used to it. People who might be considered "working class" will tend to speak in a more heavy dialect while others opt for a more standard form of English. This unfortunately sometimes leads to a certain snobbery amongst many people who look down on those who speak in a strong dialect when it should be regarded as an equally valid form of speech as standard English. I can't speak for other countries but considering how conscious people are in Norway on the subject of dialects and the language in comparison to the UK, the fact most seem to speak their dialect as usual to everyone apart from foreigners (even then sometimes they still do), the fact you have many dialects with features which can differ significantly and can cause confusion to other native speakers, and you have two official standard written forms of the language. You have to admit, that is a particularly complex linguistic situation for foreigners. Staying in one area lessens such complications though as then you can focus on the local dialect and overtime become accustomed to others. I find Norway's linguistic situation very interesting. I must admit that I like the egalitarian attitude towards the use of dialects. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4622 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 12 of 36 28 June 2013 at 10:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
The first time we went to the Republic of Ireland (we were down in the south-east, near Rosslare), I had quite a bit of difficulty understanding people the first time they said anything. It seemed to take me about 2-3 days to "get my ear in". This despite my having been taught at school by many Irish teachers over the years (Catholic schools), and listened to many sermons by Irish priests. This though was much "broader" than anything I'd heard before. Broad "Geordie" (roughly speaking, the Newcastle area) could fox quite a few native speakers, let alone non-natives, and really broad Cockney could also be a challenge (the other two that come to mind, after Glaswegian; maybe also Liverpool ("Scouse")). However, I get the impression that the difficulty is of a higher order in Norway. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Henkkles Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4047 days ago 544 posts - 1141 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish Studies: Russian | Message 13 of 36 30 June 2013 at 3:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have a friend from Bergen who once told me he needs subtitles for everyone north from Trondheim. He also said that "the mountains have driven us mad" when explaining the dialects.
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| stifa Triglot Senior Member Norway lang-8.com/448715 Joined 4667 days ago 629 posts - 813 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German Studies: Japanese, Spanish | Message 14 of 36 30 June 2013 at 3:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm a bit confused... why did he find the central dialects easier to understand than
those from for instance Bodø? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4462 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 15 of 36 01 July 2013 at 12:08am | IP Logged | |||||
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Outside of Southeastern Norway not many people speak Standard Eastern Norwegian (Bokmaal).
In Western Norway, the local dialects are much closer to Standard Western Norwegian (Nynorsk) than to Bokmaal. If you are planning to work in Western and Southern Norway, learning Nynorsk will make you understand local dialects much easier. Bokmaal-only is okay only for Southeastern Norway and Finnmark (the Northernmost county). In Bergen and Ålesund you can't really get away from Nynorsk, since these cities cater to people from Nynorsk hinterland (University Hospital in Bergen is now 100% Nynorsk). Stavanger and Kristiansand are more Nynorsk-hating than Oslo, and are therefore officially Bokmaal-only-cities...(Bergen, Ålesund, Trondheim, Oslo, Tromsø, Hammerfest are bilingual/neutral). Nynorsk has been seen as a peasants language, but now it's more and more seen as a language of poets, and left-wing intellectual elites. Daily newspapers that frequently have Nynorsk-articles include Bergens Tidende, Sunnmørsposten and Klassekampen. 25 % of material on NRK (including subtitling of foreign programs like Chicago Fire and Game of Thrones) is in Nynorsk. To test your listening skills (all Norwegians understand this): http://tv.nrk.no/serie/distriktsnyheter-vestlandsrevyen Edited by Medulin on 01 July 2013 at 12:23am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5128 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 16 of 36 01 July 2013 at 12:23am | IP Logged | |||||
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It is true that it is hard to pass for a native in Norwegian, but is that not the case for almost any language? If
you learn it as an adult most people will have some sort of accent. It is however possible to achieve it. I met an American once, who came here when she was 19, and had it not been for her foreign name, I would never in a million years have imagined that she was not Norwegian. I listened attently for over 40 minutes, and there was not a vowel too short, not a pitch out of place. It was flawless. She worked as a translator though, so she was probably more interested that your average person. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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