{"id":3371,"date":"2015-07-22T13:39:17","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T13:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?p=3371"},"modified":"2015-07-22T13:44:03","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T13:44:03","slug":"9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Surprising Facts About Norwegian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that Norwegian is considered one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn? This may sound surprising because, let\u2019s face it, Norwegian isn\u2019t often \u201cup there\u201d on the list of modern foreign languages to learn when you\u2019re considering a course. But we think Norwegian is an incredible language for anyone to try to learn.<\/p>\n

To twist your arm a little, here are some of our favourite fascinating facts about the Norwegian language to pique your interest.<\/p>\n

\"GO<\/a>Yes we know. English is renowned for polluting the languages of the world with words like \u2018email\u2019 and \u2018webcam\u2019. But Norwegian has actually loaned English a few words too. Some examples we like are: berserk<\/i>, lemming <\/i>and slalom<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"GO<\/a>\u201cNorwegian\u201d is actually a little misleading, for there are a number of languages that fall under this rather \u2018umbrella-like\u2019 term and are considered Norwegian. There is Bokm\u00e5l <\/i>(Book Norwegian, official), Nynorsk <\/i>(New Norwegian, official), Riksmal<\/em>\u00a0(\u2018national language\u2019) and Hognorsk<\/em>\u00a0(High Norwegian), to name the more well-known ones. Nynorsk <\/i>and Bokm\u00e5l <\/i>provide a basis for the written form of Norwegian but for the spoken one, this varies dialectically all over the country.<\/p>\n

\"GO<\/a>Because of the large number of cognates in Norwegian, you will be surprised to find that reading a simple newspaper article would actually come pretty easy to you. Some words are identical, such as bank, over<\/i> and problem<\/i>, while some are close enough to guess, like velkommen<\/i> (welcome), av<\/i> (of) and skrive<\/i> (write).<\/p>\n

\"GO<\/a>Because of the closeness between Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, there is a lot of fluidity between the languages. Norwegians are able to understand around 88% of spoken Swedish, and 73% of spoken Danish. Conversely, Swedes understand 48% of Norwegian and the Danes 69%.<\/p>\n

\"GO<\/a>And why is this surprising? Well,\u00a0Norwegian seafarers settled Iceland, the two languages are somewhat closely related. However, despite both Norway and Iceland being under Danish rule for some time, the isolation of Iceland means that the Danish influence was limited and their language is closer to Old Norse than Norwegian. Which means that the good people of Iceland can read the Sagas of the viking eras with ease, whilst those of Norway need patience and a good dictionary to do so.<\/p>\n

\"GO<\/a>Norwegian is a bit exotic compared to the other European languages as it is a tonal language or described as having a pitch accent. To the untrained ear this sounds like singing and you\u2019ll have to go as far away as China to hear a similar spoken word. It is often used to distinguish between things like homonyms, but we love how it makes the language sound so lyrical!<\/p>\n

\"GO<\/a>There are three in particular that stand out for us in Norwegian and we think the English language would be better for having them. Glad i deg<\/i>, a kind of \u2018I have affection for you\u2019 phrase that doesn\u2019t lead to any awkward expectations. Takk for sist<\/i>, translating as \u2018thanks for the last time\u2019 and is used for when you bump into someone that you haven\u2019t seen for a while. And p\u00e5legg<\/i> which is all the stuff that you put on top of an open sandwich.<\/p>\n

\"GO<\/a>Unlike the rest of us who just do this as a matter of course, a good dose of weekend drinking is lovingly named Helgefylla <\/i>to make it an actual event rather than one of those things that just \u201chappens\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"GO<\/a>For those of us overly liberal with the use of the word please<\/i>, this might stop you in your tracks. Sure, there are phrases that more or less mean the same thing: venglest <\/i>(most friend-ily) and ver s\u00e5 venleg <\/i>(very kind). Norwegian tends to be a more polite language overall, so perhaps it can be forgiven for lacking a simple please<\/i>. For example, the presumptuous are you<\/i> is always replaced with can you<\/i> - a subtle change, yes, but politer than ours, nonetheless.<\/p>\n

So you see what we mean. Norwegian is a lovely language to learn full of nuances and novelties. Are you interested? Of course! To pique your interest a little further, here\u2019s a little survival Norwegian<\/a>. But why not take it a step further? \u00a0Contact us<\/a>\u00a0and see what language courses we have available for you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you know that Norwegian is considered one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn? This may sound surprising because, let\u2019s face it, Norwegian isn\u2019t often \u201cup there\u201d on the list of modern foreign languages to learn when you\u2019re considering a course. But we think Norwegian is an incredible language for anyone to(\u2026)<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t \t\t\t\tCONTINUE READING »<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":3350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n9 Surprising Facts About Norwegian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learning Norwegian? Check out these surprising facts about this incredible language!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"9 Surprising Facts About Norwegian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learning Norwegian? Check out these surprising facts about this incredible language!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Listen & Learn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-22T13:39:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-22T13:44:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Photo_3-46.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"478\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kelly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kelly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/\",\"name\":\"9 Surprising Facts About Norwegian\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Photo_3-46.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-22T13:39:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-22T13:44:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1f4e451a01bf1f48458a026613ec8f54\"},\"description\":\"Learning Norwegian? Check out these surprising facts about this incredible language!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Photo_3-46.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Photo_3-46.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":478},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"9 Surprising Facts About Norwegian\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Listen & Learn\",\"description\":\"Language Courses and Language Services UK\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1f4e451a01bf1f48458a026613ec8f54\",\"name\":\"Kelly\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f702f0568496aba44d31e668b970c282?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f702f0568496aba44d31e668b970c282?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kelly\"},\"description\":\"Hi, I'm Kelly and I am a freelance writer and a CELTA-qualified ESL teacher from the UK. As a writer, I get to cover a range of topics by working for a variety of clients in a number of industries. My focus when writing for Listen and Learn is on language and travel, but away from that, I like to write a lot about animals and the environment. Travelling while writing gives me a fresh perspective for all the things I write and allows me to consider everything from opposing points of view thanks to the people I meet along the way. Europe is an amazing place to travel. The countries vary so much, as do the languages, cuisines and ways of life. Though underneath all of that, travelling has really taught me that people are just people, and that we have more similarities than we do differences. We talk a lot at Listen and Learn about languages teaching us so much more than purely vocabulary and grammar, and it is true; there is nothing as exciting as getting to talk to someone you might not normally get to, just because you have made the effort to learn some of their language. Teaching English has given me further insight into the importance of understanding other languages and cultures. I've taught lessons on beaches about the climate crisis and the impact of oil spills on marine animals, and helped students in train stations to practise booking train tickets and make travel plans. I've worked with laboratory technicians in large conglomerates and newly qualified architects starting their own companies; people with completely different lives to mine. And it has been a privilege getting to know them all! Though the most rewarding thing about teaching is seeing students achieve their goals. There is nothing as satisfying as seeing students proud of their hard work and going on to achieve amazing things as a result!\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/author\/kelly-wang\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"9 Surprising Facts About Norwegian","description":"Learning Norwegian? Check out these surprising facts about this incredible language!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"9 Surprising Facts About Norwegian","og_description":"Learning Norwegian? Check out these surprising facts about this incredible language!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/","og_site_name":"Listen & Learn","article_published_time":"2015-07-22T13:39:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-22T13:44:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":478,"url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Photo_3-46.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kelly","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kelly","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/","name":"9 Surprising Facts About Norwegian","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Photo_3-46.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-22T13:39:17+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-22T13:44:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1f4e451a01bf1f48458a026613ec8f54"},"description":"Learning Norwegian? Check out these surprising facts about this incredible language!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Photo_3-46.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Photo_3-46.jpg","width":640,"height":478},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/9-surprising-facts-about-norwegian\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"9 Surprising Facts About Norwegian"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/","name":"Listen & Learn","description":"Language Courses and Language Services UK","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1f4e451a01bf1f48458a026613ec8f54","name":"Kelly","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f702f0568496aba44d31e668b970c282?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f702f0568496aba44d31e668b970c282?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kelly"},"description":"Hi, I'm Kelly and I am a freelance writer and a CELTA-qualified ESL teacher from the UK. As a writer, I get to cover a range of topics by working for a variety of clients in a number of industries. My focus when writing for Listen and Learn is on language and travel, but away from that, I like to write a lot about animals and the environment. Travelling while writing gives me a fresh perspective for all the things I write and allows me to consider everything from opposing points of view thanks to the people I meet along the way. Europe is an amazing place to travel. The countries vary so much, as do the languages, cuisines and ways of life. Though underneath all of that, travelling has really taught me that people are just people, and that we have more similarities than we do differences. We talk a lot at Listen and Learn about languages teaching us so much more than purely vocabulary and grammar, and it is true; there is nothing as exciting as getting to talk to someone you might not normally get to, just because you have made the effort to learn some of their language. Teaching English has given me further insight into the importance of understanding other languages and cultures. I've taught lessons on beaches about the climate crisis and the impact of oil spills on marine animals, and helped students in train stations to practise booking train tickets and make travel plans. I've worked with laboratory technicians in large conglomerates and newly qualified architects starting their own companies; people with completely different lives to mine. And it has been a privilege getting to know them all! Though the most rewarding thing about teaching is seeing students achieve their goals. There is nothing as satisfying as seeing students proud of their hard work and going on to achieve amazing things as a result!","url":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/author\/kelly-wang\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3371"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3371"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3377,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3371\/revisions\/3377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}