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Help / advice for learning Norwegian

  Tags: Norwegian
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
12 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
Travis.H
Triglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 4455 days ago

59 posts - 91 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese, Sign Language
Studies: French

 
 Message 1 of 12
01 October 2012 at 9:21am | IP Logged 
Dear HTLAL readers,

This is my first post on this forum even though I've been reading for awhile. I'm
American and I've taught myself Japanese to an advanced level, although to a native I
would never call myself fluent. I live and work in Japanese all day, my friends are
Japanese and I essentially conduct myself entirely in the language. I've enjoyed this
life for the past few years but feel ready for a change.

I have a great aunt who lives in Norway. I actually don't know my aunt very well but I
expressed interest in learning Norwegian and she told me that I would be more than
welcome to stay with her for an extended period of time. My grandmother told me
recently that she asked when I was coming to Norway last time she visited America.
Pondering this, I've been thinking about learning Norwegian on my own, going to Norway
and possibly perusing a degree in Applied Linguistics at a university in Norway.

I was able to teach myself Japanese easily through a plethora of online resources,
manga and books and of course talking to people. However,during a brief search for
Norwegian resources I found a very select few resources. I was hoping that Assimil
would be of help, but sadly they don't have an English base and I don't speak French or
German.

My two questions are:

1.) Anyone who has learned Norwegian or speaks Norwegian, what advice would you give to
someone learning the language?

2.) Are there any good links or resources for listening to Norwegian (podcasts etc).

Thank you very much in advance,

-Travis
1 person has voted this message useful



Ari
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 6581 days ago

2314 posts - 5695 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese
Studies: Czech, Latin, German

 
 Message 2 of 12
01 October 2012 at 10:22am | IP Logged 
Well, start out by checking out this thread.
2 persons have voted this message useful



daegga
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Austria
lang-8.com/553301
Joined 4520 days ago

1076 posts - 1792 votes 
Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian
Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic

 
 Message 3 of 12
01 October 2012 at 1:40pm | IP Logged 
for listening resources: http://www.nrk.no
there you can find online radio and clips from Norwegian TV
http://www.klartale.no
news with limited vocabulary + podcasts (news read in very clear and relatively slow Norwegian)

some general advice:
* concentrate on vocabulary, not grammar
* learn words actively (ie. translate from L1 to L2, not the other way round); Norwegian words are similar enough to English ones (at least the most frequently used 2000-3000 or so) so that passive learning shouldn't be necessary
* go to Norway early (after you have learned 2000-2500 vocabulary items), don't waste time with advanced studies outside of Norway

If you want to study in Norway, it might be best to attend the "trinn 3" Norwegian language course at a Norwegian university (eg. International Summer School Oslo). It shouldn't be too hard to meet the entrance requirements for this course after a year of self-study.


Edited by daegga on 02 October 2012 at 3:19pm

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Travis.H
Triglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 4455 days ago

59 posts - 91 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese, Sign Language
Studies: French

 
 Message 4 of 12
05 October 2012 at 1:52am | IP Logged 
Thank you very much for your responses. Daegga, I really appreciated your advice on what
to study and about studying in Norway. I'll be sure to do some more research on "trinn
3".
1 person has voted this message useful



Aquila123
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Norway
mydeltapi.com
Joined 5305 days ago

201 posts - 262 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Finnish, Russian

 
 Message 5 of 12
06 October 2012 at 10:12am | IP Logged 
I am Norwegian, and Norway abund in foreigners that have a large Norwegian vocabolary, but are completely ignorant of flectional forms, syntax and pronunciation.

I am actually astounished how ignorant even highly educated persons tend to be of these particularities.

You should as soon as possible learn the proper pronunciation, especially vowel quality, tunes and vowel length.

You should as soon as possible also learn the flectional forms and the basic rules of syntax.

Then you have a framework for practical learning and use of the vocabolary.


You can also use Norwegian in Sweden and Denmark, since Norwegian, Swedish and Danish are mere dialects of the same language.

1 person has voted this message useful



Medulin
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Croatia
Joined 4667 days ago

1199 posts - 2192 votes 
Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali

 
 Message 6 of 12
12 October 2012 at 4:11am | IP Logged 
I found Norwegian pronunciation very hard and it made me stop learning the language.
I couldn't repeat not even the most basic sentences with the native-like intonation and tones/pitch. You should focus on pronunciation right from the start, and this is difficult to do if there is no Norwegians around. TV and songs cannot replace the eye-to-eye contact with native speakers. For example, in order to pronounce Norwegian Y in the right way, you have to focus on Norwegians' lips.

Edited by Medulin on 12 October 2012 at 4:14am

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Aquila123
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Norway
mydeltapi.com
Joined 5305 days ago

201 posts - 262 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Finnish, Russian

 
 Message 7 of 12
12 October 2012 at 5:18am | IP Logged 
Yes, but the y-sound is very easy to explain.

Start with an i-sound as in "sit". Then markedly round your lips and also your tongue a little.

Roundedness and not is the only difference between i and y.

The Norwegian u-sound is however more difficult to define. It is rounded. The tongue is in a nearly mid position, but a little rised towards the palate and also slightly pushed foreward.

The "ou" in English "you" comes near to it.

The u must be contrasted to the usual pronunciation of o, which is a back, very narrow, rounded sound. The oo in English "roof" may resamble.


Edited by Aquila123 on 12 October 2012 at 5:22am

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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6596 days ago

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4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
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 Message 8 of 12
12 October 2012 at 12:50pm | IP Logged 
How would you compare them to the Finnish u and y?


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