|
 |
Norwegian | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| HazarRrd Hexaglot Groupie United States twitter.com/Armadill Joined 6711 days ago 52 posts - 55 votes  Speaks: EnglishC2, SpanishB1, Russian*, Portuguese, French, Italian Studies: Japanese, German | Message 33 of 47 14 November 2006 at 12:12am | IP Logged | |||||
Well,the main difficulty for a russian speaker,according to my own experience,would be THE LACK OF RECOURCES.Nowadays,there are probably 3 to 4 good manuals with tapes available moslty in Moscow and St.Petersburg.Besides,they are pretty expensive(comparing to average level of book prices in Russian Federation)I'm not originally from those cties,so I recall how me and my best friend,went all the way to Moscow from our hometown on a cold snowy winter day.I was just 15 but I wanted to learn it so bad, that the distance and the difficulty of getting to the biggest book store in the country from my hometown didn't matter.Me and my friend bought only one book together(since it was so expensive),but it was fun to study,we really helped each other out.I really miss those cold night with tons of snow outside and me and her with a cup of tea learning how to pronounce "Jeg forstor ikke".But to be honest,the fact that we had this only book (and it wasn't the best manual on earth at all!) and it was the only source of information(there were some websites too,but not too many,we basically prefered to listen to some Trondheim radiostation,it was fun!) killed all the enthusiam.Besides,what really intimidated us in the biginning,is the fact that it was virtually impossible for us to ever meet the REAL norwegian speaker in our small hometown(I remember how excited I was when I met one in the United States), we just realized that we would use it only to communicate with each other,which doesn't make sense. So,instead of continuing learning norwegian,I gave a call to my Spanish tutor and now I speak it,and as for norwegian, I speak probably basic norweigian(bookmaal),at least i remember some basic vocabulary and grammar(I always had problems with pronounciation,because those too short tapes and a tronheim radio station were the only sources of listening to the real speech)most of the stuff that was learned back then(it was 5 years ago) now is forgotten 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ryder Diglot Groupie Norway Joined 6584 days ago 67 posts - 70 votes Speaks: Norwegian, Russian* Studies: English, French | Message 34 of 47 14 November 2006 at 5:59am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Thanks for sharing HazarRrd!
Norwegian seems to be a popular language to study in Russia (depending on where in Russia you live). There are many Russians living in Norway, and I'm amazed of how good they speak Norwegian (and how quick they learn). And there are Russians that speak almost fluent Norwegian that have never even been to Norway! Amazing! There are other immigrants here that have lived here for over 25 years and still only speak a few words. I'm actually trying to learn some Russian now. A very interessting language, and exciting to learn. Wish me luck! -Ryder- Edited by Ryder on 14 November 2006 at 6:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ryder Diglot Groupie Norway Joined 6584 days ago 67 posts - 70 votes Speaks: Norwegian, Russian* Studies: English, French | Message 35 of 47 15 November 2006 at 11:50am | IP Logged | |||||
Perhaps that Norwegian has three genders, while Swedish has two genders? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Linguamor Decaglot Senior Member United States Joined 6609 days ago 469 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Dutch | Message 36 of 47 15 November 2006 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
In moderate bokmål, the type of Norwegian which is most common and most likely to be learned by those wishing to learn Norwegian, the issue of feminine gender is only relevant for relatively few words, and then only as regards the definite article ending and three possessive adjectives. This does make Norwegian marginally more difficult than Swedish in this area of grammar. Edited by Linguamor on 16 November 2006 at 2:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Eriol Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6857 days ago 118 posts - 130 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Portuguese | Message 37 of 47 16 November 2006 at 4:15am | IP Logged | |||||
|
It is true that Swedish only has two indefinite articles, but I'm not so sure it means there are only two genders. Swedish used to have four genders (maskulinum, femininum, neutrum, reale) and there are still remnants of that in the language. You still have to keep track of the "natural" gender to know what adjective endings to use. Look at the adjective ending for masculine definite form:
N: ett gammalt hus (an old house), det gamla huset (the old house), det är gammalt (it is old) R: en gammal bil (an old car), den gamla bilen (the old car), den är gammal (it is old) F: en gammal kvinna (an old woman), den gamla kvinnan (the old woman), hon är gammal (she is old) M: en gammal man (an old man), den gamle mannen (the old man), han är gammal (he is old) "Den gamla mannen" is wrong, but fairly common even among native speakers. Does anyone know how the believers in the "common"-gender explains that? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ryder Diglot Groupie Norway Joined 6584 days ago 67 posts - 70 votes Speaks: Norwegian, Russian* Studies: English, French | Message 38 of 47 16 November 2006 at 6:30am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Interessting!
Good that you pointed out that it isn't just the indefinite article that tells the gender. I guess all of the Scandinavian languages have a lot of remainings in the grammar from the older versions of the languages (Old Norse for example). Which can be confusing sometimes...even for natives. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Linguamor Decaglot Senior Member United States Joined 6609 days ago 469 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Dutch | Message 39 of 47 16 November 2006 at 1:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
A linguist would point to the distinction between prescriptive and descriptive grammar and explain that the Swedish of those native speakers who only use "gamla" has common gender. The 'gamle/gamla' contrast is rather marginal in modern Swedish. English has a singular/plural contrast in the demonstratives 'this/these', 'that/those', but linguists would not want to posit a rule of singular/plural noun modifier agreement based on just these four words. Likewise, the 'gamle/gamla' contrast would not justify an analysis of Swedish as having masculine, feminine, and neuter gender. Edited by Linguamor on 17 November 2006 at 2:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6885 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 40 of 47 16 November 2006 at 7:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
"Prescriptive" is the word, yes. I only use "gamla" myself, and it is not a question of being a believer in one thing or another. It is just a characteristic of the variant of Finland-Swedish I grew up with and afaik this same characteristic is quite common in Sweden as well. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
