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Learning Norwegian

  Tags: Norwegian
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
leroc
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4124 days ago

114 posts - 167 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German

 
 Message 1 of 7
08 November 2013 at 6:23am | IP Logged 
I'm a college student and I recently received some good news. My college is collaborating with another college and sending me and several other students to the far north of Norway! We're leaving at the end of December and I'm super stoked! I have been cramming on Norwegian for about 3-4 weeks and decided to use my HTLAL account (previously used to lurk and find resources) to log my progress in a sort of travel log/language learning log, perhaps able to help motivate other future learners as many on here have motivated me. My friend that is going with me is going to record a documentary type video while we're there, so hopefully I can share it with you all here when that time comes.

I really enjoy Norwegian and am not finding it too difficult; I have high quality resources and a strong reason to learn it. So far I have the basics down ranging from 'Hvordan går det?' and 'Jeg forstår litt norsk' to 'Han elsker å drikke', and 'Snakker du til meg?' counting up to 100, basic phrases and about 250 words, not including cognates that I am not aware of. I'm using Colloquial Norwegian, Norwegian in 10 minutes a day, Pimsleur Norwegian and I have a pocket dictionary and a copy of Hagen's dictionary

My short term goal is that by the time I arrive in Norway when I get off the plane and see a bunch of armed guards and an official staring me down, I want to confidently go through the whole residence permit ordeal in Norwegian. I would be pleased with an A2 and I think I'm on the right track to success.

2 persons have voted this message useful



montmorency
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4641 days ago

2371 posts - 3676 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Danish, Welsh

 
 Message 2 of 7
08 November 2013 at 6:32pm | IP Logged 
I'm excited for you.

If you haven't seen it already, you might enjoy watching
Lilyhammer
if you can find it on DVD or maybe it's online somewhere.

To be honest, I doubt if you'd learn a vast amount of Norwegian from it, but there are
probably some cultural insights, and I found it a mostly enjoyable series, albeit with
some darker sides.
1 person has voted this message useful



Medulin
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Croatia
Joined 4481 days ago

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

 
 Message 3 of 7
08 November 2013 at 8:08pm | IP Logged 
You might enjoy Himmelblå>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI6drsaXmLQ
1 person has voted this message useful



leroc
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4124 days ago

114 posts - 167 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German

 
 Message 4 of 7
15 November 2013 at 6:13pm | IP Logged 
I think it's been 9 days since I started this log.. Well I haven't been slacking! I have done a lot of work in Norwegian, getting up to about 3/5 of the way through Norwegian in 10 Days and finishing Pimsleur lesson 5 last night. I have tried Colloquial and don't really care for it for some reason. I find the massive input each lesson a little off putting, and the content is very dry. Is this a common complaint?

In other news, I bought my plane ticket to Norway, and I'm leaving on December 31st. I also received the thumbs up from the consulate for my residence permit, so I've done almost everything so far required.
1 person has voted this message useful



leroc
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4124 days ago

114 posts - 167 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German

 
 Message 5 of 7
30 December 2013 at 8:18pm | IP Logged 
Ok it's update time. Maybe it was a little late but it's better to be late then never!

At the moment I am waiting in a terminal for an Icelandair flight to Reykjavik and i then on to Norway. I have been practicing slightly, maybe I've been slacking a bit but I am on lesson 15 of Pimsleur I Norwegian.

I actually met a Norwegian High school exchange student a few weeks ago during Winter break and had I little conversation with her: Where are you from, What's your name.. etc. She complemented me and said my pronunciation was very understandable, so that's a plus.

I plan on using some Norwegian phrases on the flight attendants and seeing if they work. I also want to start attending church when I'm in Norway for language practice. As a practicing Lutheran, I already know the liturgy so I should be able to follow the service somewhat and learn plenty of words. I'll update after then and say how it went.

Edited by leroc on 30 December 2013 at 8:19pm

1 person has voted this message useful



leroc
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4124 days ago

114 posts - 167 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German

 
 Message 6 of 7
24 January 2014 at 9:49pm | IP Logged 
Perhaps it's over due but here's an update!

I have been attending Norwegian class at my college for about 9 hours a week. We have blazing through material, probably aided by the fact that 9/10 people there are German and multilingual to boot. Although that has not been a bad thing because I did some serious preparation before coming to Norway.

Norwegians have been very complementary towards my accent, usually responding in rapid norsk, even though they now I'm American. Tough love huh? I don't see supposed problem other people have been telling me about, where Scandinavians will refuse to speak anything other then English to foreigners; most likely that has been exaggerated. Although, if it is a serious matter or a matter of business or deep conversation, English is fine, actually I prefer it in those instances. If I was much, much more fluent, then that could be a different story.

I have continued my cross country skiing! That has been great; luckily I've done Nordic skiing from the time I was 3, so I'm not too shabby or falling behind the pack. There are some exceptional skiers here, more motivation to improve that aspect of my life here!

I also saw Frozen, the Disney movie based on Scandinavian folk stories and motifs, in theaters here with Norwegian subtitles. It was a nice movie for kids, okay movie for adults, and a very decent, catchy soundtrack. Norway has never looked better animated! I recommend it.

Anyways, signing off for today, I'll try to be more regular in my postings.

Edited by leroc on 24 January 2014 at 9:53pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Lizzern
Diglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5722 days ago

791 posts - 1053 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English
Studies: Japanese

 
 Message 7 of 7
24 January 2014 at 11:27pm | IP Logged 
Just wanted to say best of luck with your studies :-) Look forward to hearing about your progress. Hope you're enjoying your time in Norway.

montmorency wrote:
If you haven't seen it already, you might enjoy watching
Lilyhammer
if you can find it on DVD or maybe it's online somewhere.


It's on Netflix here...

leroc wrote:
Norwegians have been very complementary towards my accent, usually responding in rapid norsk, even though they now I'm American. Tough love huh? I don't see supposed problem other people have been telling me about, where Scandinavians will refuse to speak anything other then English to foreigners; most likely that has been exaggerated.


Take it as a compliment, they probably just expect you to understand them :-) Norwegians do have a tendency to switch but mostly it's if people are worried about not being understood and having to repeat every sentence, cause that's just awkward...

Edited by Lizzern on 24 January 2014 at 11:28pm



1 person has voted this message useful



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