So You Want to Learn Norsk?

I know you're all just itching to learn Norwegian so you can say "uff da" with meaning and conviction (note to Ballardites and would-be Ballardites: I have yet to hear anyone utter "uff da" here). Assuming you don't want to take a Norwegian language class in Oslo, here are some references that G and I have used since moving to Norway (note: I have not been paid, or received any free lutefisk or lefse in order to provide these reviews; this is just from user experience).

The Norwegian-English Dictionary, by Einar Haugen is a handy tool. G bought this even before we left the States after reading stellar reviews on amazon.com. However, he has been less than enamored by it. It is certainly not pocket-sized, and does not have the helpful English-Norwegian dictionary in the back so you know how to say, for example, "watermelon" in norsk. I, on the other hand, use it almost daily in norskkurs (Norwegian class) and at home when studying and doing my homework. It is super helpful to have when the instructor teaches us the fifth word for "in," or when there's not quite an English translation for a word (like døgn, for example). Highly recommend if you are going to take Norwegian language classes.

The Langenscheidt Universal Dictionary - Norwegian is pocket-sized for starters so that's a big plus. It also has both English-Norwegian and Norwegian-English in it, and a decent pronunciation section. Bonus: there's a small phrase section and grammar section in the back, as well as info on how to read time and temperatures. I would recommend this book just because it's so cute (it's about 5 inches by 3 inches), but it's helpful too.

Sadly, Lonely Planet does not have a norsk phrase book (shocking, seriously). The next closest thing  found was Dover's "Say it in Norwegian." I am not sure I would recommend this book. First, it was published in 1957, so if you're looking for anything about "where is the internet cafe?" or "how about that women's football team?" you're not going to find it in this book. Besides the lack of recent cultural references, it's just not organized very well. I think you are better off with this, although I have not used it. Berliz teaches Norwegian classes here, and they are a reputable company. Honestly, though, if you're going to just visit here for a short period of time, everyone pretty much speaks English and you're probably okay with just the phrases in the back of your guidebook.

Strike two on using well-known sources: Rosetta Stone does not have a Norwegian language series (I mean, come on; they have Irish, Welsh, and even Swedish, but no Norwegian). The next best thing we've found is the Teach Yourself Norwegian. Teach Yourself is a reputable line of books for learning language; I would say it's the next best thing to Rosetta Stone. The Complete Set comes with two CDs and a book with exercises in it. I ripped this onto my computer and use it on my iPod. Or at least I did until I started taking Norwegian classes here. I still use it for pronunciation, though. It's helpful.

What? You don't want to spend hundreds (or even tens) of dollars on learning Norwegian? You're in luck. Check out One Minute Norwegian on iTunes. It's a free series of ten lessons of simple phrases to know when you come visit Norway. I think G and I have already learned everything in this series in the first two weeks of class, but you could completely get by on that level of understanding for a short visit to Norway. It also has a neat video of Dag and his friends on Constitution day waving their flags, talking about how cool Norwegian is to learn. This whole series is also on my iPod. It's a good reality check when I feel like I haven't learned anything in norskkurs, and then listen to lesson 10 and realize I know everything. Go me. Check it out.

Did I mention I pretty much love Lonely Planet? I will forgive them for not having a Norwegian phrase book. For now, they have a solid Norway guidebook, with tons of information on visiting the entirety of Norway, not just certain areas. I really enjoy this book and use it for a reference for things like skiing and hiking, not just general sightseeing. It is also well-organized and has good maps; it provides websites for companies and organizations for further information, on things like camping, rock climbing, mountaineering, fjord trips, etc. If you are going to visit Norway and are going to be anywhere for any extended period of time, I highly recommend this guide.

My dirty little secret is that I like the Rick Steves series of books. Okay, Rick Steves is hardly a secret. But, some people poo-pooh them for being too simple or only focused on the big picture, but that's also something I enjoy about his books. I bought his Norway book before we came here, which is a section of his larger Scandinavian book. Instead of reading a 3000-year history of the Norwegian people in detail (ahem, Rough Guide), I can follow a four-page walk that leads me through downtown Oslo and see some key sites and get some a flavor of Oslo's history (note: we actually did read about the history of Norway. Research, I guess. Just sayin). I also like Rick Steves' "rating" system. Don't miss it, worth seeing, nice but not necessary - or something like that. That way I know when friends come to visit they should really see Frognerparken, but maybe not so much the Kon Tiki Museum. 

Bored yet? Don't really have any desire to learn norsk and aren't going to visit Norway anytime soon? Then you should at least take a peek at Brown Cheese Please. Tongue-in-Cheek picture book illustrated and written by an Australian living in Norway, this book is filled with her observations of Norwegian life. Cheese slicers, queues, midsummer night's eve, work-life balance, love-hate relationship with H&M, etc. She covers it. I love it. The longer I'm here, the more I get it. Worth the read, I promise.

Glad leser! -Colleen

Jeg er ikke så flink i norsk.

G and I started taking norskkurs last week – Norwegian language classes. So far, vi er ikke så  flink (not so clever) in Norwegian – yet. Unfortunately, G and I are not in the same class. He is taking evening classes twice a week for six weeks, but we signed me up for the full meal deal: three hours a day, four days a week, for three months. And that’s just Norwegian 1. Then there’s Norwegian 2 and Norwegian 3. But, let’s start with Norwegian 1, shall we?

I know that English is a Germanic language, just as norsk is, but believe me when I tell you learning this language is no easy feat. The conjugations I understand, and the verbs and sentence structure I get. And no verb conjugation? Really? Sweet! But then there’s the pronunciation. Fogettaboutit. Tell me, how would you pronounce Ø? Or how about Æ? Or maybe Å? Yeah, I feel the same way, and I’ve been to two weeks of class. Not that my excellent instructor at Alfa Skolen doesn’t try his darndest to get me to pronounce things correctly. Granted, I have had good luck with learning languages later in life: G and I took five months of Italian 1 and 2 back in 2009 when we were planning our Italian wedding, and we did pretty well for ourselves with that limited knowledge. But, learning norsk is like hitting against Randy Johnson in the mid 1990s: you don’t know what’s coming at you, but all you know is it’s going to be fast and furious. Here are some pros, cons, and random observations from our limited time learning norsk.

Almost everyone in Oslo speaks English. So, this is good and bad. Good because lord knows what we would have done for the first few months living here with no ability to communicate. Bad because we’ve not been forced to learn the language. There is something to be said for immersion. I have to tell you, though, I am very glad I can now say – and pronounce correctly – please and thank you (takk for both, really) and you’re welcome (bare hyggelig), and the most important things: I don’t speak Norwegian (Jeg snakker ikke norsk), do you speak English (Snakker du engelsk?) and excuse me/sorry (unnskyld). Oh, and two beers please (to øl, takk).

Gotta get some norsk, even if it’s just for reading the news. .no (Norwegian) websites mostly only offer information in Norwegian, which totally makes sense. I’ve already professed my undying appreciation for Google Translate and Google Chrome and their ability to translate entire websites into English. But sometimes that just doesn’t work. Here’s an example from a Google Chrome translation for a class description from my gym’s website: “Simple, tough, energetic and happy exercise for most people. Conditioning, strength and balance training with barbell. Longer and harder than kondisjonsdel Corebar Basic.” Really? Happy? I am pretty sure that “happy” would not be the English translation for anything in an class description for a fitness class. And, Google pretty much gave up when it came to translating “kondisjonsdel.” Honestly, I don’t blame it. Hence, the need to learn norsk.

Reading norsk in class is much different than hearing it. I have to admit, some days I feel like a rock star in norskkurs. I can even get the crazy Norwegian cadence in some of my speaking (I can’t explain it, but watch this odd video and it might make more sense). And, I can understand most of what my instructor says. But out in public, it’s a different story. Please don’t ask me to understand what anyone around me just said. I am sure it is the same way for people coming to the States from other non-English-speaking countries, but lordy those Norwegians speak fast. And I swear they’re not speaking Norwegian. At least not the Norwegian I learn in class. Even when I know what they’re going to say, for example, two hundre og sekste fire (264) at the grocery store, it does not sound like that. At all. Fun for all involved. Especially that eye-rolling checker at the Meny (grocery store) I go to. She just loves me and my lack of norsk. Which brings me to…

Speaking norsk in public is somewhat embarrassing. Ja. The only way to learn a language is to use it, right? Right. Which is complicated by the fact that a) I suck at pronunciation most of the time, b) I can’t remember any helpful words / phrases / sentences on the fly, and c) people can tell right away I’m not Norwegian speaker, thus resulting in an English conversation. I’m still in the phase where I’ve been here such a short time I can give a self-deprecating half-smile and say, “oh, I just moved here / started norskkurs…let me see if I can say it in Norwegian,” or something similar to that. Most of the time I get a positive response, but sometimes, like the aforementioned Meny checker…bleh. I just decided, though, I have to get over it and just try. Even if I am bad or mess up the words, it doesn’t matter. (Thank you, Steve Jobs, for the inspiration to just try).

Apparently, Americans don’t learn Norwegian. Until this week, I was the only native English speaker in my class (a Brit signed up this week; in G’s class, he and a Canadian are the native English speakers). Otherwise, there are Poles, Czechs, Belgians, Russians, Germans, Croatians, and Latvians in our classes. I don’t know why I expected more Americans, but it’s interesting to me. I guess it makes sense since most of the people immigrating to Norway are either moving for a professional job (in G’s case, English is his office’s language) or from less prosperous countries in Europe.  Plus, I guess unless you’re planning on relocating to Norway permanently, or as in my case needing to learn the language for work, it doesn’t really make sense to learn norsk from a languages-of-international-importance point of view. But, it’s kind of fun and I’m looking forward to being fluent in a second language.

Those Europeans have it going on with the multiple language thing. I am convinced that G and I are at a disadvantage compared to all those Europeans in our classes, and I’m sure there are studies to prove it. With the exception of one older woman, everyone in my class speaks at least two languages. In fact, most people I in the world speak at least two languages. Heck, some people in my class speak four or five languages. And I’m talking fluent, not just like they took French 2 in university and can muddle their way through a restaurant menu. I think having that background makes it easier for them to learn Norwegian. They are used to “switching gears” and speaking/thinking in different languages as quickly as conversation requires it. I admire and envy this quality. While it makes it hard to keep up sometimes with my classmates, I look forward to learning some Polish. Maybe some Latvian too. Okay, maybe not Latvian, but you get my drift, nei?

I can finally translate some things. A small victory: only two weeks of norskkurs and I finally know that the sign at the gym says, “kindly put away your equipment.” I was so happy I could translate that this morning I almost cried. Other things start to make more sense too. The woman on the metro says, “doors are closing,” (dørene lukkes). A sandwich is a smørbrød. That phrase that people say after being helped at the post office actually means thank you very much (takk skal det har), and I’ve been throwing it out with reckless abandon since I learned it. Little things, sure. But little things help so much after not knowing what the heck everyone’s been saying for two and a half months.

Do I still have a ton to learn? You bet. I don’t think I’ll know all I want to if/when we leave Norway. Am I glad we’re doing it? Ja, absolutt. I can’t imagine traveling to a country, much less living in it for an extended period of time, without knowing the language. It is a humbling, yet fun and exciting experience.

Ha de bra på nå!

Ja, I speak Grocery Store...you?

G and I have started looking for a Norwegian language class to take.  We went to a website sponsored by the Oslo Kommune (I am guessing that is something akin to a county), and they had a number of links to organizations that offer classes.  I will just say at this point that I wholeheartedly miss the efficiency and affordability of the U.S. community college system.  More to come on our adventures in finding a good class to take.

In the meantime, we have learned the language of Grocery Store, i.e., the limited Norwegian we have learned necessary to navigate the grocery store.

Pose, or poser (poh-SAH): This means bag or bags in Norwegian. This word is usually very easy to pick out. Timing-wise, the checker says it either right after he or she starts checking out the groceries, or when you’re paying. (Note, as in most European countries, checkers in grocery stores sit at their register, and you bag your own groceries. This has become a spatial relations challenge for me every time I go to the store.) Oftentimes, it is uttered as a single word, “poser?” But, sometimes it’s mentioned as part of a sentence of other indistinguishable (for now) words, wherein the ‘p’ and the ‘s’ sounds make it easy to pick out. Yay.

Kvittering (shVIT-ring, or something like that): Receipt. Interestingly, I’ve observed that most Norwegians do not collect their receipts. I do not know if that’s because they don’t really WANT to know how much they have just spent on the fiskekakke or salat or frozen pizza they just bought (I almost don’t want to know either). In fact, I have been I some places where the checker has actually taken my receipt and, instead of handing it to me, crumpled into a ball and thrown it on the floor. Um, okay. Anyway, this word is a little harder to pick out. It is almost always used in a full sentence which I am sure is something like, “would you like your receipt?” But, since I don’t (yet) know how to say “would you like your” in Norwegian, I listen very closely for the VIT-ring part of the word. There’s something in the pronunciation going on with the first part of the word, and I guarantee you it’s not really like how it’s written, and probably not a lot like what I’ve phonetically written above either.

Ja (YAH): Yes. This one I’ve got, although admittedly my first few times at the store I said “si” instead of “ja.” Apparently I switch into Italian anytime anyone is speaking to me in a foreign language. I guess it’s only understandable given the fact G and I took five months of Italian last year.

Nei (NIGH [like ‘high’]): No. No problems here, unless I have no idea what they’ve asked me and say nei just because I’m wary of the consequences of saying ja.

Hei (hi): hi/hello. This one I’ve got in the bag. I mean, totally. Sometimes people say “hei hei!” instead of just “hei.” Kinda cute. I half expect to get kissed on both cheeks after that greeting, but so far it hasn’t happened yet.

Har det bra/har det (HAH DUH bra/HAH DUH): Goodbye/bye.  I feel so cool when I abbreviate it and just say “bye.” Like I can actually speak Norwegian.  That lasts for about five seconds.

Here’s a typical grocery store conversation:

Checker: Hei! Hei!

Me: Hei.

Checker: Du [something something] poser?

Me: Nei (halfheartedly smiling while holding up my reusable Whole Foods shopping bag).

Now, at this point in the checker-checkee relationship, sometimes they’ll throw something else in. Like, do you want to join the shoppers club? Or, do you know what kind of fruit this is? But, of course, I have no idea what they’re saying because they ask all these questions in Norwegian. So I say, in English mind you, “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Norwegian yet.” [I should really learn to say that in Norwegian.] I try to look helpless yet understanding with any frustration they may have when I say it. The reaction changes depending on the checker. Sometimes when I’m smart and choose the line with the younger checker, they are more understanding and even somewhat interested in why I am buying eggs or a head of broccoli at the store. It can even end up in a conversation about where I’m from, how long I’ve been here, and how long I will be here. Other times, they just say oh, and repeat that they said in English, and move me on my way.

Checker: Du [something something] kvittering? (Or, sometimes at this point it’s devolved into English if they’ve found me out.]

Me: Ya, takk (takk is thanks).

Checker: Har det bra!

Me: Har det.

Speaking of which, I need to head to the grocery store. Wish me luck! I should probably dust off those Teach Yourself Norwegian CDs now…

Hei fra Oslo

Inaugural post: what to talk about? The culture? The food? The many sites and sounds of Oslo? Nope. The cold. (Threw you off with that photo, didn't I?)

Cold here, in more ways than one. Minus 9 degrees C and snow on the ground, but sunny as sunny gets in Oslo in late November (or, at least in my limited November-in-Oslo experience). It snowed all weekend here, but unlike in Seattle, the snow blows in all directions before landing on the ground and piling into drifts along the street. Plus, as you can imagine, they manage the heck out of the snow here, so the roads are clear (the sidewalks not so much).

So yes, cold outside but cold inside too. That is, the cold I've been nursing for a few days here has reared it's ugly head again today. So, I am grateful for fleece blankets, tea, and shipments of comfort foods such as macaroni and cheese from relatives in the States.

Besides those things, in no particular order, I present a list of interesting observations and facts from my first four weeks living in Oslo. Enjoy.

1. Cold. Did I mention it's cold?

2. There is a fromagerie down the street from our home. Life is good.

3. Having a nice, clutter-free apartment was nice, but having all of our stuff from Seattle with us a month and half earlier than expected is better.

4. Åpent Bakeri is the bomb. I could eat their raisin rolls all day long (see above photo). Plus they have pancakes and bacon for The Husband, G. Who'd have thought?

5. Everyone has luggage. And when I say everyone has luggage, I mean that every time I go out, I observe no fewer than five people walking down the street at all hours of the day with certifiable, I-either-am-going-to-the-airport-to-catch-a-plane-or-just-got-off-one luggage.

6. Turkish grocery stores are the best. Produce? Check. Couscous? Check. Figs? Check. Basmati rice? Check. Spices for less than the cost of a mink coat? Check.

7. Norwegian people are nice. They even tolerate my lack of understanding the language. So far.

8. I have been to IKEA four times. I've been here less than four weeks.

9. Down outerwear is an excellent investment. So I tell G every time we go out and I wear my new Patagonia Downtown Loft Parka in french roast. Love. It. I should really stop talking about it so much. I might be obsessive about it. Just a little.

10. Skype is our new best friend. Seriously. Especially since we left all our friends back in the States (the shipping and quarantine costs for shipping a friend are OUTRAGEOUS!).

11.  Sorry MSFT and Apple, but Google Chrome (and of course Google Translate, from our Italian wedding planning days) is my new favorite web browser. Auto-translation of websites from Norwegian to English? Hello? What is not to love?

Har det!