Norwegian Language Blog

Street musicians in Stavanger.

Do you remember Kari’s text about Stavanger [staVANGer], Norway’s 4th largest city? (After Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim – sorry about the niggling, Kari!) Being the one Norwegian city I’ve visited the most, and the place where I’m currently writing, I thought I might have something to add…

As Kari wrote, Stavanger is the capital of the SW fylke of Rogaland. It is also known as the ”Petroleum Capital”, due to its function as a hub for the Norwegian oil industry. Most Norwegian boreplattformer (drilling platforms) are found in the Southern part of Nordsjøen (the North Sea), a few hours of helikopter flight to the west of Stavanger.

As a result of oljå [OLyaw], as ”the oil (industry)” is called in the local dialect, the Stavanger area is one of the richest regions of Norway. There is a booming handelsliv (commercial life) in the centre, with fashionable clothes and accessories flashing alluringly at tourists as they walk past the large ground-floor show windows of the charming white wooden houses with paving stones in-between. Many of the small alleys lead to the top of the ”city hill” known as Sølvberget (the silver mound), where there is a cultural centre with cafés, cinemas, a library etc. Another landmark is the Stavanger Domkirke, the 12th century cathedral, close to the svaner (swans) and ender (ducks) at the city pond of Breiavatnet (”the broad water”).

The 120,000 inhabitants are known as siddiser, or, in the local dialect, siddisar. (Does any of the readers know where this strange word comes from?) In the Stavanger dialect, a single p, t or k may become transformed to b, d or g after a vowel: Instead of tap (loss), the siddiser say tab, båt (boat) becomes båd, spøk (joke) becomes spøg, and so on. People from other parts of Norway sometimes find this quite funny. This is perhaps also due to the famous Norwegian comedian Per-Inge Torkelsen, who helped popularize the Stavanger dialect in his shows.

All the wealth has drawn people from all over the world to Stavanger, and I’ve heard it is the Norwegian city with most ethnicities compared to its size. I’d bet it is also the Norwegian city with the highest number of unusual museums: There is an oil museum, a telephone museum, a canned food museum, and even a leketøysmuseum (toy museum).

Været (the weather) is a frequent topic in Norway; after all, there’s a lot of it! Stretching more than 2600 km (1616 miles), from the North Sea east of Scotland, across the Polar Circle to the Barents Sea, Norway is bound to have a good deal of climatic variation. You’d better check værmeldinga (the weather forecast) before embarking on your trip!

As a rule of thumb, Western Norway is wet, while Eastern (and Northern) Norway are dryer and have colder winters. That is because there is a mountain range – Langfjella – that sets Vestlandet apart from the rest of the country. Why does this cause the West to be more rainy? Well, the simple explanation goes like this:

1. A lot of water evaporates from the surface of Atlanterhavet (the Atlantic Ocean), creating sky/er (cloud/s).
2. These clouds are blown towards Norway’s coastline (Norskekysten) by the wind.
3. Upon hitting the Langfjella, they get drained of water, causing it to rain on the west side of the mountains.

I don’t know exactly how the peaks can make the clouds disintegrate, but now at least you know why there’s so much regn in Bergen!

Some useful phrases for talking about the weather:

• Det regner ofte på Vestlandet. It often rains in Western Norway.
• Jeg liker sola bedre.    I like the sun more.
• Sola skinner. [SOla SHEner] The sun is shining.
• Det snør! It is snowing!
• Har du sett værmeldinga? Have you seen the weather forecast?
• Regn, regn, regn. Og hagl. Rain, rain, rain. And hail.
• Det blir bra på søndag. Sol og blå himmel.    It is going to be nice on Sunday. Sun and blue skies.
• Vi må bli hjemme. Det er for mye tåke. We’ve got to stay at home. There’s too much fog.
• Det blåser. It is windy (literally: it is blowing).
• Lyn og torden. Lightning(s) and thunder.

Before you get too comfortable in front of the fireplace at hytta (the cabin), remember that

• Det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær. There’s no bad weather, only bad clothes.

When the current Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, was picking members for his regjering (government), a journalist [shoornaLIST] asked him how he went about. The PM joked that he had to hit the right balance between ”kjønnsdeler og landsdeler” (gender parts and country parts). This demonstrates how important likestilling (equality) is in Norway: Ideally, half of the ministers should be menn, the other half kvinner (women). The remark also tells something about Norwegian regionalism: Noone should be left out because (s)he doesn’t come from the capital. In fact, people from remote areas should be helped, so that everyone can get the same opportunities.

Let’s take a look at Norwegian landsdeler (regions):

• Svalbard. This island group in the Arctic Ocean between Norway and the North Pole is sometimes considered a part of
• Nordnorge. The enormous, northern half of Norway is known for its dark winters, summer midnattssol (midnight sun), mosquitoes, endless plains inland and fishermen’s villages and islands at the coast. The nordlendinger (Northerners) are renowned for their generosity, openness and unceremonious sense of humour. Nordnorge is also the home of (most of) the Saami people.
• Trøndelag. The Trondheim region is the link between Southern and Northern Norway. In the age of the Vikings it used to be the country’s centre even in a political sense… People from other parts of Norway often make fun of the trøndere – mostly because of their dialect, which can be really hard for other Norwegians to understand. The stereotypical trønder man has a long moustache and loves to drink karsk – a mixture of coffee and alcohol.
• Vestlandet (”The West Country”). This is the place where people from Southern Europe go on vacation. Vestlandet is ”Norway in a nutshell” as the tourist leaflets say; it is the region with the highest mountains and most of Norway’s fiords, waterfalls and glaciers. Unfortunately, it also receives most of the country’s rain, and many vestlendinger are seen by other Norwegians as a bit reserved. One notable exception is the bergensere – the talkative inhabitants of the very picturesque and very rainy city of Bergen are sometimes called ”Norway’s Italians”.
• Østlandet (”The East Country”) is the most populous part of Norway, mainly because of the capital, Oslo. Apart from Southern Telemark and the area around the Oslo Fiord, Østlandet is an inland region, with hot summers and (very) cold winters. It is a lot flatter than Vestlandet, and therefore has a lot of agriculture. People from other parts of the country sometimes see some of the østlendinger – Oslo people in particular – as a bit self-important, but hey! isn’t that the stereotype about capital regions everywhere? In real life you’ll find everything from busy Pakistani salesmen in downtown Oslo, to affluent boat aficionados along the coast, to hardworking farmers in inland Hedmark.
• Sørlandet (”The South Country”). This is the Kristiansand region, Norway’s ”muzzle”. It is a popular holiday destination for Norwegian families (the Kristiand Zoo is famous among children all over Norway). The sørlendinger, who are sometimes referred to as ”stand-in Danes”, are known for their friendliness and soft way of talking.