Synet, lukten, smaken, følelsen, opplevelsen… Norske vafler!  [The sight, the smell, the taste, the feeling, the experience… Norwegian waffles!] (Photo courtesy of tmorkemo at Flickr, CC License.)

In order to learn Norwegian you need too keep both ører (ears) and øyne (eyes) open. To get the full cultural experience, however, you have to use alle de fem sansene dine (all of your five senses)…

Høresans (sense of hearing) or hørsel. Hører du hva jeg sier? (Do you hear what I’m saying?) Unless you’re døv (deaf) or tunghørt (”heavily-heard” – having a bad sense of hearing), my best guess would be that your ører are perfectly fine. You can continue reading without høreapparat (hearing aid). 🙂

Synssans (sense of syn – sight). People who aren’t blind [blinn] use øynene to se [seh] (see). Some need the help of briller (glasses) or kontaktlinser (contact lenses). As the wordplay goes: Det var en gang en sebra som ikke kunne se bra. Så gikk den til en sebra som kunne se bra. Så lærte den av den sebra som kunne se bra, å se bra. (There once was a zebra who couldn’t see well. Then it went to a zebra who could see well. Then it learnt from the zebra who could see well, to see well.)

Luktesans (sense of smell). One of the worst things about å være forkjølt (having a cold) is the nedsatt luktesans (reduced sense of smell) you get. Nesen liker å lukte alle luktene og duftene i verden. (The nose likes to smell all the smells and scents in the world – well, most of them! 🙂  )

Smakssans (sense of taste). Tunge/n (the tongue) isn’t only useful when having fun with tongue twisters, but also in alien encounters with nice Norwegian mat (food). Smaker måltidet søtt, surt, salt, bittert – eller som kylling? (Does the meal taste sweet, sour, salty, bitter – or like chicken?)

Følesans (sense of touch). The moment den første snøen faller (the first snow is falling) you know how lucky you are to be able to kjenne (feel, sense) snøfnuggene (the snow flakes) as they melt against your face. It’s also nice to føle (feel) sommersola (the summer sun) and the warmth and comfort of a klem (hug).