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Happy Anniversaries and Stuff Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 31, 2017
Life is full of anledninger (opportunities, occasions) to feire (celebrate) – and also sometimes to sørge (mourn). Here’s a small guide to help you choose some kind words for your Norwegian friends’ great life events. Let’s start with the sad part: When somebody has lost a loved one, a decent way of showing your respect…
5 Senses in Norwegian Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 24, 2017
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…
“Sprek” Norwegians are Sporty Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 16, 2017
Are you a spreking (≈ fit person)? An Icelander told me about this stereotype of nordmenn (Norwegians): They are people who are always active, do a lot of sport, and speed up and down fjellsidene (the mountain slopes) with top-notch utstyr [OOTsteer] (gear). Even if this stereotype is vastly exaggerated – I’ve personally known several ”lazy”…
Norwegian Un-words Unleashed Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 29, 2017
U is both one of the nicest Norwegian sounds – and the ”Nor-way” to ”un-do” words. Turn something vanlig [VAANlee] (usual) into something quite u·vanlig [ooVAANlee] (un·usual) – and watch out for False Friends from English! (Or should that be false uvenner – “un-friends?”) Det er ukult å være uhipp, men noen ganger må du…
Asking about Origins Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 24, 2017
Hvor kommer du/dere fra? (Where do you/you guys come from?) Some people don’t like this question, but as a tourist it’s hard to avoid the natives’ curiosity. 🙂 When asked in a friendly way, it can be a genuine icebreaker… Let’s look at origins. The easiest way to reply is, of course, by means of…
Let’s Look at Stars Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 31, 2017
Liker du å se på stjerner? (Do you like watching stars?) Sommernettene er lyse i Norge, men snart begynner mørketida… (The summer nights are bright in Norway, but soon the dark time begins…) Here’s some star-spangled Norwegian for talking about stjernehimmelen (the starry sky). Use it with caution, though, so you don’t kill et romantisk…
Matching words to make them stick Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 27, 2017
Which is most important when learning a new language – grammar or words (vocabulary)? Well, most native speakers will forgive you if you make a grammatical mistake or two. Without basic words, however, you can only point and smile. Here is a neat trick to increase your vocabulary: Learn micro-phrases with two or three words…