In Norway, most people have datamaskiner [DAHtahmasheen-air] (computers) and internett. The Norwegians I know mostly love sosiale medier (social media). This might have something to do with Norway being a very long country with a lot of isolated places – social media is just a handy way to keep in touch with your venner (friends). It might also have something to do with the climate; when it’s raining or snowing outside, it’s often more tempting å skrive en melding (to write a message) than to step out in the cold to say hello to your friend!

I’m more of an e-mail kind of person myself, so I asked a family member to help me with some useful social media vocabulary.

• Fjesboka [FYEHSbohkah], the MugBook, is a Norwegian slang name for Facebook.

• How many Facebook-venner (FB friends) have you got?

• Er du populær? (Are you popular?) Well, okay, that’s not what it is about, I mean, have you shared a foto or a lenke (link) that a lot of people liker? (Notice that the verb å like [aw LEEKeh] is not imported from English; it’s a good ole Norwegian word…)

Some things you can do on social media:
• å sende en melding (to send a message)
• å svare (to answer)
• å chatte (to chat)
• å bli venn med noen (to become somebody’s friend)
• å tagge et bilde (to tag a picture)
• å dele noe (to share something)
• å legge ut noe på veggen (to publish something on your wall)
• å oppdatere/endre/slette profilen sin (to update/change/delete) one’s profil

Twitter is less popular in Norway than in the US, but there’s already been created a Norwegian word for ”to tweet”: å kvitre or å tvitre. (Fuglene kvitrer means ”the birds are chirping”.)