How To Say What You Like Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Mar 24, 2013
In terms of language, jumping into the FaceBook era has been easy for Norwegian-speakers: ’to like’ is å like [aw LEEkeh]! Liker du brunost? (Do you like Norwegian brown cheese?) Jeg liker ikke ost i det hele tatt. (I don’t like cheese at all.) Men jeg liker deg. (But I like you.) This can…
Chief Bouillon Cube Packaging Master Assistant Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Mar 14, 2013
Spiller du gitar? (”SPILLer doo gheeTAR”, do you play the guitar?) If yes, why don’t you try to play a Norwegian sang? As I told you, Norwegians really are singing while they speak, so perhaps it would help you å synge (to sing) a little! In 1988, four of Norway’s most skilled gitarister (guitarists) joined…
4 Easy Ways To Be Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Mar 8, 2013
It’s been a while since I last talked to you about grammatikk (grammar). For some learners, that’s just a necessary evil. I always argue that learning grammar can be just as fun as exploring the culture or learning vocabulary. Let’s talk about å være (”aw vare”, to be). One of the first Norwegian words…
Norway at the Oscars Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Feb 28, 2013
Did you watch the Oscars last Sunday? This year, many nordmenn were following the American movie award show with a lot of spenning (excitement). Hvorfor? (Why?) Perhaps you noticed that a Norwegian film had been nominated in the category ”Best Foreign Language Film”… In Kon-Tiki the regissører (directors) Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg recreate the…
Is Norwegian the new Chinese? Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Feb 20, 2013
”I don’t understand a word Norwegian, but I love listening to Norwegians speaking it! It’s so melodic, it sounds like they’re singing!” Sometimes people say things like that. And in a way, they’re right. Did you know Norwegian and Chinese had something in common? Almost any basic intro to Chinese will mention the word ma. Depending…
Happy Sami Day Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Feb 6, 2013
Gratulerer med dagen! (Congratulations [with the day]!) Today is samefolkets dag – the day of the Sami people. Did you know Norway had an indigenous minority? ”We feel like Native Americans,” two Sami girls told a Norwegian reporter. Like many Native Americans, samene (the Sami) are fully integrated in the mainstream society. They go i barnehage (to kindergarten), på skole (to school) and work…
A Taste Of Nynorsk Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jan 27, 2013
Last week you learnt that there are two ways to write Norwegian: bokmål (”book language”) and nynorsk (”new Norwegian”). Bokmål ultimately hails from (upper-class) urban dialects and Danish, while nynorsk is based on rural dialects. Most Norwegians use bokmål, and that is also the Norwegian we teach here at Transparent. Nevertheless, since quite a few Norwegians do write in…