Tag Archives: Bergen
A visit to Bergen Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Mar 31, 2016
When it doesn’t rain, Bergen is probably Norway’s most vakker (beautiful) city. I recently had a chance to revisit Bergen. Having studied there, I have to smile when the city’s hjemmeside [yem-] (homepage) writes: Byen hadde 235 regndager i 2014 – og innbyggerne er stolte av det. (The city had 235 days of rain in…
Norwegians Speak Dialects Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Mar 15, 2015
”I don’t understand people who speak Nynorsk Norwegian, why can’t they just switch to Bokmål Norwegian?” Now and then, readers ask such things. I’ve written about the nynorsk/bokmål split before. Of course, it may still be confusing for new learners of Norwegian. So, I’d like to set the record straight as simply as I can…
Girls Smiling in Early Spring Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Mar 31, 2014
Endelig! (Finally!) Following a skikkelig dårlig vintervær (really bad winter weather) – where even the inland parts of Østlandet (Eastern Norway) had less snø (snow) than usual – many Norwegians have been able to enjoy a bit of vår (spring). According to NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting), this Saturday was one of the hottest mars (March) days…
The new Gangnam style is Norwegian Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 27, 2013
I first heard about Ylvis-brødrene (the Ylvis brothers) during my study years in Bergen. Vegard (born 1979) and Bård Ylvisåker (1982) had some shows, both onstage and on television. The local media were praising the very young, very talented comedians. I thought it was funny that their name sounded like a Norwegian ”Elvis” – with…
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…
The Third Gender Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Aug 1, 2012
No, this isn’t about LGTB people in Norway, but about an aspect of Norwegian grammar that ocassionally creates confusion, even among Norwegians: the feminine gender. Norwegian comes in thousands of dialect shades, so in order to write it, two orthographies or “written languages” have evolved: nynorsk (which will be the topic of a future blog…
Doing Norway Cheaply and non-touristy Posted by kari on Oct 1, 2010
My friend and I are currently in Bergen sitting in Burger King, not to eat American greasy food, but actually to use gratis trådløst internett (free wireless internet) because apparently it is not common for cafés to offer this. So here we are amongst the smells and American veggepynt (wall decorations). We are both slightly…