Tag Archives: spelling
Silent Letters in Norwegian Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jul 31, 2018
Ever thought about all the letters we don’t say out loud – like the h in ’hour’? Even though Norwegian is spelt in a more straightforward way than English, it also has its share of stumme bokstaver (silent letters, literally ”mute letters”). Hvem, hva, hvor og hvorfor? (Who, what, where and why?) The H of…
Norwegian Homonyms Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 30, 2017
Good Knight! What would puns be without homonyms – words that have quite different meanings, but sound the same? Hjort [≈ gjort] er hjort [gjort] sa elgen og hoppet i elven og ble rein. (Deer [≈ done] is deer [done], the elk said, jumped into the river and became clean/a reindeer.) Here’s a list of…
Spelling your name in Norwegian Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jul 29, 2017
When you check in at a hostel or meet a new friend, you’re sometimes asked to spell your navn (name). Fortunately, the Norwegian alfabet [alfaBEHT] is quite similar to the English one you already know. In case you forgot bokstavene (the letters), here’s a crash course. The first pitfall: i and e. (I’ve heard several…
The I, the Y and the J Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Apr 21, 2013
Norsk er lett å stave. Norwegian is easy to spell. For learners being used to the quirks of English spelling (why on earth is ”weemen” spelt with an o?), the Norwegian system may seem like a godsend: You write things more or less like they sound: sjåfør (chauffeur), miljø (milieu; environment). Fortunately, there are still…
The Two Flavours of Norwegian Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jan 20, 2013
As some of you may know, there are two kinds of Norwegian: bokmål and nynorsk. (Okay, I’ve promised you this post for a while now!) There’s no need to worry – these are just two different ways of writing the same language. I mean, even English-speakers can’t agree on whether the mix of black and white should be…
As Easy As ÆØÅ Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 30, 2012
Alt er større i USA. Everything is bigger in the US. That’s what we Scandinavians often think when we’re suffering from an attack of mindreverdighetskompleks (inferiority complex). The Americans have got bigger cars, houses, plains, trees and burgers than us. But wait… Is that always so? Norwegian komikere (comedians) Fridtjof Stensæth Josefsen and Jakob Schøyen Andersen, of the TV2 programme Kollektivet (The…