I attended the University of Oslo spring semester of my junior year of college in 2006. Fortunately for me, I was proficient enough in the Norwegian language that I could choose to take classes beyond those designed for international students. There were only a couple dozen classes taught in English that were offered to international students. None of them particularly interested me so I decided to take a history class in Norwegian about the Holocaust. By the way, the class only met once a week for 2 hours. It was a good choice…especially since I still learned a lot and I got to test my language skills and pick up some new ones!
One of my classmates studied at the same university the next year and apparently there were many more classes in English to choose from. This is nice for international students of course, but if there are more classes taught in English, there are fewer classes taught in Norwegian. There is actually a huge movement in Norwegian higher education (as well as European higher education in general) to reward publication and instruction in English.
In fact, in 2004 the Norwegian Association for Higher Education Institutions instituted a reward system that financially encouraged academicians to publish in Norwegian. Sometimes the same product published in Norwegian earned a reward 3 times higher than the same product published in English. This kind of system adversely affects Norwegian as an academic language. If academicians are discouraged from publishing literature in Norwegian and developing the language, it will become stagnant and perhaps eventually head into decline.
This bothers a lot of Norwegians, and quite frankly, bothers me as well. Norwegian is clearly not an extensively spoken language outside of Norway. In my opinion, this is something they should not be ashamed of, but rather, proud of. It should be something that they cherish forever and continue to develop.
I rarely encountered an individual, even over age 40, that didn’t know at least some English. Absolutely every person under age 25 or 30 was nearly fluent, if not exceptional with their English speaking skills. So, if it ever comes to the point that Norwegian universities offer all classes in English, I’m not really sure how much this is going to benefit Norwegian students. I know that Norwegian universities would like for more international students to attend, but I’m not sure that jeopardizing the Norwegian language is the way to do it.
So spread the word about how awesome the Norwegian language is! I think it’s great how many people just decide to learn it on their own for whatever reason. It would be fun to hear about all the different reasons you all are learning Norwegian!!
Comments:
iris:
i love norwegian! i’d actually never heard it spoken until i watched these youtube videos by this guy lasse gjertsen, but i just immediately fell in love with it. it’s such a cool language. so beautiful. the problem is, i haven’t found one school/college here in los angeles that teaches it, and private classes are expensive. i’m actually starting my first russian class today (which is something i’ve wanted to take for years and years), but i’d still like to get some money together to take a private norwegian class.
so please, norway! don’t phase out your language!! it’s awesome, and english is overrated!! hahaha
yasbe:
HI! iI just found your blog and find it sooo interesting! I am mexican and I am moving to stavanger in 3 weeks to live with my boyfriend and I am looking forward to speak norwegian,I’m very exicted about it and it’s so good that people like you share their time to give us helpful tips about the country and the language! thank you very much =D
christie:
i would hate to see the demise of norwegian! i dont speak norwegian (yet!) but i have been trying to teach myself little by little for about a year now. i started listening to kaizers orchestra and decided one day that i wanted to understand their lyrics, haha. i live in los angeles too, and i am so disappointed that there are no classes!
i have really enjoyed your blog so far, so thanks!
Lil:
Hallo, i’ve just found this blog and I think you’re toally right about how Norway should not take it’s amazing language for granted. I’m learning Norwegian through Byki. I decided to because i have a Norwegian heritage and i sort of felt obliged to. Takk, for all this cool info about Norway and it’s language
Karoline:
I know this is a very late comment but don’t worry; i don’t think our language will dissapear any time soon. The english language inflects more than you realize, and the better english we speak the better grades we get. We all think its cool to know more than one language 😉 hehe
Karoline:
It sure would suck to loose norwegian, but me and my friends and family and everyone else i know won’t forget Norwegian. English is everywhere and it helps us to learn it better, and we have to know English to communicate with the rest of the world. A language isn’t easy to forget, but it’s replaceable, which is not so good. And keep in mind that in most Europian countries, students learn at least three languages. I’m learning German too.
Elle:
I was sitting here trying to study the Norwegian language (from a book, I can’t find classes anywhere near me!) and needed to clarify some grammatical point, when Google prodded me in the direction of your site. After reading some of the more recent posts, I decided to take a look at the beginning, hence thought I’d answer your question here: I’m English and learning Norwegian because of a friend from Norway, who has taught me the odd fragment of the language during our chats. I enjoyed that, so it has inspired me to make an effort to learn more. Some day I hope to travel there, and would feel far more comfortable having at least a little fluency.
I look forward to reading more of your posts. Small doses of information presented in an interesting manner like this are *far* easier to absorb than a dry textbook. 😀
Charita Oberst:
I agree with Frank. When I first saw the picture of the SL, I thought how much it resembled a Porsche. The SL has the appearance of a stretched Porsche (not today’s Panamera). Interesting article. I’ve always liked the 50s Gullwings, I don’t own a mint or a bank in order to have enough money to buy one, so I’ll have to just look and admire for now. Thanks for the article! please keep em coming!