{"id":1976,"date":"2014-08-30T21:52:18","date_gmt":"2014-08-30T21:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/?p=1976"},"modified":"2014-08-30T21:52:18","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T21:52:18","slug":"norwegian-egozones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/norwegian-egozones\/","title":{"rendered":"Norwegian Egozones"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"3234497_3ffec85be7_z\"<\/a>

\u201dI hate Norway\u201d written in nynorsk. Thanks to Aslak Raanes on Flickr<\/a>. (\u201dMust be irony,\u201d as he writes.)<\/p><\/div>\n

This is going to be the egoistical post. We all need to talk about ourselves now and then, so we need a word for \u201dI\u201d. This is easy enough in written Norwegian \u2013 jeg<\/span> (let\u2019s stick to bokm\u00e5l <\/span>for the time being!) Jeg l\u00e6rer norsk.<\/span> (I\u2019m learning Norwegian.)<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever heard somebody saying jeg<\/span> the way it\u2019s written \u2013 \u201dyegh\u201d <\/span>\u2013 then you\u2019ve probably met a Martian or something! The word for \u201dI\u201d is pronounced in a dozen different ways, depending on the part of Norway you\u2019re from. Even as a foreigner you have to \u201dchoose your region\u201d. Most people go for the Oslo variety, but I know people who\u2019ve moved to other parts of Norway and tried to learn the local dialect instead.<\/p>\n

Okay, this is a gross simplification, but if we leave out the niceties, one could say Norway has three major \u201dego regions\u201d: The places where people say jeg <\/span>[yay], the places where they say eg<\/span> [egh], and the places where you refer to yourself by letting out an \u00e6<\/span> [a]. \u00d8stlandet<\/span> (Eastern Norway), in particular the Oslo area, are the strongholds of jeg<\/span>, while Vestlandet<\/span> (Western Norway) is the traditional eg<\/span> sphere. Put crudely, the remaining parts of Norway \u2013 S\u00f8rlandet<\/span>, Tr\u00f8ndelag<\/span> and Nordnorge<\/span> \u2013 go for \u00e6<\/span>.<\/p>\n

(If you\u2019ve been following this blog, you should know that there are two official ways to write Norwegian: bokm\u00e5l<\/span> \u2013 which is being taught here \u2013 and nynorsk<\/span>. In nynorsk<\/span>, \u201dI\u201d is always eg<\/span>. Most nynorsk<\/span> users live in Western Norway. Hm\u2026 The poor \u00e6<\/span>-sayers, on the other hand, have no official support for their favourite pronoun!)<\/p>\n

Alrighty then! You\u2019ve picked your local identity. Now, how do you talk about \u201dme\u201d? That\u2019s easy \u2013 just add an m<\/span>: jeg<\/span> > meg<\/span> [may], eg<\/span> > meg<\/span> [megh], \u00e6<\/span> > m\u00e6 <\/span>[ma]. Jeg har f\u00e5tt meg ny bil.\/Eg har f\u00e5tt meg ny bil.\/\u00c6 har f\u00e5tt m\u00e6 ny bil. <\/span>(I\u2019ve gotten myself a new car.)<\/p>\n

In real life things are a bit more complicated. For example, some \u00f8stlendinger<\/span> (Eastern Norwegians) say je<\/span> [yeh]. Kjell Magne Bondevik<\/span>, former Norwegian PM, called himself i<\/span> [e!], as people in his hometown of Molde usually do.<\/p>\n

So, if you\u2019re tired of all the people around you that only say \u201dI \u2013 I \u2013 I\u2026\u201d, maybe you should go on an ego trip to Norway!<\/p>\n

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