JimbosJet

Hei,

Slighty off the aviation theme here, but I am an English pilot trying to learn Norwegian. I've bought several books/cds to self teach but am finding it more and more frustrating because I haven't had any "rules" explained to me properly.

I live primarily in the South of England, but my girlfriend is Norwegian. Whislt she's definitely blessed with some intelligence, her patience doesn't always extend as far! The problem I've found is that it is hard to find proper Norwegian classes/teachers close to me and most of the courses I've found are based in London.

So has anyone here learnt Norsk, and if so how did you go about it?

Tusen takk!

TowerDog

Ah Mr. Jimbo, learning Norwegian is easy: Even the little kids in Norway speak the language, no sweat.

wizo

Hei Jimbosjet,

I moved to Norway 18 months ago from the UK. I have used all the CD's and self learning books, but they only really give you the basics. The only real way to learn is to speak Norwegian as much as you can. I suggest (as much as your girlfriends patience allows) that you only speak Norwegian at weekends. To start with the conversations will be pretty basic but you'll be amazed how quickly you will pick it up ! Also try this website På vei - interaktive oppgaver

Good Luck

Wizo

Albicilla

best way would be to move here, wouldn´t it?!
You´ll be fluent in notime...

bfisk

Well, a lot of Norwegians can't even speak properly so don't sweat it. No one will notice

Smoknjoe

Hey Jimbosjet.
Dont worry about the rules, Norsk and English are both germanic languages so the grammer rules are the same. If you know sentence composition in one, you know the other.
With regards to learning any new language the best way is always imersion. And if you cant do that I guess the second best way is what you are already doing. Just keep plugging away and it will come to you with time and some help from your girlfriend.

Good luck to you.
Take care.
Joe.

Rasco

JimbosJet.

As previously said the best thing would of course be to "communicate" as much as you can with Norwegian people. I believe there aren't any real shortcuts. I'm a swede living in Norway at the moment, working as a dispatcher for Norwegian and even I, though not that often, have issues with the Norwegian language. I would say that Norwegian and Swedish are as different as Texas-amercian-english and Scottish.

I think that tutorial cd's, grammar books etc. would give you the same progress in one year as one month IN Norway with the Mrs would .

My advice would be to communicate as much as you can in Norwegian with your lady, try to watch a few norwegian movies per week and try to visit the parents in law as often as you can. Just speak try to speak it and soon you'll get the hang of it.

Good luck mate!

bfisk

Det beste vi kan gjøre for fyren er vel strengt tatt å svare han på norsk?

Guttn

Norwegian, written and spoken correctly, is a dying language. Just talk with anyone here younger than 25 and you`ll quickly see waht I mean. About every 3 or 4 words spoken are in English, or better yet, English with a Noggie ending (-en/-a) to it. Grammar is just the same really. What was once common knowledge is now getting close to non-existant. The only ones who speak the language correclty are 2nd generation kids from the Middle-East, whose parents came as refugees during the 80s and 90s. Go figure.

Oh yeah, the advice from the other guys here should help you just fine. Get the basics, then try to communicate. Learning by doing.

We`ll wait with lesson number 2.... dialects

FerrypilotDK

I am learning Italian with a "Rosetta Stone" course. I don´t know if it is available in Norwegian....it is in Danish and Swedish, so perhaps. Seems to be very good. Don´t worry about the "rules." Grammar to the nerds..... he he Learn like you did as a child....by speaking, reading and writing simple things and getting more and more complicated.

When you already know what you are doing, you can apply grammar, but your learning will be faster and more correct with good role models.

And that is the Rosetta Stone approach. I (ahem) "might" have got my copy through pirate bay......then again, might not have.......Whatever your conscience can handle......Then when you get to Norway, tell everyone you are from Hungary and speak no English. Otherwise, they will speak English and you won´t learn anything!!!! Good Luck! If all this fails, find a new girlfriend! he he..........just kidding....it will go fine!

pilot dude

If your girlfriend is norwegian let her try to get her hands on a viasat or canaldigital satalite card. I combined my gramar book and tapes with watching norwegian soap tv (hotel cesar atc) with norwegian subtitles on. the key is to listen to it as much as posible. another way is to go to Oslo Uni. they have a 6 weeks summer course. it took me a bit over a year but another problem is that norwegian company's are not keen on hiring people that dont live in the country. it took me six years to get a job. 5.5 years living abroad and 6 moths when i moved to norway. I learned btw. more Norwegian in those six months than in 5.5 years on courses and TV.

p.s. what do you fly, maybe i can help.

PD

alexmcfire

That two different versions of written Norwegian exist doesn´t help things either, bokmål and nynorsk.

pilot dude

Not even mentioning that almost nowbody speaks bokmål or nynorsk. They all seam to speak some dialect which is hard to understand if you just speak Bokmål, And don't bother with nynorsk because almost nobody uses that.