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 I'm trying to figure out Oslo's architecture, too! by Saagar | Learn the local customs of Oslo. Tips and photos posted by real travelers and Oslo locals. Oslo Map |
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Norwegian belongs to the Germanic language family. We have many words in common with German and some lone words from English. But grammar differs though. Actually besides from other Scandinavian languages Afrikaans, spoken in South Africa and Dutch seem to be the closest related languages. Like Swedish, Norwegian uses pitch accents, but to a lesser degree. The pitch accents give the language a musical quality and are sometimes employed to distinguish the meanings of homonyms. It can be quite confusing to a foreign speaker when the word bønner has three different meanings according to the accent. Our different dialects might be an extra challenge.
Norwegian is an SVO language meaning that we usually base our sentences on subject verb and object (I have a car) in Norwegian (I (s) have (v) a car(o). But we're also capable of changing the word order like: (Bilen(o) har(v) jeg(s) in English (the car that I have)
The Norwegian alphabet consists of 29 letters, the first 26 or which are the same as the Latin Alphabet. The three last letters are
&aerlig;. ø and å
Norwegian nouns fall in to three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. The inflection of the nouns depends on the gender.
Bokmål
m.: en gutt gutten gutter guttene
(a boy) (the boy) (boys) (the boys)
f.: en/ei jente jenta jenter jentene
(a girl) (the girl) (girls) (the girls)
n.: et hus huset hus husene/husa
(a house) (the house) (houses) (the houses)
in english the verb is inflected according to which person is acting (I go, she goes). In Norwegian we dont inflect werbs like that. Verbs like (I go) and (She goes) are inflected the same way jeg går (I go) hun går (she goes) vi går (we go)
Compound words are written together in Norwegian, which sometimes makes the word extremely long like sannsynlighetsmaksimeringsestimator (maximum likelihood estimator). Because of the English influence on the Norwegian language, it seemes to be a tendensy that we split up words that usually are compound. Leave a Comment
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There is one thing that we norwegians love doing, and that is barbequing. As the summer is not so long we will use any oppurtunity for having a barbeque. The most usual is to buy a engangsgrill (one-time disposable barbeque) and some pølse (sausage).
On the warmest days in summer it can be almost impossible to find a shop that still has more barbeques, because everyone wants to make a barbeque when we finally have some sun... :)
Another funny thing is that we tend to look more on the calendar, than the temperature... The picture is a good example of this. It was in the end of May and we were going to have a barbeque on a terrace. After a while it got quite windy and cold, but did we go inside the house? Oh no, it was summer so of course we had to sit outside!
We just found some thick blankets and warm jackets and enjoyed our barbeque outside... :) Leave a Comment
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Norway has two official written languages, Bokmaal and nynorsk (new Norwegian". Norway just to be in union with Denmark many centuries ago, thats why our Bokmål (our majority language) is strongly affected by Danish (it doesn't sound like it though!)
New Norwegian dialect and written language is mainly used on the west coast. in Televison about 25 pr of all the texting is in this dialect/language acording to norwegian laws. Some of the reporters also speak a kind of New Norwegian dialect.
The law also decides that all school kids have to learn both languages in school. It has been protested about this law all years. It seems to be the case that we all understand new norwegian and spending our school ours learning to write a dialect that we dont speak seems to be a waist of time. But our New Norwegian language has stronge historical and cultural roots and all attempts to eliminate it has not worked out.
Besides from our two written languages, Sami language is also spoken in the north of Norway (Finmark) where the lap people live. a fellow VTV member reminded me of the complex language situation the Sami people face. Thy have at least four different sami languages/dialects.Many year ago the sami people were not allowed to speak Sami at school. They were forced to speak and act like Norwegians. To day the young Sami people are being taught according to the billingual model with Sami as a teaching language and Norwegian as a second language and eventually English/German as a third language
Some New Norwegian glossery:
english New Norwegian Bokmal
I eg jeg
Norway Noreg Norge
size storleik størrelse
white kvit hvit
she ho hun
to start byrje begynne
a lot mykje mye
some useful Norwegian (in Bokmaal)
thank you (tusen) takk
yes (ja)
no (nei)
metro (tebane)
Pram trikk
city by
train tog
hotel hotel
norwegian norsk
girl jente
boy gutt
my name is jeg heter.....
godbye ha det (bra)
http://travlang.com/languages/
(visit this page for a free basic Norwegian course) Leave a Comment
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In Scandinavia door locks or keys often have to be turned contrary to how you are used to turning them to open or close a door.
For example, in Germany a door with a door handle on the right side is usually locked by turning the key clockwise, whereas in Scandinavia you might have to turn it anti-clockwise. Leave a Comment
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Some monuments may sound quite weird, like this monument to a Paperclip that is placed next to the West Railway station (between the City Hall and Aker Brygge).
It is not by chance however because the monument is a memory to this ingenious and simple device that was invented by Norwegians.
How simple is the Paperclip? And now try to imagine your life in the office without it! What would we do without those smart Norwegians? Leave a Comment
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What's ok to know about the people of Oslo ,is that we like to meet new people but we don't like to take the first step. We may seem a little reserved, but once you start talking to us you'll notice that we are friendly but still a bit shy. We are not a kissing and hugging nation.(except from those we know very well)
I believe that's represent the general norwegian person, but we also have some regional differenses. It has been said that the people from Bergen are more outgoing, the people from Trondheim have their own sense of humour and really like to party. The people from the south coast of Norway, like Kristiandsand are very shy people and are more affected by their Christian beliefs. But these character sketch are just stereotypes that the Norwegians likes to make fun of
We don't usually talk to strangers, and when you take any public transport you'll probably notice that the norwegian like to sit on a seat that's not occupated by others.we don't like to cluster. That's why we always have distance between us in the bus."
So don't take it personal if no one wants to sit beside you.
if you're planning to stay in Oslo, maybe your planning to study here and make friends , keep in mind that it takes time to make norwegian friends. It takes time to know the Norwegian culture, our jokes, and our funny language. But please be patient and you'll get norwegian friends eventually.
Almost all young Norwegian speak English. Most of us also had French/spanish and/or German at school but hesitate to speak it, even though we understand it. The problem is that we hardly ever practice it. And we usually watch English spoken programs on tv. So talking about television shows like "friends", "seinfeldt" etc could be a conversation topic Leave a Comment
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I have many non-norwegian friends who thinks that the vorspiels and nachspiels are a very strange tradition. I have never actually thought about it before they mentioned it - but as it is a very normal custom in Norway I thought I might write a bit about it.
Having a vorspiel is very normal in Norway, nachspiels too - but maybe not as often. I'm not quite sure how it started, but many say it started because it's so expencive to go out here, so it's better to drink something at home before you go out. Others say it's because norwegians are so shy and cold that they have to drink a bit before they can go out and have fun...
Many times when you are going out with your friends, you all meet in the house of someone to drink and have fun before going out. Everyone brings their own drinks. Because it's so expencive most people can't afford buying drinks for everyone that is coming. So if you are invited to someone; bring what you want to drink. Normally the people who have the vorspiel don't expect a present, but some people bring along a bag of potatochips or something. If they serve drinks or food it's nice to give them a bottle of wine.
Around midnight most people call for a maxi-taxi and head for the city. Other times people have so much fun that they just stay there instead. This is a good way of saving money, and also avoiding the neverending discussions about where to go as most people want to go to different places... ;)
Nachspiels are for the people who don't want to go home when all the places are closed. Most of the time they head back to the place of the vorspiel to finish off the rest of the drinks. Nachspiels tends to don't be as much fun as the vorspiels, as many people are very drunk and tired at this point. But it can also be a lot of fun. Sometimes nachspiels can even last so long that it turns into a vorspiel again, but that's a different story... ;) Leave a Comment
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Oslo doesn't differ much from other Scandinavian cities and this is obviously Scandinavian local custom. As soon as the sun comes out in May they all rush from their rooms, flats, offices, classrooms, libraries etc., strip down to bathing suits and enjoy the open air in city parks catching the sun rays.
Parks are really extensively used for this and it is interesting to see how they all become living rooms of the surrounding neighbourhoods between 11 and 5pm aproximately.
People come here with children, couples having picnic, students coming with their books, artists with drawing paper.
I really loved this custom of living together in city parks, and I had to take some photographs for research reasons only (although some girls in bathing suits weren't very convinced in this as they saw me taking pictures behind the bushes). Life of the researcher isn't easy! Leave a Comment
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At most places with customer service (e.g. Post Office, Tourist Information, Money Exchange) you have to take a number from a machine. Then you have to wait for your number to be called or to be shown on a display with the appropriate counter. So instead of waiting in a line you are able to browse through other things while waiting for your number to be called. Leave a Comment
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Another thing that the norwegians love is to go to cabins. Many people have their own, some companies have cabins that the employees can use and there are plenty of cabins for rent.
In summer people like going to cabins close to the sea, where they can go out with boats and enjoy the sealife. In winter it's more popular to go to mountains close to winterresorts, where people can go skiing.
Some cabins are very luxurious with jacuzzies, saunas, swimmingpools etc. But you can also find many that are the complete opposite. Without water and electricity, and where you almost live like they did houndred years ago. These cabins are often decorated with old furniture, many times made by someone in the family a long, long time ago.
It's really nice to go to cabins like this, surrounded by things that someone in your family made and have used for generations. And it makes you really appreciate all of the things that you normally take for granted, like f.ex. water and electricity. Leave a Comment
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