Å lære norsk!
After almost 5 months in Norway and just
knowing how to say: “en øl, takk” (one beer, please) I have started this week
with my Norwegian language course. Finally!
I must admit that I have been both lazy and
relaxed when it comes to catching up with Norwegian. In Norway about 95% of
the people I have met under 40 speak very, very good English (sometimes better
than I) and the need to speak Norsk is almost non-existing. That, however,
comes with a price. I feel that it is not respectful towards the culture, the people
and the warm welcome I have had in this cold land (what a couple of crazy cold
weeks we have had).
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| Æ-Ø-Å Sounds any familiar? |
Looking back in time this is my fourth
attempt (some serious, some not) to learn a foreign language in a group. I have
experienced it with: English, French, German and now Norwegian. All the
language groups seem to share certain common characteristics and some “traditional
characters”:
-
The know it all. Yes,
that girl (usually a female, yes!) that can speak 23 languages and is learning
at the time 3 more. She knows all the grammar mysteries and will explain the
rules better than the teacher. As time passes by, the teacher starts a love/hate
relationship with the know it all and the rest of the group feels envy
and wants to kill her for being “so good at this stupid language!”
-
The I have done the course
before. All groups have someone that, for some obscure reason, did the
course in the past but she/he is still here. This person knows a great deal of the
language but not in a proper way. They tend to have what you believe is
valuable information until you realize they learnt it in the wrong way. Beware of
the I have done the course before!
-
The cellphone guy. There
is usually a guy (or a girl, but to a lesser extent) that is always looking at
his cellphone/table/laptop, you name it. He will be always updated with the
most relevant financial/technical news and works more at the Norwegian class
than at the office.
-
The teenager that never pays
attention. This is usually the teenager or the guy that is in his/her early
20s and that attends because either: mom/dad paid for it; or it is a mandatory
course part of his/her Erasmus studies. They do not care much about learning
the language (apart from the pick of words) but rather more on networking with
others from his league to plan the next party.
-
The guy that tries really hard… and cannot learn. It is usually a
male. He tries, really tries. And he cannot. He is simply not good enough to learn the
language and is usually delaying everyone but people do not mind as he is the “nice
guy that tries hard”. He will be a wreck in the language but will pass the
course.
-
The guy you have seen only 3 times during the last 4 months. There
is always one dude that will come only to a couple of classes. He is busy, you don’t
know his name and no one does. Somehow, he can speak the language and you are
clueless on what is his secret.
Of course, there are more characters in a
language course but they are also shared with a traditional classroom (such as
the clown or the cute girl with 296 different pencils of different colors). For such a reason I do not mention them here.
Back to reality
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| Kind of a cold weather, eh? |
Catching up, learning Norwegian will be a
challenge as I will have to force myself to speak it in a place where EVERYONE
speaks English. Norwegian is a must in my priorities as I need to speak it for
my PhD research project (which finally has a topic!!! More on this on a next
entry) and also because, well, I want to be able to communicate with Norwegians
in their language.
Luckily I have min norske dronning to help
me with the homework.
Ha det bra!
