Shall I give up the try then?

26 comments

1. Kinda yeah…

   I do appreciate it, but sometimes i dont wanna be your language teacher.

2. If you’re just visiting, it’s easier to just speak English.

   But if you’ve moved here you should learn the language. It’s not just practical (not everyone speaks English well enough to the point they wanna use it with strangers, especially in rural areas/older people) but it’s also a respectful thing.

   I also suppose it will allow you to learn more about the culture itself. What words are modernised, what words are older in origin, what words are taken from English, what words have English taken from the vikings, etc.

3. Its accurate for tourists in cities, the more in the countryside you are the friendlier people and the happier they are when you say “tusen takk”. if you live here disregard the map and learn norwegian.

4. No, not if you want to have Norwegians close to you like a partner or a friend group. As someone with a foreign SO, I can tell you that people get tired of having to speak English around him all the time.

   And in larger gatherings like dinner parties etc you can’t expect that everyone will stick to English all the time, you’ll feel left out if you don’t speak the language. It’s also harder to follow what happens in society when you don’t understand what the newspapers says. Yes, there is some English alternatives, but not as good.

   Also, unless it’s an international business where the working language is English, Norwegian is required in basically any job.

   But if you come to Norway as a tourist, English is completely fine.

5. It’s accurate for tourists.
   If you live here, I think we all appreciate (and kinda expect) that you learn the language. If you’re a tourist, it’s very nice of you to say Hi! and Takk!, but usually Norwegians are quite comfortable with conversing in English.

6. I had an American friend who lived here for around 3 years who never got to practice a lot because everyone switched to english. I think it’s more likely to happen to native english speakers, but this is the reason I keep to Norwegian when I talk to foreigners living here.

7. Yeah English is fine, unless you’re looking for work

8. It’s true to some degree. But it’s more about efficiency than anything. We’re not a talkative nation, small talk isn’t really a thing for most people, so we say what we have to say and that’s it really. Also, some are happy for a chance to practice their English as well.

   But, If you say you’re trying to learn, or if you speak well enough, people will be patient and give you a chance. I’m always happy when I come across someone who bothers to learn a niche language like ours, so I’ll be patient and listen and respond.

9. Here’s a fine way to remember

   If you are living in Norway: Learn Norwegian!

   If you’re a Norweaboo -> Give up!

10. If you live here, learn the language. Have multiple friends that doesn’t speak Norwegian, and in social settings they struggle a bit. They can’t just jump into a conversation because they don’t know what it’s about. Of course we talk English when we talk to them, but we switch to Norwegian when they go to the bathroom or to get another drink. This also applies to the work life, conversations around the coffee machine is usually in Norwegian, and the older generations are generally not comfortable with speaking English.

    If you’re just visiting, speak English.

11. Speak norwegian unless you struggle to find the words or the recipient communicates that they struggle to comprehend you. And that is in *each* conversation. Always try to start with Norwegian. The only exception I have to this is in cases where you or the recipient is short on time, like in line at a busy store or asking for directions at a busy street, or in an emergency of course

12. Everyone is super considerate and supportive for about the first 18 months and then you start to get made to feel more and more like you really should have learned by now. Which, in total fairness, isn’t entirely unfair.

13. Having lived in Norway for 5 years, it’s hard not to give up.

    I work in IT so English is our official company language (even though majority of our employees are Norwegian), making local friends is close to impossible, the language isn’t really necessary for the everyday life as everyone speaks English very well.

    Unless you’re in a relationship with a local, there’s very little reason to lear Norwegian outside of the respect to the country you live in.

14. Depends on the individual really. Keep trying

15. I’m an American of Norwegian descent. My grandparents were immigrants, my uncle and father were raised fluent in Norwegian; I was raised with English but peppered with a few Norwegian words (I thought “takk for maten” was English until I was nine years old or so).

    Norway was an important place in my family culture. At Thanksgiving (yes, yes, I know real Norwegians don’t have that day), there was both English and Norwegian woven seamlessly in the conversation at the dinner table. If a debate ever broke out, whoever spoke in Norwegian was (as we say in English), “bringing out the big guns”. It was the “serious” language. If you said something in Norwegian, it meant more than anything said in English. Norwegian was (and still is) for us what Latin is for the world of academia.

    In university, I made sure to minor in Norwegian for personal reasons. Back then, it was still a novelty for Norwegians to hear Norwegian spoken with an English language accent. Norwegians liked it when I tried.

    Now, with all the Americans trying to learn Norwegian now (most of whom have no connections to Norway, I must say), I’d be too worried about trying to speak Norwegian in Norway. I get the sense that Norwegians now consider Americans trying to speak Norwegian to be a cliche 🙁

16. If you ask me to speak Norwegian I will, but the problem is that I speak dialect, and to speak a in a way you would understand at all I would have to resort to bokmål. And I hate speaking that way and will rather speak in english. But I will, if you ask  

17. I think this is genuinely accurate for *tourists*. If a tourist tries to speak any of these languages (non fluently) then I suspect the reactions are probably close to accurate (at least in Scandinavia and some other of the “blue” countries).

    But if you are living in the country, if you are not a tourist, if you have been here for an extended period of time, the expectation changes. After about 2 years in the country most Norwegians will expect you to have learned at least some basics to get by (ie.; A1/A2).

    Now, if you plan on staying in Norway on any sort of permanent basis, you should be aiming for minimum B1 unless you have a personal circumstances that dictate that you cannot learn the language to that level. That is because permanent residency requires A2 level Norwegian and citizenship requires B1.

    Source: was a tourist, then a resident, now a citizen.

18. This implies that Norwegians don’t appreciate the effort: this is not true at all. However, we are well aware that our language is among the hardest to learn, and we all learn englishin school and many of us have become used to using english at work and in everyday life, so we often default to english as it is generally easier. That said, I love it when I meet foreigners who try to learn the language!

19. How else will you understand our many idioms, sayings and wordplay? Or our massive amount of maritime slang? Or what say you, gamle bardun?

20. My experience in Norway is that people are really patient if you’re trying to speak Norwegian as a foreigner, and they do try to understand you and reply to you in Norwegian (local experience from both Trondheim and Oslo, not visiting but living there). Even though I’m not fluent, I still try to speak Norwegian and I haven’t encountered the “let’s switch to English” attitude (only very seldom, when people genuinely thought that they were helping me by switching).

    My experience living in Denmark (Copenhagen), however, is that they’d much rather prefer to speak in English rather than trying to decipher “foreigner Danish”, but funnily enough this also applies to Norwegians either trying to use Norwegian in Denmark, or trying to speak Danish with a Norwegian flavour to it (I know a few Norwegians who work in DK and just speak English). Danes seem to have a much harder time understanding Danish that doesn’t sound native, so they’re more inclined to switch to English.

    So, all in all: not all of Scandinavia works the same way when it comes to this.

21. If you’re a tourist don’t bother, if you’re gonna live here you absolutely should learn it. 

22. I agree with the sentiment that anyone who moves to Norway should learn the language. I think it’s a practical thing to do, and respectful to the culture. Also, I really wanted to not be the stereotype of the stupid American that only knows English as half the country barely has a grasp of English, and Norwegian English skills surpass a lot of native speaking Americans. I have completed the language requirements by UDI and gone to norskkurs, I have completed Duolingo. I can read, write, and speak remedial Norwegian.

    But, I feel like I’m done with putting in a massive amount of effort for that reason. Everyone switches to English, disregarding my attempts (to make the conversation more efficient–I get it). Everyone speaks impeccable English. There are a ton of dialects, and a lot of idioms, figures of speech, and slang to overcome. I’m just going to get better by osmosis, I’ve decided. I’m running a business now and I’m far too busy to hit the books any more.

    I feel like if I moved to another country I would’ve been fluent in 6 months to a year, because I would’ve been forced to. It is very difficult to become fluent here in a short period of time because of the above examples. I’m not saying that I won’t try to improve my Norwegian to be obstinate. I’m just saying I’m finished with feeling bad about myself for not understanding what people say to me, and I use English as a more practical and efficient tool for communication.

23. I lived in Norway for 3 years and was a pro DJ with several agencies.

    I always did my best and ended up speaking quite above average Norwegian

    I did get a lot of laughs when I said something the wrong way.

    I think it is respectful to try and learn

    I used it as a comedic tool when I had to announce anything!

    I miss Norway and it’s people

    D

24. 1. As a Norwegian this is accurate if you’re clearly not going to get your point across. 
    2. As a Norwegian living in Germany, they will never switch to English unless you actively beg them

25. Tyskere som foretrekker engelsk? I hvilken verden er det? Hilsen en som studerte der i flere år… og ikke kan så fryktelig mye tysk🤣😅

26. As a swed who speaks Norwegian with a heavy Swedish accent, more than 99% prefer speaking Norwegian with me.

    This map applies to ppl who are basically just visiting or very broken Norwegian.

    Norwegians prefer their own language for sure. I recommend learning the language if you are going to work or live in Norway.

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