Learning one of the Scandinavian Languages

Originally posted by EbbeLockert Nice work! Just a few things: 1) it's ET hotell, not EN hotell 2) By following that book, you'll be writing and speaking very nice. I.e. a bit more than a bit upper-class. (actually, writing very riksmål - upper class/danish-like - is accepted, but speaking that way might sound a tad weird and even enhance the impression of you guys being forigners, as they often try to speak more correctly than the rest of us) Whether you think that's cool or not, that's up to you. It really depends on why you are learning the language. 3) Her/hit and Der/dit are easily the same as english Here/hither and There/thither, though the latter forms are seldom (i.e. never) used in modern english. Dit and hit signify movement to the location, not just any momvement. If you aim to express movement from a location, use derfra and herfra (There-from and here-from, fra means from).

Thank you for the corrections I might have just read the book wrong and transposed a few letters. Generally when learning languages in the US we are taught one specific dialect and often it is a very upper class one. If one learns spanish one is taught Castillian, if one learns french one is taught Parisian, if one learns Italian one is taught Florentine, and so on. So I am used to the "upper class/danish like" way of speaking and writing when learning. I am learning the language for use some time in the future. Would you care to show us a more lower/middle class version of what we have learned so far? Do you use Bokmål instead? Is riksmål considered archaic?

Originally posted by EbbeLockert N 2) By following that book, you'll be writing and speaking very nice. I.e. a bit more than a bit upper-class. (actually, writing very riksmål - upper class/danish-like - is accepted, but speaking that way might sound a tad weird and even enhance the impression of you guys being forigners, as they often try to speak more correctly than the rest of us) Whether you think that's cool or not, that's up to you. It really depends on why you are learning the language.

I got the impression that there are large differences between the way people actually speak in Norway. In Sweden the riksmål has become entrenched and is no longer considered upper class. The main difference between how people speak here is now basicly only the melody. Dialects still exist, but people don't use them when talking to Swedes from other parts of the country. Is the situation similar in Norway or do people use their dialects irregardless of whom they speak to?

Edit: I was just about to comment how surprised I was that the grammar had been simplified so much, but when you said it was the Danishy language I guess that explains it.



Edited by Styrbiorn - 02-Jun-2008 at 12:23

Here's a summary of what going on in Chapter 4 of Danbolt.

Chapter 4
Grammar Point 1
Nouns definite plural
-The definite plural is formed by adding -ene to the end of the noun. This is true for both -en words and -et words
    
     -EG
       et kart      en bil
       kartet       bilen
       kart          biler
       kartene     bilene

Grammar Point 2
Adjectives and Noun pairs (pt III): Definite Plural
-Like in the definite singular when the noun is preceded by an adjective there is a definite article and definite ending.
     
     -EG
       Bilene er der (the cars are there)
       De store bilene er der (the big cars are there)
       
       den lille bilen (the small car)
       det lille kartet (the small map)
       de små bilene (the small cars)
       de små kartene (the small maps)

Grammar Point 3
Adjectives
-Adjectives that are Nationalities do not take a -t at the end of -et words
     -EG
       amerikansk     amerikansk     amerikanske     American
       engelsk           engelsk            engelske            English
       norsk              norsk               norske               Norwegian
       skandinavisk   skandinavisk   skandinaviske   Scandinavian

-Adjectives ending in -ig do not take a -t at the end of -et words
     -EG
       hyggelig       hyggelig           hyggelige            nice/pleasent
       kjedelig        kjedelig            kjedelige             boring

-Most adjectives with a double consonant drop one before the -t
     -EG
       grønn       grønt       grønne       green
       tykk          tykt          tykke          thick

-Adjectives ending in -el, -en, or -er are slightly irregular in the definite singular and plural
    -EG
       gammel     gammelt        gamle    old
       sulten        sultent             sultne    hungry
       vakker       vakkert            vakre     beautiful

-Some are just irregular
     -EG
       blå        blått        blå        blue

Grammar Point 4
Relative Pronouns (Who/Which/that)
-The relative pronoun is som regardless of whether it is referring to an animal, person, or object

Grammar Point 5
Here and There
-There are two words or both here and there. Usage is determined by whether or not there is any movement.
     -When there is no movement the form that is used is her (here) and der (there).
     -When there is movement *to a location* the form that is used is hit (here) and dit (there).

Those are the grammar points of chapter 4. I hope the people trying to learn Norwegian, like me, find this helpful.
*=edit, thank you EbbeLockert for pointing out the lack of clarity in my statement.

Edited by King John - 03-Jun-2008 at 00:00

Originally posted by Efraz uhn... so you say it's really easy for an English speaker to learn Swedish eh? I am a language freak and love the Norse culture... Probably I will never go up there in my life but would be fun to try to learn. I have studied Greek and latin. Hmm this could be good. Do you recommend a training, course, book or online thing?

Swedish, or any Scandinavian language for that matter, would be rather easy to learn for an english speaker. Simple conjugation, many words with a common root etc.etc. There are really no cases or difficoult verbal modes. For an english speaker, getting used to the genders and the rolled R could be the worst part of the expirience.

I don't know of any good course, but I would recomend you to gt in touch with a native speaker as quickly as possible after begining to learn the language. Pages such as www.sharedtalk.com can help you gt in touch with people speaking the language.

uhn... so you say it's really easy for an English speaker to learn Swedish eh?

I am a language freak and love the Norse culture... Probably I will never go up there in my life but would be fun to try to learn. I have studied Greek and latin. Hmm this could be good.

Do you recommend a training, course, book or online thing?

Indeed, the non-english board was closed a while ago, cause not everyone could follow the trips in other languages.

Originally posted by EbbeLockert Eg veit han er liten, og derfor laut eg spørja for å få vita. Men tusen takk  But I still think we should speak english here, so...

Jag vet att du visste att han var liten, annars hade du icke frågat


Well, it's a thread for learning Scandinavian - consider it practice.

Originally posted by EbbeLockert (that would be in the middle of Norway, approx.) Why are you asking? By the way, ulrich von hutten, would that be Old Norse or Icelandic?

Islänska. Skillnaden är dock liten.

Originally posted by King John EbbeLockert, i Norge, kommer du fra?

Directly translated, that would  mean "in Norway, do you come from?"

If you meant to add an "hvor" before the "i" and say "where in Norway do you come from?", I'd answer Levanger. That is a small town a few miles north of Trondheim, which is one of the major cities of Norway.

If you meant to ask whether I came from Norway, the answer would be "yes".

Originally posted by King John Den h�res bra ut. Jeg gleder meg til � lese din skrivende.