How I learned to speak Norwegian in 1 year.

I had never heard someone speak Norwegian before 2009 when I met some Norwegian students in Brazil. Before that, my only contact with the Scandinavian world was through a few Bergman films and a cute Norwegian boy I met once at a shop in Disneyworld when I was a teenager. 🙃

After I got married to a Norwegian man in 2012, I had five lessons with a native speaker in Rio de Janeiro and bought a self study book. I really started to study Norwegian in 2013 when I moved to Norway. I began the course in February and I passed Bergens test (test in Norwegian – advanced level) in November, the same year.

Learning Norwegian as an adult can be challenging, even exhausting. I felt my brain throbbing at a dinner after five hours of struggling to understand and speak the language in Sogn og Fjordane on my first Easter here. I’ve heard some of my readers say they want to give up. Specially when they are shopping and the attendant switches immediately to English once they try to speak Norwegian. Immigrants in Norway can easily get unmotivated and discouraged to speak Norwegian because they are afraid of making mistakes. I’m sure many attendants are happy to speak English and only wish to be helpful, though the effect is opposite.

If I made a list of the key ingredients that helped me to learn/improve my Norwegian, it would be: motivation, method, discipline, dedication, boldness, fun.

Motivation. I have a Norwegian family. My nieces were little when I moved to Stavanger. They didn’t speak English, let alone Portuguese. They were my first motivation to speak Norwegian. They used to jump in my bed in the morning in Brazil and wake us up. They’d grab my hand and tell me stories, ask me questions, follow me everywhere. I wanted to communicate better with them. Fast forward a few years and I was helping the oldest one with her Math lessons, in Norwegian. That was a breakthrough for me.

If you live in Norway, speaking Norwegian is kind of essential, even if they speak English at work. It’s for you to get the sense of belonging, not to feel like a tourist all the time.

Each language has its own musicality and rhythm.

Method. Each language has its own musicality and rhythm. The Norwegian language was unfamiliar, so I had to get that sound into my head and make it familiar. At the language center, we were only sitting and writing down what the teacher said. Good to learn the grammar, but NO way, I was gonna learn to SPEAK that way. So I developed my own method. I’d repeat after the teacher. All the time. I needed to hear my own voice and check if I understood it right. That was the best way for me to absorb the new vocabulary and to program my brain. I don’t think she liked it, but she never complained.

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I am a former Berlitz language instructor (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Every year I worked there, I got elected among the 5 best teachers of the year, by the students.

Working on the pronunciation. When I was dubbing two tv series to be exported to Canada, they wanted NY accent. I used to listen to Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw on my way to work, on my way back home, all the time. I’d listen and repeat. That helps when you don’t have much time to sit down and dedicate. Just do it on the move, with headphones, ear pods, etc.

Discipline. This was my everyday: In the morning I’d do my homework (always repeating out loud what I was writing). In the afternoon I was at language center. In the evening I was listening to the local radio stations, watching Norwegian tv with Norwegian subtitles. Some shows are really useful and entertaining. Norwegian tv is nowadays my first choice. Here are my favorite tv shows.

Dedication. Learning Norwegian grammar is no piece of cake. Norway has two official languages: bokmål and nynorsk. We usually learn bokmål at school and speak nynorsk if you don’t live in Oslo region. Let alone understanding the thousands of dialects. The more you read, write, listen and speak, the more familiar it becomes to you. I made several small post-its and spread them in my bathroom and in the kitchen. When I was brushing my teeth, when I was making food, I was reading and repeating them out loud. I recorded dialogues from the cd and played them on my mobile while commuting to school.

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Boldness. I heard a student say that she was very shy when she’d speak Norwegian at shops. She said when she tried to speak Norwegian, the salesperson would immediately switch to English. She lost her confidence and thought she’d never speak well enough. I see two aspects:

1. Norwegians love to speak English. Specially the new generation. They use English expressions in the middle of a sentence, out of nowhere. Saying I’m sorry in Norwegian is: unnskyld or beklager. Now the new generation also says: sori, as a mutation of sorry and thank you instead of takk. So, it may not be her poor Norwegian, it may that the salesperson being keen to show her English skills or maybe trying to be helpful. My advice is: insist in speaking Norwegian.
2. Low self confidence. We immigrants tend to feel vulnerable as we have lost our roots and comfort zone. Learning everything from scratch (how to take the bus, what to wear, what to eat) can give us a sense of not being good enough, not knowing as much as the locals. You know what? We rule! We manage to adapt and learn a new language and culture. We have so much to contribute to the Norwegian society. Believe in yourself.

If your goal is to speak a new language, you should speak as much as possible. It may sound redundant, but it’s not always taken in consideration that reading only won’t get you to speak. I mean that grammar and writing are essential parts of the learning process. My emphasis is for those who understand Norwegian but can’t speak. Those who would like to speak fluently. My current job has helped me enormously on my everyday vocabulary and speed. I also learn wordplays and slangs from my colleagues. That’s why I advise you: get a job or a volunteer job. Anything that makes you speak Norwegian all day long.

How to start from scratch? Back in 2009, motivated to learn my boyfriend’s language, I bought a wonderful book called Teach yourself Norwegian. It has two cds, stories, exercises, grammar in a palatable way. The stories were interesting and typical Norwegian. This method was crucial important for me. When I took the level test at language school, I managed to skip a level, because I had come far though this book. I highly recommend you to buy it. Not only for your first contact with the language but also for you who has tried another method and has some kind of block. This Teach yourself method makes learning Norwegian fun. It shows a little of the Norwegian culture, so you learn in context.

Fun. It has to be fun, otherwise we can get bored and unmotivated. What do you like? Music? Find Norwegian songs and the lyrics. One of my favorite Norwegian songs is “Greit å få besøk”, from Tønes. He sings with dialect, Grett å få besøg but it’s so funny. He mentions all the bad side of having guests, specially unexpected guests. I think I’m becoming Norwegian in that way (not liking unexpected guests). Find a hobby you like and take a course. This way, listening to Norwegian will be pleasant. You’ll have cozy memories in your brain connected to this language.

Cover picture by Imagem de Sasin Tipchai por Pixabay