Norwegian introduction

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Norwegian Introduction

  Norwegian is spoken in Norway, a country on the Scandinavian peninsula with 
 circa 4.5 million inhabitants.
  When we talk about "Norwegian", we should be aware that there are two written 
 languages in Norway, the so-called Bokmål ("book language") and Nynorsk 
("new Norwegian"). Notice that they are "written" languages. The Norwegian 
you hear on the streets and in the countryside is actually a bunch of 
dialects. Some dialects look closer to Bokmål and others to Nynorsk).
  Bokmål, also called Dano-Norwegian, evolved from the Danish spoken in the 
centuries of Danish occupation in Norway. This is the reason that made the 
self-taught linguist Ivar Aasen develop the Nynorsk variant, which was 
constructed mainly from rural dialects, less influencied by the Danish 
language. (To read more about this, go to [1]).

  Both written languages are taught at school, so that all Norwegians can 
understand each other. Bokmål is by far the most used written language: 
only 15 to 20% of the population learn Nynorsk as their mother tongue at school.

  Since Bokmål is the most used and most learned variant, it is also the most 
taught, even for foreigners. Therefore, when you see a website or a book 
teaching Norwegian, it is probably Bokmål that is being taught, unless the 
author specifies the work is about Nynorsk. This introduction is about 
Bokmål.

Language overview

  Norwegian is a North Germanic language. Its closest language is Danish, but 
Swedish is also closely related.

  Norwegian is very easy to learn for English speakers. It has no cases, 
and every verb has one form for all persons, with no exceptions. There are 
few irregular verbs which can be easily learned.

  Pronunciation has its tricks, but once you learn some rules and new sounds, 
you won't find much difficulty. You should pay attention to å, ø, æ, u 
and y, and to some final mute consonants. Vowels also have short/long 
distinctions. The spelling looks complicated at the beginning, but it's far 
more coherent than English.

  An interesting feature of the language is that the definite article is 
placed at the end of the word: hus (house), et hus (a house), huset (the house).

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