Posts in November 2008

Kveldsmat-a before bed-time snack

Posted by Kari
Nov
23
2008

Kveldsmat literally means “evening food.”  How many of you eat a late night snack soon before you fall asleep?  For me it all depends on what time I ate dinner (middag) and how substantial it was.  I ask myself, “Er jeg mett eller sulten?”  (am I full or hungry?)  It’s not a habit for me to eat a snack before I go to bed, but it certainly is not uncommon either.  Often it’s a bowl of cereal (frokostblanding) or some chips and salsa (potetgull og salsa) or whatever sounds yummy to me at the time. 

Most Norwegians eat kveldsmat regardless of what time they eat middag.  I do not know why this culinary tradition is so prevalent.  Some common food items that Norwegians enjoy for kveldsmat include ei brødskive (a slice of bread) with toppings such as ost (cheese), syltetøy (jam), agurk (cucumber) and tomat (tomato), or anything else that is tasty on brød. 

Every relative that I ever stayed with would pretty much force me to eat something small before I went to bed.  I spent a lot of time with one of my relatives, an older woman in her 70s named Cecilia.  I spent the last couple nights of my time abroad with her in her apartment and she would not let me go to bed without a glass of milk and some brød with ost.  It was quite humorous for me and I didn’t mind it at all. 

Actually, I will take this a little further and say watch out if you are going to be eating a meal with Norwegians at one of their homes.  They will encourage you to eat until you are nearly ready to vomit.  No lie.  “Here, have some more kjøtt (meat), and please-take some more poteter.  More salat?  A third bowl of is (ice cream) with bær (berries)?  Another couple kjeks (cookies) with your kaffe?  And it always seems like to me, at least, that I will offend them if I do not continue eating.  It’s like they think you’re never going to eat again.  Or maybe they hate leftovers….Whatever it is, just do what they say.  Keep eating.  And then have a snack before bed!

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Am I Norwegian-American or just American?

Posted by Kari
Nov
21
2008

There are several pockets of the United States that are heavily populated with descendants of Norwegians.  When someone asks me where my descendants are from, I say Norway (because literally all of my great-grandparents except one are from Norway and without them, my existence would be impossible).  However, I don’t say that I am Norwegian.  Years ago before I went to Norway when I would hear others say “I’m German” or “I’m Irish,” perhaps I would say “I’m Norwegian.”  Not anymore. 

Norwegians do not appreciate it when Americans or anyone else say that they are Norwegian.  I’m sure they would hate it too if an American said he/she was Irish just because of their heritage.  I think it’s hard for people who are not from the United States to understand how we, as Americans, identify ourselves.  Many recent immigrants to the United States still maintain very strong ties with their home countries and the people in their home countries still see those who emigrated as a part of their nationality.  However, I think at least for the mass emigration of Norwegians at the turn of the 20th century, the story is different.  Most Norwegians today (unless they still maintain a relationship with their American offspring) don’t necessarily care about my generation of Norwegian-Americans or even my parent’s generation of Norwegian-Americans.  They think, “Ok, so a lot of Norwegians abandoned this country 100 years ago.  Their offspring are Americans, not Norwegians.”  The United States is still such a young country and during it’s early years, it was made up of so many different nationalities (with even greater diversity today), it’s hard for some Americans to say that they are just simply Americans.  Of course, they are Americans.  However, I know that I, personally, have a hard time not associating myself with my ancestors’ country of origin because my family still has ties to Norway and we still continue some of the same traditions that Norwegians do.  It seems like most Americans feel this way. 

I think Norway’s history with Denmark and Sweden (which I briefly explained in the last post) is another reason that Norwegians feel so strongly about who is considered part of their nationality.  Norway was not a completely sovereign nation for over five centuries!  When Norwegians were finally able to say that they were their own people, governed by themselves, they became a very nationalistic people, naturally.  It kind of reminds me of teenagers who turn 18 and fully embrace their independence. 

There is quite a large immigrant population in Oslo and in most other big cities in Norway.  This is a fairly recent development and there are mixed feelings about this reality.  Several family members and friends that I spent time with in Norway are not pleased with the influx of immigrants and the effects this has on Norway.  I will save this conversation for another post, however. 

Just remember to be careful if your ancestors are from Norway; do not say that you are Norwegian!�

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Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish–what’s the relationship?

Posted by Kari
Nov
20
2008

Like the romance languages, Scandinavian languages have much in common.  Danes and Norwegians can understand each other and so can Norwegians and Swedes.  Swedish and Danish do not have quite as much in common.  Norwegian seems to be the common denominator.  You might wonder why this is?

Denmark, Sweden, and Norway have a complicated relationship.  Historically it has been quite a scene of power-swapping and power sharing.  The three countries were politically united from 1397-1523 in the Kalmar Union.  Shortly thereafter Denmark ruled over Norway for nearly three centuries (1536-1814), after  which point Norway fell under Swedish rule.  During the Norway-Denmark union, Danish was the standard written language and the spoken language of the Norwegian elite.  By the time Norway was in a union with Sweden, Norwegians united in a nationalist movement to develop their own language.

In Norway there are two standard written languages: bokmål and nynorsk.  Children learn both languages in school.  Bokmål is the written language of the majority of the population, but most people speak their own local dialect.  If you learn bokmål and Norwegian is not your first language (morsmål= essentially mother tongue), you will be able to understand Norwegians in Oslo forsure.  Chances are you’ll understand people in Bergen and other big cities, but once you move into the rural areas, it’s tough.  Some Norwegians can’t even understand each other.  The high mountains and deep valleys prevented people from interacting with others outside of their village so hundreds of different dialects evolved. 

Nynorsk is actually a language that a man named Ivar Aasen set out to develop.  During the middle of the 19th century, he travelled all around Norway to collect grammatical and phonetic information about Norwegian dialects.  He basically created a folk-language (nynorsk) that shares less characteristics with Danish and more with Old Norwegian and the many dialects that were formed during Norway’s several unions with Sweden and Denmark.

Here is the relationship between the three languages that all of this history has created:  Written Danish and Norwegian are very similar, spoken Swedish and Norwegian are very similar, and Danish and Swedish have the least in common.  Many people think Danes sounds like Norwegians with potatoes in their throats.�  Bottom line-if you learn Norwegian, you will be able to get by in Sweden and Denmark too!!!

 
Posted under Language 24 Comments | Post a Comment

The demise of norsk?

Posted by Kari
Nov
17
2008

I attended the University of Oslo spring semester of my junior year of college in 2006.  Fortunately for me, I was proficient enough in the Norwegian language that I could choose to take classes beyond those designed for international students.  There were only a couple dozen classes taught in English that were offered to international students.  None of them particularly interested me so I decided to take a history class in Norwegian about the Holocaust.  By the way, the class only met once a week for 2 hours.  It was a good choice…especially since I still learned a lot and I got to test my language skills and pick up some new ones!

One of my classmates studied at the same university the next year and apparently there were many more classes in English to choose from.  This is nice for international students of course, but if there are more classes taught in English, there are fewer classes taught in Norwegian.  There is actually a huge movement in Norwegian higher education (as well as European higher education in general) to reward publication and instruction in English. 

In fact, in 2004 the Norwegian Association for Higher Education Institutions instituted a reward system that financially encouraged academicians to publish in Norwegian.  Sometimes the same product published in Norwegian earned a reward 3 times higher than the same product published in English.  This kind of system adversely affects Norwegian as an academic language.  If academicians are discouraged from publishing literature in Norwegian and developing the language, it will become stagnant and perhaps eventually head into decline. 

This bothers a lot of Norwegians, and quite frankly, bothers me as well.  Norwegian is clearly not an extensively spoken language outside of Norway.  In my opinion, this is something they should not be ashamed of, but rather, proud of.  It should be something that they cherish forever and continue to develop. 

I rarely encountered an individual, even over age 40, that didn’t know at least some English.  Absolutely every person under age 25 or 30 was nearly fluent, if not exceptional with their English speaking skills.  So, if it ever comes to the point that Norwegian universities offer all classes in English, I’m not really sure how much this is going to benefit Norwegian students.  I know that Norwegian universities would like for more international students to attend, but I’m not sure that jeopardizing the Norwegian language is the way to do it. 

So spread the word about how awesome the Norwegian language is!  I think it’s great how many people just decide to learn it on their own for whatever reason.  It would be fun to hear about all the different reasons you all are learning Norwegian!!

 
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Caution: Designated forest areas in Norway

Posted by Kari
Nov
14
2008

Europeans are so liberal.  I remember hearing that Europeans are liberal since middle school.  Women in France don’t shave their armpits or legs.  Marijuana is legal in Amsterdam.  Did you ever hear about a gay part of a forest in Norway-with lots of bird feeders? 

I lived in the outskirts of Oslo for 8 months and it wasn’t until shortly before I left that I discovered something that at the time seemed extremely odd, but after an explanation and some thought is actually really cool. 

Almost every day I would run up the hill to Sognsvann, a small lake on the edge of the forest.  I would usually stick to the trail that surrounded the lake, but in the summer it was nice to venture off the beaten path.  One day I put my suit on and brought a towl and a book into the forest a bit and found a nice place to relax completely in tune with nature.  There were what looked like bird feeders every hundred feet.�
I was truly living a Norwegian lifestyle.  Although I felt I had privacy, I would see pairs of men every once in a while.  Walking on the path below or laughing somewhere in the distance behind me.  I started to wonder where the ladies were?  Maybe I was the fool who was the only female out in the woods.  I should have known better than to wander off by myself in a foreign country.  I certainly wouldn’t do that at home if I were in a semi-populated area. 

After I braved another hour or so enjoying the blissfull summer day, I got back on the path and headed to civilization.  There were males in front of me and males behind.  Every once in a while I saw 2 men literally pop out of the woods.  Maybe on foot, maybe on bikes.  Men and more men.  I was thoroughly confused but had an inkling that maybe I entered an area that I knew nothing about, and it was an area that everyone should know about.

The next day I asked middle-aged nurse at the university if she knew what the deal was with that part of the forest.  She answered me in Norwegian, “Oh yeah, that’s the gay part of the forest” so casually that I wasn’t sure she had any idea how weird that sounded to me.  She asked me if I noticed any bird feeders.  I said “Yeah, actually, there were quite a few of them!”  She then explained that these were not bird feeders.  “Those are condom dispensers.” 

It was at that moment that it really hit me how liberal Europeans are.  Of course not all European countries would support such an arrangement, but in general, Europe is a very socially liberal place.  Can you imagine the same situation in Washington DC?  A gay part of mall that supplies protection to homosexual men?  Hardly.  I never found out who paid for and set up the dispensers (a GLBT group, the government, a medically-based group?), but I do know that it’s something most people in the city are aware of.  And I don’t believe there have ever been complaints about it. 

If this idea makes you uncomfortable, be aware that if you are in the depths of the forest and you see a random birdfeeder, check if there are birds inside. 

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