Posts from January 2010

Dialog

Posted by kari No Comments
Jan 31 2010

I haven’t written a dialog in a while and they are always hjelpsom (helpful) when one is learning et annet språk (another language).  I’m going to use a simple dialog that I actually just had with my boyfriend after we both woke up.

God morgen.  Hvordan har du det?  Good morning.  How are you?

God morgen.  Det går bra, men jeg sov ikke så godt.  Hva med deg?  Good morning.  I’m fine, but I didn’t sleep very well.

Hvorfor det?  Er det noe som bryr deg?  Why so?  Is there something that’s bothering you?

Nei, jeg tror kroppen har bare blitt vant til å stå opp tidlig hver dag.  No, I think my body has just become used to waking up early every day.

Ja, det stemmer.  Vil du ha kaffe?  Yeah, that makes sense.  Would you like coffee?

Ja, takk.  Har vi fått avisen ennå?  Yes, please.  Have we gotten the paper yet?

Ja, vær så god.  Det er en artikkel om banken som du jobber på i avisen.  Yes, here you go.  There is an article about the bank you work at in the paper. 

Ok.  Hva syntes du om filmen i går kveld?  Ok.  What did you think of the movie last night?

Ja, jeg syntes det var en god film, men den religiøse stemningen var litt for sterk.  Yeah, I thought is was a good movie, but the religious tone was a little too strong.

Ja, det er jeg enig i.  Men stort sett, likte jeg det.  Yes, I agree with that.  But overall, I liked it.

Hva vil du gjøre i dag?  Det er for kaldt for å være ute.  What do you want to do today?  It’s too cold to be outside.

Ja, ikke sant.  Jeg vil til byen for å se om jeg kan finne en gave til pappa sin bursdag.  Yeah, no kidding.  I want to go to town to see if I can find a gift for dad’s birthday.

Jeg nesten glemte at det er snart.  Hvor skal vi feire den?  I almost forgot that was soon.  Where are we going to celebrate?

Jeg tror vi skal ut på restaurant.  Jeg skal kjøpe noe som han kan bruke til sykkelturer.  I think we are going out to eat.  I’m going to buy something he can use for bike rides. 

Perfekt.  Skal vi dra nå da?  Perfect.  Should we go now, then?

Ja, etter jeg blir ferdig med kaffe.  Yes, after I am done with coffee.

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I hope these are hjelpsom.  I always liked å lese og høre på (to read and hear) dialogs when I was learning norsk.

en drosje i Norge

Posted by kari 4 Comments
Jan 26 2010

a taxi in Norway.  I have taken en drosje several times in Norway and I can only say good things.  Every drosje I rode in was clean and comfortable, and driven by very friendly immigrants.  Not that every drosjesjåfør (taxi driver) in Norway is an immigrant, but certainly the majority are.  I enjoyed talking with them and asking them about their historier (stories) about how they came to Norway and where they came from.  Again, I will say that although det er veldig dyrt (it is very expensive) å ta en drosje (to take a taxi) in Norway, I had great experiences with drosjer.

Either I was lucky with the drosjer I took or the drosje environment has changed since I lived in Norway 4 years ago.  I say this because of an article in Aftenposten online today:  Oslo får taxipoliti (Oslo gets taxi police).  My first thought was, hva (what)??  Ja, there is going to be an organization that monitors drosjer og drosjesjåfører.  Hvorfor (why), you might ask?  Based on the new regler (rules) that are about to be enforced, passasjerer (passengers) have had complaints in several different areas.  The following is the list of expectations for drosjer (taken directly from the Aftenposten website):

* Sjåførkurs som avsluttes med skriftlig eksamen i regi av kommunen.  Chauffeur course that concludes with a written exam produced by the municipality.

* Forbud mot å snakke i mobilen når man har passasjer i bilen.  It is forbidden to talk on the phone when one has a passenger in the car. 

* Røykfri og ren bil.  Smoke free and clean car.

* Prisinformasjon på holde- plassene, og i taxien.  Price information at the stop and in the taxi.

* Klagebehandling innen 14 dager.  Complaints handled within 14 days.

* Kunden skal få beskjed hvis bilen er forsinket.  The customer will receive a message if the car is late\behind schedule.

* Sjåføren skal ha godkjent uniform.  The chauffeur should have an approved uniform. 

The idea is å kontrollere drosjene (to control the taxis) so that they all provide basically the same tjeneste (service) for roughly samme prisen (the same price).  Målet er fornøyde passasjerer (The goal is satisfied passengers). 

If you have ever been i en drosje i New York, for eksempel, you would know that it would be nearly umulig (impossible) to monitor them.

what is up with the “e” ending?!

Posted by kari 3 Comments
Jan 23 2010

Doesn’t it seem like almost all norske ord (Norwegian words) end in bokstaven ‘e’ (the letter “e”)?  A recent comment on an old post about norsk uttalelse (Norwegian pronunciation) inquired about the ‘e’ ending on so many norske ord.  I remember thinking that same thought when I first begynte å lære norsk (began to learn Norwegian).  I also remember that it was vanskelig (difficult) to remember how to pronounce the ‘e’ ending, since most of the time bokstaven ‘e’ is pronounced similar to ‘ay’ på engelsk (in English).

For eksempel:

alene (alone), evighet (eternity), bever (beaver), leder (leader), krem (cream)

‘e’ is also sometimes pronounced like ‘e’ in hen, Ben, or Ken. 

For eksempel:

grense (border), melk (milk), brenne (burn), verre (worse)

Now, for the question about how to uttale (pronounce) ‘e’ when it’s at the end of et ord…

For eksempel:

most verbs in the infinitive (å) form:

å drikke (to drink), å grille (to grill), å vaske (to wash), å handle (to shop), å løpe (to run)

other types of words, such as substantiver (nouns), adjektiver (adjectives), adverber (adverbs), og navner (names) end in ‘e’.

For eksempel:

stille (quiet), øye (eye), pute (pillow), o.s.v.

It may seem odd, but the ‘e’ ending is actually pronounced the same way as the ‘et’ ending for definite neuter nouns (skapet-the closet, bordet-the table).  It is pronounced like ‘eh,’ basically the same as the ‘e’ sound in grense, melk, og brenne. 

På engelsk, we are used to not pronouncing the final ‘e’ in a word, but på norsk, the final ‘e’ is always pronounced. 

å lære norsk

Posted by kari 14 Comments
Jan 17 2010

Hvor mye norsk kan du?  How much Norwegian do you know?

A topic that is certainly vanlig (common) among people who are learning et nytt språk (a new language).  It’s nice to be able to let someone know nivået (the level) you are really at with språket.  If you are a beginner with the language, it can be easier to speak with a native if the native is aware of generally how much you can forstå (understand).

Hvilket nivå er du på?  Which level are you at?

              Jeg er nybeginner på norsk.  I am a beginner in Norwegian.

              Jeg har vært i norskkurs i to år.  I have been in Norwegian class for 2 years.

              Jeg snakker flytende norsk.  I speak fluent Norwegian.

Hva slags vokabular har du?  What kind of vocabulary do you have?

              Jeg har e liten vokabular.  I have a small vocabulary.

              Vokabularet mitt er veldig stor.  My vocabulary is very big.

Hva synes du om norsk grammatikk?  What do you think about Norwegian grammar?

              Jeg synes at norsk grammatikk er lett.  I think that Norwegian grammar is easy.

              Norsk grammatikk er veldig vanskelig, synes jeg.  Norwegian grammar is very difficult, I think.

Kan du uttale norsk?  Can you pronounce Norwegian?

              Jeg trenger hjelp med å uttale norsk.  I need help pronouncing Norwegian.

              Jeg synes det er kjempevanskelig å uttale norsk.  I think it is extremely difficult to pronounce Norwegian. 

              Uttalelsen min har blitt mye bedre i år.  My pronunciation has gotten a lot better this year.

Kan du lese norsk?  Can you read Norwegian?

              Jeg kan lese barnabøker på norsk.  I can read children’s books in Norwegian.

              Det er ikke lett å lese norske aviser.  It is not easy to read Norweigan newspapers. 

              Jeg håper at jeg kan lese en norsk bok en dag.  I hope that I can read a Norwegian book one day.

Skriver du norsk?  Do you write Norwegian?

             Jeg kan skrive litt norsk.  I can write a little Norwegian.

             Jeg skriver hele setninger nå.  I write whole sentences now.

Du kan mer norsk enn du tror.  You know more Norwegian than you think. 

            

På biblioteket

Posted by kari 2 Comments
Jan 16 2010

At the library.  At some point in your life, you probably spent a significant amount of time på biblioteket.  Maybe på grunnskole (grade school), videregåendeskole (high school), universitetet (college), på jobb (at work), eller i fritida (or in freetime).  I always thought it was fun å dra til biblioteket (to go to the library) when I was younger.  There were always veldig snille damer (very nice ladies) that worked there.  Doesn’t it seem like 99% of bibliotekarer (librarians) are women?  I’ve always wondered why that is, especially since women seem to be more chatty and louder på arbeidsplass (in the workplace) than men, and of course, it is important to be stille (quiet) på biblioteket.  Besides the snille damer, I liked sitting in the barnerom (kid’s room) på bibiloteket.  There were lots of stuffed dyr (animals) and lyse farger (bright colors) overalt (everywhere\all over).  Sometimes en bibliotekar would lese historier til barna (read stories to the kids). 

Besides barnebøker (children’s books), there is mye annet som finnes på biblioteket (much more that is found at the library).  Two major categories of reading material are skjønnlitteratur and faglitteratur\fagbok (non-fiction).  I have preferred faglitteratur since I was quite young.  Hva med deg (How about you)? 

På biblioteket there are also aviser (newspapers), magasiner (magazines), filmer (movies), hørbar bøker\ bøker på kassettbånd (audible books\books on tape), musikk (music), datamaskiner (computers), o.s.v.  Even if biblioteket is not your favorite place to be, it’s pretty difficult to get bored with all of the information available to you.  I think when I’m older, I’ll probably spend a lot of time på biblioteket and I hope I have my own mini-bibliotek hjemme (at home).

Har dere en favoritt bok (Do you have a favorite book) or forfatter (author)?  Hva er din favoritt slags bok (What is your favorite kind of book)?  Mysterium (mystery)?  Krim (crime)?  Kjærlighetsroman (romance novel)?  Sci-fi?  Biografi?  Komedie (comedy)?  Poesi\dikt (poetry)?  Tragedie (tragedy)?  Krig (war)?

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