Betty and Mariah

Despite my reasonably good knowledge of the English language, I do get caught out on occasion. I remember when I first lived in England back in 1992, I had a conversation with a guest to the hotel I worked at. He asked whether there would be any Christmas crackers at the Christmas table. I had only ever heard of regular and cheese crackers and obviously didn't have a clue what he was talking about. It got explained.

My own pink wellies

On the occasion of somebody asking me whether there were any wellies to use, I was by then quick enough to say that 'if you explain, I will tell'. Apparently wellies were Wellington boots (ie rubber boots) and no, we did not have those. And you can picture for yourself the chest/breast story.

Throughout the years I learned more of the typical combinations of words used within the English language, but of course I do still get caught out. When I read a book recently, the author wrote about a hobbled horse. Now, in the Netherlands, a hobbelpaard (paard = horse) means a rocking horse, but this was set in the outdoors. I looked it up. Turns out, a hobbled horse means a horse that has two feet tethered together by rope, leather or chain, preventing it from taking off. 

In another book (The Gulag Archipelago, not your average beach read), I encountered a Black Mariah. I found out it is actually a (black) police car, mainly used to haul away prisoners from the 19th century onwards. 

And then yesterday Anvilcloud used the term Brown Betty. Now, I had heard of that term before, but never really knew exactly what it was. Google proved to be very helpful and immediately came up with several photographs. I couldn't find out why it was called that though, Wikipedia being very short on the subject.

 

Diseased

The Dutch mind seems to be a sort of diseased mind. It is the one language in the world where most of the curse words have a diseased background. Literally! Anything from the Smallpox and the Plague to Cancer and Tuberculosis can be used to curse, usually in combination with (genital) body parts. 

Especially the Cancer one is seen as very oppressive and awful, and I do yet I don't quite get that. Why that more than the others? Because the others are not as prevalent (and in the case of Smallpox: eradicated)? I try to stay away from any of them, yet even I have at times used 'Tering' (Consumption or TB) as an exclamation of surprise/shock/anger. And the verb 'kankeren' (to cancer) is definitely used a lot. It means to complain, to moan, to grumble, to gripe.

Over the past few decades, new major diseases have come in. Aids being one of them and the most recent of course Corona. For some reason Aids never made it into our cursing vocabulary. I wonder what Corona will do. Perhaps in a hundred years, the exclamation will have gone from TB to Corona. 

Just wondering...

¡Hola!

As you know I do speak one or two languages. Well, three really. Ehm, four. Hold on, five. And I understand a sixth and I can mumble a bit in a seventh. I am getting confused now, so I will have to go back and count properly. 

Dutch and English (that's two). Norwegian and German (four), French (five). I understand Frysian (my Dad's language and yes, it's a real one). And I get along fine with a few words of Italian. Like ordering food and asking the way. Basic though, very basic. So seven-ish. 

Anyhoo, yesterday a cruise ship arrived. Filled with about 2,500 passengers. Who spoke a language not on my list. Spanish! Well, I know hola, buenos dias and adios. And I think I would be able to order a beer in Spanish, but didn't think it would be appropriate since I was driving. 

My go-to language when dealing with Spanish speakers is Italian. Close enough to actually get a look of recognition from most. As long as I pick the right words of course. 

The passengers came on board and asked how much it would cost. Their English wasn't that great, my Spanish non-existent, but saying it in Italian worked fine. By the time they took the bus back (same group, plus a whole bunch more), I was able to mention that they had to use their seat belts in Italian. Something along the (very badly pronounced and not even proper Italian I guess) lines of 'sinture di sicurezza'. Everyone understood though and there were clicks everywhere. 

When we got back to town, I could feel the tension in the bus. Where do we get off, where exactly are we? So, I said in a nice friendly holler (I am a great hollerer): 'prossima stop, sentro o barca' (meaning next stop: center and boat). Whether it was good or bad Italian/Spanish I don't know, but everybody thought it was brilliant and I got a round of applause and most of them got off. 

Adios!

Learning

I grew up in the Netherlands and one of the tv shows that was on a fair bit during my childhood was a Swedish show called Pippi Longstocking. About a little girl (about 8 or 9 I think) who lives alone in a big big house, together with her pet monkey Mr Nelson and her white horse with black spots Whitey. 

She is very strong, very rich and doesn't think that school is for her. Her mother is dead and her father is a pirate and lives a long way away. She meets up with the neighbour children and has many adventures with them. Be it just going for a walk, meeting the town's criminals or even visiting her father a long way away. 

She sleeps the wrong way round in her bed, there are bottles of lemonade coming out of a tree in her garden and she keeps her gold coins in a big chest in the house. 

So, imagine my confusion when Mr Crikey (Or Charlie from Downunder) said on his blog that two of his companions were collecting pippies on the beach! I knew of course that Pippi has never really hit it that big in English speaking countries, so I didn't think there would be a boatload of them on that beach close to where Mr Crikey lives!

Turns out that pippies are (and I quote): little clams that are found everywhere along our coastline. Fishermen use them for bait but you can eat them. They taste good if cooked well.

I certainly learned something new today. I will never look at Pippi the same way though...

German

Before I moved to Norway, I spoke really good German. I was fluent. And then I moved to Norway and all of a sudden, not a word. I still understood it, still read it, but when it came to speaking it: nope! For every two German words that would come out, four Norwegian ones would come out as well, making it nearly impossible for a German person to understand me. It was very frustrating. Not that I used German much, but still...

Recently I got two new bookcases and I finally got out all the books that still resided in boxes. One of them is 'Bas Boris Bode', a German children's book. My dad bought it for me when I was in my teens, after I had seen the television series. I don't know whether I ever read it then, but I hadn't gotten rid of it, so in the bookcase it went. Until I needed some reading material for work and I thought: well, I might as well read that!

So, over the past week I have been reading this book at work. When I have to wait for more than three minutes at a stop, I will take it out of my bag and start reading. There was only one problem: every time a passenger came in with a question, I would answer in a mixture of a lot of German and a little bit of Norwegian!

It's a good thing I have nearly finished the book. And my next book will be in English again. Or Norwegian, or perhaps even Dutch. Just no German books for a while (I have three more German books, I wonder what happened to the fourth).

Why?

The church after which the road I live on is named
Now if I could only pronounce it!!

After having lived in Norway for about a year and a half now (not quite, but getting there), I can quite honestly say I understand a fair bit. Not everything mind, but definitely a lot more than when I first got here. 

People have always commented on the fact that I spoke such good Norwegian. And I did, even I know that and am not afraid to say so. The thing is, a language is not just speaking. It's hearing as well. And even though I heard, I didn't understand. Since what they speak over here is not what I learnt. In fact, there are only two people (out of over 200) that have always been relatively easy to understand. Both come from the East of the country where the language spoken is a lot closer to the language I leant originally.

But on occasion, I will make mistakes. I talked about window wipers one day (I needed new ones for the old car) and one of my colleagues just erupted in laughter. When she was able to say something, she told me why she had just erupted. She was seeing two burly hunky men lying on the bonnet of the car wiping the windows. Because instead of saying vindusvisker (the thing) I said vindusvasker (the person). 

Then, the other day I was telling some colleagues about the infernal mystery light. And they kept throwing funny looks at me, until there was one who actually asked: are you really talking about lice? The Norwegian for light is lys. The y is being pronounced halfway between a u (as in demure) and e (as in see). Just try it. Make the sound for one and then move to the other and stop halfway. The Norwegian for lice is lus. The u is pronounced like the u in demure. And the problem is: I can't get enough distinction between the two. 

Now that would not normally be such a problem. Usually by the rest of the word people understand which letter I mean: a y or a u. Or an i, since it's a mixture of the i (pronounced e) and u of course (still with me, or do you need to read the whole thing again?). However. I live on a road which spells in nynorsk. Which means a y. Which I cannot pronounce properly. So, every time I have to tell people what road I live on... I am in trouble, since I can't pronounce it! Annoying to say the least. 

At least the rest is getting better. 

Language

Reading the comments by my friend Pepperfly on my post about Wuppie, I had to laugh. Any language is difficult. But there is of course a difference between decaptiovating, decaptivating and decapitating. The first one is a misspelling of decaptivating and that is the wrong word if you are talking about 'off with his head'. Although...

This post is however not about heads coming off. It's about a conversation I had a few weeks ago. As you know I was able to speak French again with somebody from Morocco. If I couldn't remember the word and spoke Norwegian it wasn't a problem: she spoke Norwegian as well. After a while however, we decided to continue our conversation in Norwegian: a bit nicer to the people sitting around us. 

At one point she was describing having to use medication for some ache or pain and since she couldn't take the ordinary oral route, it had to be rectal. So far, so good. I understood what she meant to say, but now we had to think of the Norwegian word for a pill up your backside. I thought I knew the English/French word, but couldn't get any further than suppo... which was not much help. Fortunately she came up with the word: strikkepinne. Sounds good doesn't it? Although, sticking one of those up your behind might cause a whole new pain, since it's a knitting needle!

We were in fits of laughter, but still didn't know the real word. Realising I couldn't find the English/French word and she couldn't find the proper Norwegian version, we decided to ask her husband. Who told us it was a stikkpille. Well, it sounds like the strikkepinne doesn't it? Honest mistake... 

(About three days later I finally came up with the English term: suppository and the French version would have been suppositoire)

Little update

No, I still don't have my own internet and it might actually be my own fault. Something to do with mail and things: I had been sent a letter instead of them calling me! Of course the letter didn't arrive and I never knew anything about them not being able to offer me internet. Which means that none of the other providers will be able either. Apart from one, which I will have to phone tomorrow. Hopefully they can help me. Otherwise I will scream!

*****

On Saturday we had a staff surprise party. Gathering at a pub, taking a boat and going to one of the islands near to Haugesund. We had Bacalao (something Spanish/Norwegian with fish that apparently not many Norwegians like) and we saw the St Hans fire. St Hans is the Norwegian Midsummer. In my mind Midsummer is on the same day all over the Northern Hemisphere, but not according to Norwegians. They celebrate it on June 23rd!

While at the party I talked French with the wife of one of my colleagues. Apart from a few slip-ups I was alright. And if the slip-ups were in Norwegian, it wasn't a big problem: she speaks Norwegian as well! I was happy to be able to get proper sentences out though, very relieved. 

*****

Talking about languages: I finished my Norwegian course. Honestly, I don't feel I learned that much, partly to do with the fact that I was faster than the other three (they had only been in Norway over 10 years each), both in understanding and writing. Partly to do with the fact that we only really had three months. Ah well, the teacher gave me some course work that I could do at home, so that is good. 

*****

My furniture is finally all gathered in one place again. There was a bit of huffing and puffing and occasional swearing while we were trying to get some things upstairs, but we managed. The big dresser I used to have in the living room is now in the hallway and it is a bit big. It fits and there is enough space left, it just looks too much. The daughter of my helping friend might be interested and she can have it, no money asked!

The large wardrobe is still in pieces and will remain that way: there is no way I can put it together upstairs and having a wardrobe in the hallway is just silly. The wood is still good though, so I might actually use it to make some bookcases. Use the doors as the sides and the remaining wood as the shelves. 

*****

First however there is one more week of work to go. And when I say work, I mean work. Long hours, short breaks. Ah well, it keeps me out of trouble. I hope! On Saturday evening I will get my first visitors to my new home: the parental units. They will be driving up to Norway, which means I have sent them quite a wish list of things to take along to me. Stroopwafels and custard powder amongst them. 

Trouble in paradise

Nothing to do with languages, just a nice photo

If you're reading the title and you start imagining the worst: like dead in a ditch, in prison, homesick (to the Netherlands), severely ill or anything worse: don't worry! It's nothing like that! In fact, I guess most of you wouldn't even call it trouble in paradise, just a little annoyance. 

Now, as you know I used to live in the Netherlands for a few years prior to my move to Norway. When in the Netherlands I would travel to Germany quite regularly and while in Germany I would speak German. I speak after all fluent German. Or so I thought. Because I've lost the ability. My brain is not cooperating, especially my speach center. I understand it perfectly still, I just don't speak it anymore. 

Last Saturday I wanted to speak German to a nice couple from Germany. It didn't happen. If I said one German word, two Norwegian ones would follow, making the conversation quite weird. Plus I know that French is the same deal. I can think of the sentences in my head, but once they come out of my mouth, it's just jibberish. 

So, I am talented at languages, but rubbish at the languages I am fluent in! How weird is that??

Back to school

Fortunately no school uniform for me!

There is something I feel very strongly about. It annoyed me when I lived in the Netherlands, it annoys me over here. When you move to another country to work, I feel you should talk the language. Especially if you will be working with the host nationals. And if you know before the move that you will be moving, you should learn the language before you're moving. No ifs or buts or anythings about it. (This doesn't apply to refugees)

So, before I made my way over to Norway, I learnt the language. Granted, it wasn't university level, but then again, I am not on university level in the Netherlands either! And from day one I decided the best way forward was to speak Norwegian. At times I didn't have a clue what people were talking about and I would have to ask again and again, but over the last two months I have made great progress. 

And then I got the question whether I would like to go to Norwegian class again. Which I of course did. Because it will help me further along (besides, it's free: I think the boss is paying) and that can only be a good thing. This morning was the first lesson. There were several other people there as well: a Moroccan woman who had lived in Norway for 22 years, an Afghani man who had lived in Norway for a long time too, a Slovakian man: same thing again. And there was us: six people from the same company. Four Polish, one Icelandic and one Dutch (ie me). 

The first lesson was mainly used to introduce ourselves, do a little writing and a little talking/reading aloud. And at the end of the lesson I was told that if I proved to be as good as it looked like I was, I might have to move to a different class. One where the majority of people are Norwegians looking to refresh their grammar skills. Exciting!! Next week there will not be a class (due to the winter holiday) and then it will run the rest of the winter and spring and then again in the autumn. I will be busy!

Another day

I was a good boy:
I was allowed out and got back in!

Another day rolled around. Another day of learning new routes and rehashing 'old' routes. Trying to get everything into my head as well as I possibly can before I can finally start driving. It's annoying, but I heard on the grapevine they had similar problems in Bergen with foreigners coming in as well. I have also heard that more Dutch are expected to come and work here, so I think I had better make a little to do-list for them. I will give it to my manager who can then send it to them when needed. Save them and the company a lot of bother!

This morning I had to learn a partly new route. I sort of knew it, but not the whole stretch. But when I arrived at work, it turned out the driver who was supposed to do that line, didn't know it at all! So funny. In the end shifts got switched and I managed to learn the route. 

I have noticed a big difference in drivers as well. Not so much their driving style (a Dutch driving instructor would have a massive fit), but more the way they are towards me. Never bad mind, but some are very chatty and others just keep schtum. And when they do talk to me, I really have to pay attention. Some are easier to understand than others. I had one who was doing his very best not to mumble and to speak in clear and simple sentences (he was a great teacher). Then there was one and the only thing I got was something about a ghost wearing a skirt and carrying a stick and I needn't stop if I ever saw her. 

The easiest to understand seems to be a Polish driver. He is also new to Norwegian so he isn't using any difficult words as yet! The hardest to understand is a Danish driver, since his Norwegian is very heavily influence by Danish. Although I do get more now than I did in the beginning. 

Blowing my own horn

When I first started learning Norwegian just over a year ago, I just thought it was one long word that sounded remarkably like huffuknuffuduffu. Or something similar. It certainly didn't sound like a proper language to my ears. And then I started to listen to the radio and actually recognised a word. And another and another. I got (sort of) the hang of the easier grammar and managed to make small easy sentences. 

I then took a class in February/March: four days of intensive training. I went to Norway in April and tried my best to speak Norwegian. I kept on doing my correspondence course (without the correspondence by the way) while at work and in July/August I did another four days of intensive training, after which I went to Norway again. But since then: nothing. 

Not completely nothing of course, I kept reading the diaries of Roald Amundsen and I read the subtitles of any programme available with Norwegian subtitles. But I didn't study anymore. Not the best thing to do of course, but there you have it. 

I have been here little over a week now and I do get complimented a lot on my Norwegian knowledge. I notice that I understand more and more, although only in conversation towards me and not in general. And the main reason for that is the dialect here. They definitely don't speak the way I have been taught. Then again, I knew that before coming! The funny thing is though, some of the words they use over here, sound a lot more like the Dutch words than the original Norwegian words!

Anyway, just blowing my own horn here, but I am getting along better and better. I spoke Norwegian with Norwegians today. As well as with a Dutch person, a Polish person and a 50% Afghani person! Toot toot!! 

One week!

Since it's getting on to Christmas...

I have been in Norway for a week now and it's getting easier and easier to understand people. When I first got to my new place, the landlord spoke English to me, but I put a stop to that immediately: if I need to learn the language, speaking English is not going to help. So, ever since, he spoke Norwegian to me. 

At work too: I speak Norwegian. I don't always understand everything and at the end of the day I am so happy to be able to just watch Bones or NCIS in English (Norwegian subtitles though), so I can have a little reprieve. I even speak Norwegian with my Dutch co-worker, unless we are alone, then we speak Dutch. 

Today at work was another day of listening to Norwegian and hoping I got everything. It didn't always work though and several times I had to ask. But even then we try to do it in Norwegian. Sometimes I just have to read a bit further and it all becomes clear, other times they have to explain the whole thing to me. And I doubt whether tomorrow I will have retained only half of what was being said today. But I am getting there.

There is however one person that is extremely hard to understand. He comes from Denmark and where I feel American English always sounds like an Englishman being lazy, it's the same for Danish people: Norwegian the lazy way! But fortunately he is willing to repeat whatever he said (and he had to do that often). He is also new to the company and still learning his way around, although he is a bit further along.

Tomorrow I will be getting my first route-taster, as I will be going along with an experienced driver. Unfortunately I won't be able to do any driving for about two weeks still, since I don't have a social security number which I need to get both my driver's note ànd my company pass. But, I do of course get the chance to learn all the routes and how to handle the tickets before that. 

I should also be learning how to put snow chains on the bus, although according to today's trainer, they are not used that often. But I should still know how to put them on, just in case...

The weather so far has been really good. It started off with really nice weather, turned to a bit grey but dry, then turned to snow over the weekend and this week is supposed to be dry but very cold (-6 during the day). They don't seem to be big on clearing the snow away here and it can be pretty slippery in places. They tend to use grit on areas where there are a lot of pedestrians, but the street on which I live is a dead-end street and it has not been cleared at all, so I walk very cautiously. 

It has already been one week since I have arrived and so far (bar one day last week where I was wondering what the &*%$# I was doing here) I am enjoying myself. Yes, bureaucracy is bad, but it is everywhere. Yes, the weather is cold, but that was to be expected: Norway in winter! Yes, I only have a small place, but I have a place and don't have to sleep under a bridge or anything. Yes, the people are a bit stand-offish, but the ones I got to know so far have been very helpful and friendly. 

On to week 2!!!

The thing about Norwegian

I wonder if he miaows in Nynorsk or Bokmal

So, Norwegian! Just in case you forgot: in Norway they have two official languages. They are called Bokmal (the book language) and Nynorsk (New Norse). Since Norway had belonged to other countries for so long, especially Denmark, the official language was Danish. After their independence (from Sweden by the way) in 1905, they needed a radical change in language and they decided to keep the Danish, but adapt it to Bokmal (mostly spoken in the Oslo region). Even today it is quite easy to read Danish if you know Norwegian, because apart from some of the spelling, it's largely the same. Until you start talking that is and that's where it differs a great deal. Danish sounds like a sort of lazy Norwegian, at least that is the best I can explain.

Nynorsk is the other official language of the country. It is based on the dialects of the countryside. Most of the grammar is similar to bokmal and most of the spelling as well, with a few notable differences. If in bokmal a word ends in -er, it will most likely end in -ar in nynorsk. Not always though, because that would be too easy. But, since the country is so long and especially in the olden days, villages would be so remote, basically every village has their own version of nynorsk. Spelling, pronounciation, the lot. Which makes it very difficult for an unsuspecting blue eyed girl from the Netherlands. I must admit though: it became quite a sport for me to read the subtitles for English/American series and even Danish and Swedish documentaries. Would I understand?

Well, I am glad to say, I did manage to understand quite a bit. Especially if it was written down. But even when it was spoken I did get it. Not straight from the start admittedly, I would need a couple of minutes to just get used to the accent and the dialect and the intonation and so forth. And I will not claim to then having understood everything either, perhaps about 75%, but I think that is still fairly okay.

The thing to do now is learn more words and incorporate them into my language. And hopefully I will get the chance to speak again soon and try and try and learn and learn.

PS: there is a third official language in Norway which is Sami, a language spoken in the North of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia by the Sami (or Laps), however, there is no way I am going to be learning that!

Moving on...

Well, this is the week of reckoning. So to say. Basically it's the week in which it will be determined how far I have come along since I started back in November. If it were a pregnancy, I would be about to give birth now! It's not a pregnancy though, it's the Norwegian language course. And yesterday I went for my first five hours.

My teacher had made a few little tests to test my knowledge, but she was very impressed by me so far. She hadn't thought I would have been able to do all eight lessons from when I first met her only a few weeks ago, and if it hadn't been for those darn Olympics, I might have done it. As it was, I had only done 6 1/2! Of course the course I had done on my own had helped a lot as well. It mightn't have been as repetitive as the books I am learning from now, but it was very thorough on grammar. Perhaps even a bit too thorough.

Anyway, this morning, during my second five hours, we managed to finish that first book. Turning me officially from an A1 speaker to an A2 speaker. We have now moved on to a new book: stone on stone, which will help me get as far as B2. First I have to get past B1 though and if the lessons are as easy as the first one in that book, I should be sailing through. But let me not get ahead of myself just yet. I have only just started in this book. I might be able to take it with me to England though and do some more studying once my remaining 15 hours are up. Give me as much chance as I can get to get to the B1 level I need to be at!

There are a few pitfalls along the way though: adverbs and adjectives and all that nonsense keep throwing up exceptions, weirdinesseseses and other problems and I have to learn and know them all in order for me to be able to speak to somebody. And as long as it isn't a young person swallowing half his words, I should be okay.

Happy bunny

This was the only bunny related photo I had!

Another hurdle is about to be taken. Because today I went to my new Norwegian class for the first time. A different school, a different teacher, although she knows my first teacher very well: they are in the same year at university doing the same study! But anyway...

Today was meant as a sort of intake and evaluation course. Only two hours instead of the normal five and not as intense probably as the proper course will be. My teacher had brought some exercises for me to fill out, but in the end left half of them behind, since she deemed them "too easy" for me! At the end of the afternoon we decided I would continue to study as much as I could from the books I have and by the time we would meet again (in three weeks' time), we would go over what I should have learnt and practice practice and practice some more.

Besides that she will try and ask me questions that might be asked in an interview, go over grammar and basically get me to level B1 before the end of the course. She felt very confident that that should be possible, which made me feel real good of course.

So, I am a happy bunny right now. What more can I say?

Chauffeuse

In Dutch my jobtitle is a buschauffeur. Nicely taken from the French as so many other words in our language as well. Like directeur or masseur. And people immediately think that because I am a woman the jobtitle should be womanised. Or femalised or whatever you call it. Making me a chauffeuse!

Now, a few years ago I heard the description of a chauffeuse: it's a woman who heats up elderly French men. So, needless to say, I never called myself a chauffeuse again!

A couple of days ago I had some people on the bus and they again called me a chauffeuse. I immediately told them the proper meaning and the conversation then went on to know what I considered to be old. In French men that is.

So you all know: French men are okay up to the age of 35, after that: no! Italian men are okay as well. Up to the age of 35 as well. As long as you don't catch a mama's boy (which I once did and jealous to boot) of course!

And then came the best part of the day: whether I really meant that 35 was too old? Well, in French men? Of course I meant it. But surely I wasn't old enough to know! I am 41, I think I am old enough to know thank you very much!! Well, I certainly didn't look 41 yet! Wasn't he nice?

PS1: if it were young French men I needed to heat up, I might reconsider calling myself a chauffeuse. Or youngish whatever nationality men looking like Matt Damon. Definitely a chauffeuse then!!!

PS2: I believe the proper French title for a female busdriver or any driver would be conductrice. Which happens to be a train ticket controller in the Netherlands. What do you mean: confusing!

Not quite there yet

I bet they are fluent!

There are seven stages of learning a new language. The first one is 0. You don't know the new language at all or only a few single unconnected words. Then comes A1, where you can make simple sentences and ask simple questions. If you get answered in the new language you haven't really got a clue as to what they are saying. Level A2 means you are able to follow simple conversations.

B1 means you are able to get into a bit more complex conversations and understand people on the phone or on the radio. B2 means you get even more and are quite able to join in a conversation, only occasionally having to look for words. C1 means you are fluent and C2 means you can converse on a scientific level. I would say I am C1 Dutch speaker. Start with scientific lingo and I am lost. I guess I would also be a C1 English and German speaker. French would be between B1 and B2 and my Italian would be about A1-A2. Of course all those languages don't mean a thing: I am learning Norwegian after all.

Today I phoned to Norway and in my best Norwegian I asked whether I could speak to a certain person. And that was as far as I got. It went downhill from there on in. I had been hoping to impress them with my knowledge, but my mouth decided differently, only uttering incomprehensible nonsense. In the end we turned to English.

I had phoned the bus company because I wanted them to know I was learning Norwegian and was actually quite alright in it, which in turn would hopefully make them offer me a job. Long shot I know, but what can I say. I am convinced of my own abilities. But the conversation did give me some result. The company didn't have any openings at the moment, but were expecting some openings in the autumn, whether they could contact me then? And the lady on the other end of the phone told me I needed to be at level B1 at least! And from my nonsense it was quite clear I was a bit off yet!

It was a bit of a disappointment of course, but on the other hand, I now know what to work towards...

I made it!

So, I made it. The plane was a bit late, but that didn't matter too much. I had plenty of time anyway. As we arrived at Gardermoen airport, the clouds lifted and I was able to see Oslo from the sky. I had been talking to a Dutch woman (who looked very Norwegian by the way), who herself had lived in Norway for about 7 years. As we got off the plane, the luggage arrived soon and I then made my way to the car rental place. 

I had decided that I would not speak English if I could in any way help it, so I started off in Norwegian and fortunately the guy behind the desk didn't mind too much about my atrocious accent or my wrong usage of the words. I understood him (kan du gjenta det?) and he understood me. My car is a really nice Toyota Auris and apart from the missing cruise control and many many chips on the outside of the car, I am quite happy with it. 

As I drove into Oslo, it was a bit confusing. First of all I didn't have a map and I hadn't really bothered with printing out a route, so I had to depend solely on my gps. Which have the tendency to not work while in tunnels. And Oslo has a lot of tunnels. In the end I just took an exit and lo and behold: I was nearly there! When I finally managed to park my car and ask in the hotel about where to park, they didn't have any record of me! None whatsoever!! Turned out I needed the hotel 250 meters away. *Sigh*

That hotel was even worse to park my car in front of though, since there were tramlines right in front. So, I drove around, found a parking garage and parked it in there. I got all my stuff out, then walked up to the exit and was completely lost. According to my gps I was less than 400 meters from the hotel, but I couldn't find my way. In the end I asked a lady and she showed me, all the time talking in a mixture of Norwegian and Danish (she was from Denmark). Of course I didn't understood most of what she said, just something about the Norwegian government having enough money for some fancy something or other and nothing else. 

Anyway, I am in my hotel now and haven't once spoken English. I have mixed my limited Norwegian knowledge with Italian (si si), but I have a car and a hotel room. Oh and a map, so I can go explore the center of Oslo tomorrow. Today only a photo of my hotel room, tomorrow I hope a few more photos. 

The language

As you may know last week I spent in class. I have been trying to learn Norwegian since November and even though I did quite well, it was the pronounciation that stumped me a great deal. So, when I saw a course being advertised in Norway, I liked the sound of it and registered. It would be one week of intensive Norwegian and also meeting Norwegians and seeing businesses. A minimum of ten participants was required. Unfortunately they never got more than about four and the course was cancelled. However, I still had time off and felt that even though that course had been cancelled, that didn't need to mean I couldn't do a course anyhow.

I contacted a company that did offer courses, both for groups and for individuals and asked them to put together a course for me on my own. And not that lousy hour and a half per week, no four hours a day for five days. Which in the end turned to five hours a day for four days. So, on Tuesday morning I took the bus to Groningen, where the course was to be held and arrived nice and early to meet my teacher: a Dutch girl studying Norwegian in University.

The first day I was still a bit self-consious about reading out loud and by the end of that day I was exhausted. Learning pronounciation while having a massive cold and a headache isn't a good combination, I can tell you. Day two however I was a bit more confident. I managed to pronounce unnskyld to a satisfactory degree, even though any word with a u and a y in it is a horror to me, the sounds are so similar to me! Besides being able to pronounce quite well, I also saw that my level of grammar was already quite high and that I knew a fair amount of words as well. My teacher was amazed of me and said so on several occasions.

By the end of the week I was a bit sorry I hadn't ordered for a two-week course, it might have been even better, but I already noticed a big difference after I got home: I listen to Norwegian radio quite often and that night I was able to understand a whole lot more than I did before! I was able to distinguish more words from the mush that is Norwegian. Because to be honest, it is quite a mush. It's fairly easy to read, but when it comes to listening, ten words become two and you have to figure out which ten are meant!

This week I will take it a bit easier, although I still have all my grammar notes to type out, since it's a big muddle right now. But I am able to buy an apple now: Jeg vil gjerne ha et eple! And more importantly: I know how to pronounce it!