A Scottish salmon in a Norwegian Fjord - my language journey with Norwegian
Lingo Flamingo Director, Robbie Norval, writes on his language learning experience with Norwegian!
I remember telling my friends and family that during lockdown I decided to learn Norwegian. I still remember the look of confusion in their faces, followed by the question why? Some would then even add, “Would you not be better learning a more useful language such as Spanish or French”. However, I stuck to my guns, and it was the start of a beautiful/random Scandinavian romance.
Firstly, I would like to say there is NO useless language; we all have different reasons to learn languages and that is the joy in having a world with over 5,000 of them! There is a huge number of languages to choose from. I wanted to learn Norwegian as I used to be intrigued by Norwegian sagas. I love the raw nature of Norway and for a neighbour of Scotland, it is a country which I did not know much about. Also, I thought they might give me a few kroner from their oil fund 😉.
I know from various attempts to learn languages that I can be very keen for the first few months (potentially too keen) but then life gets in the way and my language motivation/skills begin to dwindle. Therefore, this time, I developed a language learning plan where I learnt Norwegian through apps, online resources, books, blogs, tv programmes, vlogs, podcasts, and courses. I felt that I had a good network of resources, so I was not just using the same technique all the time but had different ways of learning the language. Although over time I felt my understanding was improving, I still had such a fear when speaking the language. I remember feeling embarrassed or just hoping I would not be asked a question in class. I felt this probably was not a particularly good long-term strategy, so I began to do wee recordings on my phone, spoke more often to classmates in Norwegian outside of the class and even spoke to myself at home (which got strange looks from my partner). So, the old cliché of ‘practice makes perfect’ is correct, but also not putting your head in the sand when you have a weaker aspect within language learning- try your best to work on things which you need to improve on.
After learning the language for around 18 months, I had the opportunity to do an intensive language class in Norway. It was an amazing opportunity, but it was a bit of a culture shock as we were strongly encouraged to speak Norwegian both in and out of the classes. I was used to speaking maybe a few hours a week so having to speak Norwegian 24/7 was hard work and I must admit that some of my Norwegian patter must have been awful. But it was good for me, it pushed my boundaries and helped me to increase both my confidence and knowledge.
Norwegian for me was initially a way to focus on something positive during lockdown but has evolved into meeting new friends, in understanding and speaking a new language and has allowed me to learn so much about Norwegian society. I really enjoy that language learning can open so many new opportunities, it is like discovering a new world.
I love all the small nuances of language learning (such as a Norwegian chocolate bar called a Kvikk Lunsj which is more or less a Kitkat but don’t dare ever say that to a Norwegian). Or in a conversation with a pregnant Norwegian friend, she kept talking about what translated to “mothers cake” (morkake) and she did not know whether to eat it or throw it away. After a very confusing 5 minutes, I realised that “mothers cake” meant placenta in English! Such are the joys of language learning… Therefore, when learning a language be kind to yourself, don’t be overburdened by making mistakes, language learning is all about the joy of communicating and learning new things. I personally can’t wait until my next awkward Norwegian conversation 😊.