# Swedes learning Norwegian



## Brannoc

How easy or difficult is it for Swedes to learn and read Norwegian not counting dialect and grammar ?


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## MattiasNYC

My guess is that it first of all is very personal, secondly depends on age which in turn is (thirdly) related to motivation. I was 'forced' to study some Norwegian (and I think Danish) as a kid in school and very, very little stuck. But that was a problem with motivation. I do think I have a "musical ear" which lends itself to learning languages, and I'm not a complete moron, so for me the issue is motivation. And now as an adult there's time and other interests to consider which makes it difficult to accomplish.

But from a linguistic standpoint - with the above caveats in mind - I find Norwegian to be easier to learn and understand than Danish. To my ear it sounds more similar, and that's a big issue when learning since hearing the language is a great tool when learning it. One thing to look out for is 'false friends', words that are spelled about the same and sounds the same but mean different things. Not sure how many there are, but I know they exist (like "rolig" for example).

So, I'd say it's "easy" if the motivation and time is there.


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## Brannoc

Thanks very interesting.....

Although I'm still in the learning stage starting only a couple of months or so ago, I've now got a heck of a lot of motivation simply because whilst there are a lot of written words in sentences that are still unknown, I am finding that it's becoming fascinatingly easier to fill in the gaps almost on a weekly basis which I’m sure is because I can get by in Swedish. That is before I have to resort to the help of a particularly unfriendly Norwegian/ English dictionary.

Listening to spoken Norwegian is becoming quite easier too when listening in particular to Ostfjold and Vestlandsrevyen news programmes, but struggling with nearly everything else finding it very difficult to understand in particular the reason for the raising of the voice at the end of sentences. Assuming it's for emphasis I tried doing it a few days ago after a couple of strong pints in a pub I'd never been in before and instantly got some very strange looks indeed. Really funny though !

One difficulty I currently have as I've looked everywhere, is I can't find a translation of "Broyt i vej" - the o having a line (/) through it ? It's a very interesting tv programme about keeping Norway's roads clear of snow so assume it means road sweeper ? 

Finally I'm discovering that the Norwegian sense humour is very enjoyable and funny as well. especially when it gets a bit slapstick ! I mean the sight of two male and female teams in a competition against each other all dressed up as waiters trying to serve well dressed customers seated at a long dining table, whilst running as well as trying to keep their balance to serve the food and pour the wine all at the same time on a fast moving conveyor belt, had me in stitches !

How about Norwegians learning Swedish, again not counting dialect and grammar. Is it the same ?


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## Svenke

_Brøyt i vei_:
_brøyt _is the imperative of _brøyte_, which means 'clear (the road) of snow'.
_vei _means 'road, way', but _i vei_ is more of a fixed expression that refers to getting on with something.
So _Brøyt i vei_ is something like 'Get/Keep going clearing the road(s) of snow!'.


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## Svenke

Norwegian vs. Swedish: As long as it's relatively standard language, we tend to have few problems understanding each other. For Norwegians, understanding spoken Swedish is usually easy, and reading just takes a little getting used to. Danish is easier to read, but may be harder to understand when spoken.


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## raumar

I agree, but I would just add that there is a difference between reading/understanding the languages on the one hand, and learning them on the other. We Norwegians understand spoken and written Swedish without having to learn the language, and Swedes understand us, if we adapt our Norwegian a bit (avoid certain words). Therefore, most of us have no reason to learn to speak or write correct Swedish. 



Svenke said:


> _Brøyt i vei_:
> _brøyt _is the imperative of _brøyte_, which means 'clear (the road) of snow'.
> _vei _means 'road, way', but _i vei_ is more of a fixed expression that refers to getting on with something.
> So _Brøyt i vei_ is something like 'Get/Keep going clearing the road(s) of snow!'.



A good explanation - but if you are looking for a shorter, more catchy translation, maybe "Plough ahead!" could work?


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## Brannoc

Again very interesting thank you.

Because of all this and not counting English, is it compulsory in schools to learn any one of the three Nordic languages Swedish, Norwegian and Danish as well....?


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## jonquiliser

I agree with what others said, generally there's no need to specifically learn the other Scandinavian languages as they are mutually intelligible to a very large extent. In school (as a Swedish speaker in Finland), we had a couple of lessons where we learnt a few false friends, the numbers and other "particularities" of Danish and Norwegian, and after that were expected to read a novel in either of the languages. To specifically study any of those languages more than that wouldn't really make sense unless living in one of the other countries; for most purposes, if needing to or wanting, it's enough to just grab a book, watch films or talk to people.


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## MattiasNYC

Brannoc said:


> Again very interesting thank you.
> 
> Because of all this and not counting English, is it compulsory in schools to learn any one of the three Nordic languages Swedish, Norwegian and Danish as well....?



You know, it was decades ago for me, but I seem to recall it was along the lines of what jonquiliser said. It was mandatory for us to learn some of the false friends and possibly one or two rules or whatever, but it was pretty brief.

I'm not sure if I'm right about this, but I definitely get the feeling that Norwegians and Danes have an easier time understanding Swedish than the other way around, and I'm not sure if it's because the languages are different or if it's because Swedes are lazy. I'm tempted to say it's the latter. Because I definitely feel that Norwegians have been a bit more forthcoming in adjusting Norwegian to make it easier on us Swedes than vice versa.


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## Brannoc

Quite different many years ago in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Cornwall, the latter in particular having had to struggle to even exist for a good 200 years or more before they finally started a revival of the Cornish language around about the late 19th century.

And why I've always felt that it was a real shame I never had a choice when I was at school as to what languages I wanted and why today I understand very little of the languages above, because it was always Latin, French and I think German. However if there had been any of the languages above available I would have loved to have taken up Cornish, instead of long dead Latin as well as having to endure years of French both of which I hated like crazy, personally seeing it all the time as utterly pointless and still do now....


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## Bokfinken

MattiasNYC said:


> I'm not sure if I'm right about this, but I definitely get the feeling that Norwegians and Danes have an easier time understanding Swedish than the other way around, and I'm not sure if it's because the languages are different or if it's because Swedes are lazy. I'm tempted to say it's the latter. Because I definitely feel that Norwegians have been a bit more forthcoming in adjusting Norwegian to make it easier on us Swedes than vice versa.


When I was a kid in the '70s and '80s, many Norwegians who lived close enough to the border would watch Swedish television (there was only one Norwegian channel).

We also watched Swedish TV series (like _Emil i Lönneberga_ and _Vi på Saltkråkan_) on the Norwegian channel, and always in Swedish with Norwegian subtitles, they were never dubbed. So my guess is that most Norwegians have simply been more exposed to Swedish than vice versa.


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## Wilma_Sweden

Bokfinken said:


> When I was a kid in the '70s and '80s, many Norwegians who lived close enough to the border would watch Swedish television (there was only one Norwegian channel).
> 
> We also watched Swedish TV series (like _Emil i Lönneberga_ and _Vi på Saltkråkan_) on the Norwegian channel, and always in Swedish with Norwegian subtitles, they were never dubbed. So my guess is that most Norwegians have simply been more exposed to Swedish than vice versa.


Hehe, I've almost always lived a stone's throw from Denmark and grew up watching Danish TV apart from the two Swedish channels available. I also go to Copenhagen fairly frequently. Even so, I find spoken Danish hard to understand more often than Norwegian, while written text is equally easy to read in both languages. The problem with Danish is that their pronunciation is different, they swallow consonants (and sometimes whole syllables!), and vowel sounds are different from Norwegian and Swedish. That makes it harder for you to 'translate' the sounds you hear into their written versions. English is in fact way worse in that respect, if you're used to a language with more or less phonetic spelling, English is a nightmare! I also have trouble with some Northern English or Scottish accents - when vowel sounds are very different from RP, it's hard to get that when you hear 'hippy', it actually means 'happy'! ;-)


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